“One discovery: A woman can be a bitter pill to swallow, full of seductive scheming and grasping. The lucky escape her; the undiscerning get caught. At least this is my experience—what I, the Quester, have pieced together as I’ve tried to make sense of life. But the wisdom I’ve looked for I haven’t found. I didn’t find one man or woman in a thousand worth my while. Yet I did spot one ray of light in this murk: God made men and women true and upright; we’re the ones who’ve made a mess of things.”—Ecclesiastes 7:26-29 (Message)
OK…
So you’re probably going to see this scripture a couple of times in my upcoming blogs because it’s so fitting for what the Holy Spirit (Luke 12:12) has been leading me to talk about in this season. Currently, I am reading the book, “Defending Traditional Marriage” by Willard F. Harley, Jr., the author of “His Needs, Her Needs” (cop that one if you haven’t already) and it’s really got my blood to boiling. I guess more than anything, I hate that there needs to be a book like this. How sad that we are at a place in society where marriage, the way God instituted it in the Bible, needs actual defending. But then, we were told this was coming, weren’t we?
“But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]. For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane. [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.
For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].”—I Timothy 3:1-5 (AMP)
This is what I thought about when I read an article that was forwarded to me on Facebook entitled, “(Married) Women dating women: Nashville’s secret dating game”:
The title alone should make our stomachs turn and yet, somehow, I’m sure for a lot of us, it doesn’t. Sadly, so much is happening in our society these days that it would take a lot more than a few women cheating on their husbands…with other women, no less, to turn our heads. But I’m hoping that just for a moment, I can convince you to consider this to be a horrific situation in today’s culture; not just because of WHAT these women are doing, but WHY. “Why” in the sense of what this means in the spirit realm.
Whenever I chat it up with the homosexuals that I know (I don’t use the word “gay” because that is a SLANG TERM for the lifestyle and I choose to use the word “gay” in its proper context, which means “happy”) and we get onto the subject of religion, it’s rare that Leviticus and Romans don’t come up when it comes to addressing homosexuality and spirituality. Of course, a lot of them get offended when Romans 1 is referenced, but what are you gonna do? The Bible is pretty clear, right? And, according to the Word ALL SCRIPTURE serves a purpose (2 Timothy 3:16). This ain’t Picadilly’s. You can’t “pick and choose” what you want to adhere to and what you don’t. I mean…you can, but as someone who used to be notorious for doing so, I wouldn’t recommend it. Shoot, I ain’t always tap dancing over Hebrews 13:4 (no nookie for fornicators and adulterers), but I deal with it.
Anyway, as I came across an excerpt of the article on married women sneaking around (a red flag unto itself) to be with lesbian women, I thought about what Romans 1 says brings this about:
“They knew God, but they did not give glory to God or thank him. Their thinking became useless. Their foolish minds were filled with darkness. They said they were wise, but they became fools. They traded the glory of God who lives forever for the worship of idols made to look like earthly people, birds, animals, and snakes.
Because they did these things, God left them and let them go their sinful way, wanting only to do evil. As a result, they became full of sexual sin, using their bodies wrongly with each other. They traded the truth of God for a lie. They worshiped and served what had been created instead of the God who created those things, who should be praised forever. Amen.
Because people did those things, God left them and let them do the shameful things they wanted to do. Women stopped having natural sex and started having sex with other women. In the same way, men stopped having natural sex and began wanting each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and in their bodies they received the punishment for those wrongs.
People did not think it was important to have a true knowledge of God. So God left them and allowed them to have their own worthless thinking and to do things they should not do.”—Romans 1:21-28 (NCV)
There’s a part of the article that tries to explore just why more and more women are not only participating in homosexual relationships but BREAKING COVENANT to do it. The reporter offers these insights:
“In the last 12 years homosexuality has become more mainstream in politics and the media, thus society has been either forced or allowed (depending) to deal with the issue in all aspects of life: schools, churches, homes, and social activity. 25 years ago a television show or a movie would have never been made with openly homosexual characters, and magazine covers would have never been graced with the words ‘lesbian’ or ‘gay.’ Children now attend schools that have GSA’s (Gay Straight Alliances). Although not completely welcome, homosexuality is certainly more accepted in 2009. Perhaps this is why the women feel safe exploring their feelings: it is somewhat socially acceptable and mainstream to at least experiment. After all, if a rich and famous female can kiss the same sex at award ceremonies and on reality shows, why not a housewife from Music City? If homosexuality is now more open, perhaps it is time for these women to finally be themselves, if only for a small (secret) portion of their lives.”
I feel her in the sense that these are a “natural man”—or in this case, woman—justification. But more than the sneaking, more than the cheating, more than the potential physical and emotional risks that these wives are putting themselves and their families in for a few moments of fleeting pleasure (?), what I fear most is that they are missing the bigger picture. The Bible says that because people will exchange the TRUTH (John 8:31-32) of God for a lie, because they will worship the creature rather than the Creator, it is God who leaves them to do unnatural and worthless things.
Bottom line? I can’t help but to wonder if articles like these are a consequence more than a conscious choice; that so many people are fighting for the right to do what they want, that they don’t even take the time to consider how far it is outside of God’s will.
Which brings me back to Solomon’s insights about the mess we’ve made of things. My mother often says that when she reads the story of Adam and Eve, post fruit-eating, that one part of the story that always gets to her is when they hide because they were naked and God asks them, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:8-11)
When this married couple were in the Garden, it was God’s intention that they be naked and NOT ashamed (Genesis 2:25). And now…even years later, look at where we are. These women are commenting on their desire for lesbian adultery, some even implying the “freedom” that comes with it and yet, they don’t want their real names given. Why? I venture to say that they are naked and ashamed. THAT’S WHAT SIN DOES. It makes us naked and ashamed. Yet, even and especially in sex, God never intended for life to be that way.
A lot of you have read enough of these to know that I could go on…and on…AND ON about this, but I will stop here. I just want to encourage you, whether you are married or single, to think about your sex life and how you are living it. God intended for his children to be naked and not ashamed. Can you say that what you are doing equates this kind of freedom or are you hiding from him like Adam and Ever were, afraid that your choices are going to not only expose, but humiliate you? Sex was never supposed to be seen in such a dim light. Don’t let the Enemy steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) its true purpose. Don’t “make a mess” out of such a beautiful thing:
“There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, “The two become one.” Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never “become one.” There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another. Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.”—I Corinthians 6:16-20 (Message)
Even in our sexuality, people should see God in us. The wisdom of the world is foolishness to God (I Corinthians 3:18-19). Don’t let the world fool you. The “freer” we get sexually, the farther we are from our Father.
…and that’s never a good place to be. Ever.