Now before any of those that are reading this shame me for misogynistic tendencies, I want to make very clear that the opposite of that title is unequivocally true. Let me explain what I mean. To do that I want to start with a question. How does the abortion industry, the sexual revolution, pornography, and human trafficking exemplify the worthlessness of women?
We will answer this question in separate parts, addressing each industry’s horrid contribution to the degradation of the worth of the woman. Then we will address each industry from an absolute moral authority. Russian novelist, journalist, essayist, and philosopher Fyodor Dostoevsky said, ” If there is no God, then everything is permitted.” Hold that thought as we make our way through each despicable industry. The Industry of Infanticide – Abortion In 1973 the SCOTUS determined the fate of millions of unborn children. The majority agreed that it was henceforth a woman’s right to kill her child. Perhaps in the latter part of the 20th century we did not have the technological advancements we do today that very clearly and coherently detail the personhood of an unborn child. However, if that was the plumb line of measuring our moral compass, would NY have passed a bill legalizing the murder of babies up to the day they are expected to be born? No! Nevertheless, once a dire decision is made the subsequent consequences are irreversible. As a result, abortion was the leading cause of death over and above cancer, malaria, HIV/AIDS, smoking, alcohol, and traffic accidents combined in 2018. Since it became legal for an unborn baby to be disposed of, there is no longer repercussions, temporary consequences, nor immediate ramifications to the two who engaged in sexual promiscuity. Both the abortion industry and sexual revolution are essentially two sides of the same coin and consistently feed each other. Abortion is the willful, taking of a human life through the process known as murder. For more information on the sad reality that is abortion, and how to help combat this modern day evil visit the site below. https://endabortionnow.com/ The Industry of Sexual Promiscuity – Sexual Revolution The sexual revolution told women that it was their right and even compelled them to use their bodies however they wished. This primarily meant giving themselves away to any whom they chose without reserve or remorse. This further exacerbated the demise of modesty, self-worth, and respect. The result of the sexual revolution is men and women who, without reserve practice sexual promiscuity and as a result marriage and family suffer. Fatherless homes, broken and truncated families, and loneliness have all taken a sharp upward turn since the sexual revolution made its debut some 5 decades ago. The Industry of Sexual Degradation & Perversion – Pornography According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “In the 19th century the inventions of photography and later of motion pictures were quickly put to use in the production of pornography. Pornographic films were widely available no later than the 1920s, and in the 1960s their popularity enjoyed a massive upsurge. The development of videocassettes in the 1980s and digital videodiscs (DVDs) in the 1990s enabled the wide distribution of pornographic films and further encouraged their use because they could be viewed in private. Pornographic images and films became even more widely available with the emergence of the Internet in the 1990s.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/pornography The widespread distribution and consumption of pornographic material has fed a continuing detrimental decline in familial structure and marriages. Below is a very short list of the effects of pornography has on the human brain.
IT IS NOT HARMLESS, IT IS NOT FREEING TO WOMEN, IT IS NOT SAFEFor more information you can visit https://fightthenewdrug.org/ The Industry of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation – Human Trafficking Human trafficking is an epidemic of egregious proportions. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, they received over 14,000 calls through June 2018. 3,178 of the cases were for sex trafficking where the majority were adult women (age 18 and over) and young women (age 17 and under). The pornography industry accounted for 262 cases reported. The industry of human trafficking purports a message that humans are dispensable whos worth is determined by the highest paying customer. The worthlessness of the woman is a mantra in each of these industries. It treats women as tools to be used, abused, disrespected, and exploited. For more information on human trafficking and how to help stop the traffic visit the sites below. https://humantraffickinghotline.org/ https://polarisproject.org/resources We started with a question. How does the abortion industry, the sexual revolution, pornography, and human trafficking exemplify the worthlessness of women? We answered that question in small detail. We then said we would address each of these industries from an absolute moral authority, that is God. Remember our previously quoted philosophical friend Fyodor Dostoevsky said, ” If there is no God, then everything is permitted.” Because God sets the moral standard on right/wrong and what is good, without Him humans naturally feed a carnal desire prone to evil pervaded by a sinister wickedness explained only in the fall of mankind (sin). What then, does God say about all of this? We will address a) the sanctity of life, b) the fall, c) our creator as it pertains to our bodies, and d) how we can live a holy life before God. The Sanctity of Life Genesis 1:26-27 — 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. In the beginning God created everything. He created by His word and everything He created was deemed good. It was not until God created mankind that He used very different phrase to create. He made us in His image. Therefore, we have value directly from God our Creator. Genesis 9:6 — “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.” Furthermore, we can see the importance God places on mankind in Genesis 9:6. Murder is an assault on the image of God. Leviticus 18:21 — You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD. Molech was a pagan deity and the people of that time sacrificed their children to this idol. They would either burn them or murder them before this false god. God clearly demands that child sacrifice be eradicated and not practiced by His people. Jeremiah 1:5 — “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you God knows every single human even before they are formed in the womb. There is huge implications in this verse in support for the sanctity of life. Luke 1:41 — When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; Babies are capable of joy, laughter, feeling, emotion, and every other personhood characteristic both inside and outside the womb. The industries of infanticide, sexual promiscuity, sexual degradation and perversion, and sexual abuse and exploitation are antithetical to the very clear revelation in scripture regarding the Sanctity of human life. The Fall Genesis 2:16-17 — 16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.” Romans 3:23 — For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23a — For the wages of sin is death You see it was and is our choice to either freely and loving worship our Creator or deny His existence. Without God there is no moral authority, there is no absolute truth and so mankind is free to do what it wills irrespective the level of depravity. We belong to God 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 — 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. We cannot glorify God with our bodies if we abuse them with drugs, alcohol, or abuse them for sexual promiscuity. The industries of infanticide, sexual promiscuity, sexual degradation and perversion, and sexual abuse and exploitation do not glorify God through the body, they glorify the god of this world (Satan) through the abuse and exploitation of the body. Living Holy Lives Before God Leviticus 19:2 — “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Holy means to be set apart or “other” from the world. If we look, act, talk, and live like the world we are not set apart from it. The worthlessness of the woman is a societal belief pervaded by the industries of infanticide, sexual promiscuity, sexual degradation and perversion, and sexual abuse and exploitation. Everywhere in scripture, we can see the high worth God places upon women. The problem is that in our day and time we do not seem to understand it. 2000 years ago God sought to fix the problem of our sin. He loving created us and gave us one rule (obey); not because He was tyrannical, because he loved us enough to protect us from ourselves. God’s rule and reign is much like the guard rails on the side of the cliff; you could care less about them until your car spins out and they keep you from going over the cliff. God’s rules and commandments are to keep us from going over the cliff. As we saw in Adam and Eve, we climbed the rail and without reserve jumped over plunging to our death. God went to the bottom of the valley where we lay dead and in the God-man Jesus brought us back to life. Jesus, who like us was tempted in every way yet without sin lived the life we could not, He stayed within God’s safety rails and obeyed without fail. He then sacrificed His life on a blood stained cross trading in His life for ours; so that the wrath of God was satisfied, thus freeing us from condemnation. On the third day He arose from the grave (because sin is what keeps us in the grave), and granted eternal life to all who would confess with their mouth Christ as LORD and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead. Christ is your only hope in a world that uses, abuses, and exploits. Christ died for you and He is faithful. He does not use, He does not abuse, He does not exploit, He loves, cherishes and cares so deeply for you that He payed the ultimate price in your place. Glorify God in your body and serve Him only.
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When you “fall out of” loveThe other day I was working the ground in what will eventually become our garden and it got me to thinking about gardens and marriage. I remember awhile back I learned one of my co-workers had been recently divorced. To my surprise I inquired as to the reason why. After some beating around the bush (probably a result of her knowing I was a Christian with strong views on marriage) she said, “we just fell out of love.” This statement lead me to believe that she believed love was and is a vital part of any marriage. I simply responded, “people don’t fall out of love, they just quit trying.” What does love got to do with itI followed up my initial claim by saying, “love is a conscious choice we have to make every day and it has everything to do with our marriage. According to the Bible, love is more than a choice, it is a verb. That is, it requires action on our part.” As I continued, I wondered how much was making sense to a non-believer. “Love is willful sacrificial service to your spouse regardless if your own wants/needs are met. To say that you fell out of love really just means both of you quit sacrificially serving one another.” I realize at this point my audience is probably no longer engaged but the the truth of this is so important. Marriage is a lot like a garden. Here is what I mean. I spent four hours tilling a piece of land so we could plant a garden. After four hours and many blisters later (yes I had gloves on), my wife stopped and said, “I guess this is why you had to spend all day on the farm!” Marriage & the GardenThe first marriage was created in a garden. One woman was brought to one man and they became one flesh (Gen. 2:24).1 After hours of tilling your soil you must then cultivate then spend much time planting. After the hard work is done you must now constantly watch the garden. Each passing day the threats become more intense. Grass, weeds, thorns and thistles sprout, animals and birds attack, and before you know it your produce is disappearing or rotting from neglect. In the beginning Adam was told to “keep” the garden. The Hebrew word is שָׁמַר (shâmar) and it carries with it many connotations but the similarities between all of them are in the context of guarding, protecting cultivating and preserving. This means it was Adam’s job to tend the garden and protect it from that which sought to destroy or corrupt it. Think about how much effort goes into “keeping” a garden. When you tell someone you “keep” a garden you may not know it but you are saying exactly what Adam was commanded. “I keep a garden, I protect it, I cultivate it, I guard it and preserve it.” It has to be worked daily. Thorns and ThistlesMarriage, in the same way has to be worked daily and for the same reasons. Because of man’s sin there are things in this world that seek to destroy and raze (to demolish or destroy) your marriage. Gossip, slander, backbiting, and outside forces of ungodly opinion are like the weeds, thorns, and thistles that grow in our marriage. They must be eradicated daily. Do me a favor, walk outside and look at the cracks in your driveway or in your garden, what do you see? Weeds! You spray them today and they are gone by the next, but come back within a few days or weeks. The weeds, thorns, and thistles in your marriage must be eradicated daily and it takes work to “keep” your marriage. Beastly IntrudersIt’s not just weeds, thorns, and thistles that try to choke out your marriage. There are beastly intruders that attempt to break in steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). These beastly intruders are not found of a strong marriage especially one built on the foundation of God’s solid word. These intruders seek to devour you through unconfessed sin, a nasty and bitter attitude, other people, and a self-serving mentality. The enemy knows your weakness and knows how to tempt you. It seems that he is more faithful to tempt us then we are to “keep” our marriage. Build your marriage on the solid rock of Christ and let not the enemy raze (Mark 10:9). Again, What does love have to do with itAgain, I ask what does love have to do with it? Consider that sin is almost always a result of selfishness and pride. A bitter nasty attitude comes from selfishness and pride (usually not getting our way). Letting other people speak into your marriage is not necessarily a bad thing but if these people are speaking falsehood and lies that correspond with your own self-seeking interest in your unkempt marriage, they are simply helping you destroy that which God created.
All of this is a result of fleshly desires rooted in selfishness. Love is a selfless sacrificial action word that results from a choice made daily. In most instances this choice must be made hundreds of times each day. But we must “keep” our marriage as we have been commanded to since the beginning. Is it difficult? You bet, we already discussed that. As a result of sin the enemy seeks whom he may devour. Bear in mind that it is not impossible without God (Luke 18:27). Humility is the key to sacrificial selfless service to God, to your spouse, and to your fellow brother / sister in Christ. This is not possible on your own. But with God’s wisdom, guidance, and support it is possible. If you are struggling in your marriage ensure that your vertical relationship with God is strong. The more you serve your Creator with a humble heart, the easier it becomes to selflessly serve others, your spouse. Don’t fall out of love but make the choice to love a moment by moment reality in your marriage. |
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