Hey Guys!! To follow up the Relationship and Sex talk from sunday night I've decided to post some excerpts from a duscission originally posted by Pastor Mark Driscoll.
Contents of this Blog:
Overcoming Sexual Sin
Christian Birth Control Options
Overcoming Sexual Sin
For those wanting to study the issue more fully, it is helpful to begin by noting the epidemic nature of sexual sin. In my forthcoming book Vintage Jesus I write,
In Paul’s day, he accused some people of worshiping their stomachs as their god, and in our day it appears that our god has simply moved a short distance south. Americans spend more money each year on pornography than country music, rock music, jazz music, classical music, Broadway plays, and ballet combined. Additionally, some researchers have even said that we spend more money on pornography than we do on professional baseball, basketball, and football combined. Clearly, perversion is officially America’s favorite pastime and a ten-billion-dollar business.
The annual rentals and sales of adult videos and DVDs now top four billion dollars annually. Fully eleven thousand porno movies are made every year, twenty times the number of mainstream movies made by Hollywood! The porn industry now claims over 30 percent of all video rentals on the east and west coasts. Nationally, there are now over 2,400 strip clubs. Some of those clubs generate as much as eight million dollars a year in revenues and employ as many as two hundred dancers.
On the Internet, the top word searched for is “sex,” with “porn,” “nude,” “Playboy,” and “erotic stories” also in the top twenty. Furthermore, 70 percent of porn traffic occurs between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. while people are sitting at work unable to focus on their job because the god of Eros continually beckons. The top research priority in the porn business is getting good quality porn to a cell phone or mobile device so that everyone can feed any twisted desire anytime and anywhere.
The National Council on Sexual Addiction Compulsivity estimated that 6 to 8 percent of Americans are sex addicts, which is 16 to 21.5 million people. Their numbers include young people. Sixty-one percent of all high school seniors have had sexual intercourse, about half are currently sexually active, and 21 percent have had four or more partners. Adolescents have the highest sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates. Approximately one out of four sexually active adolescents becomes infected with an STD each year, for a total of three million cases. People under the age of twenty-five account for two-thirds of all STDs in the United States.
By their graduation date, students will have watched fifteen thousand hours of television, compared to only twelve thousand hours in the classroom. While watching, they will see fourteen thousand sexual references every year, with only 165 of those occasions encouraging birth control, self-control, abstinence, or mentioning anything about the risk of pregnancy or STDs.
Undeniably, people are worshipers and will worship someone or something.
Speaking in terms of worshiping God our Creator and enjoying His creation (including the human body) instead of acting like the pagans denounced in Romans 1:25 who worship creation instead of the Creator, I argued that in many ways sexual sin is now THE sacrament of pagan religion marked by religious zeal, devotion, and sacrifice. For Christians wanting to overcome sexual sin, I then explained eleven ways to worship God that will help to replace the desire for sin with a deeper and more passionate desire for holiness. For those who missed the list, here it is:
Become a Christian and worship the Creator instead of creation.
Live out of your regenerated heart by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Live as a new person with a new mind.
Put your sexual sin to death.
Make no provision for the flesh.
Run to Jesus, your sympathetic High Priest.
Walk in the light with your church, and professionals if needed.
Flee temptation.
Pursue satisfying marriage when ready.
Have your spouse as your standard of beauty.
Repent quickly and keep fighting.
To study the issue of sexual temptation and addiction further, the following books are helpful:
For those struggling with addictions, Ed Welch’s Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave.
February 4, 2008
Posted by Pastor Mark Driscoll
As part of the Religion Saves and Nine Other Misconceptions sermon series, I answered Question #5 on February 3: “How should Christian men and women go about breaking free from the bondage of sexual sin?”Sadly, much of our attendance is normally at the evening services at our Ballard, Wedgwood, and Shoreline campuses, where singles and college students predominate. However, with the Super Bowl being the official “religious” holiday of our nation, our evening attendance looked as if I missed the rapture. The issue of sexual sin is so pressing for so many people that I do pray that those who missed church to watch half-naked people pitch products on their flat screen also tune in to catch the sermon online. You can also find my answers to anonymous text messaging questions from the final two evening services and I pray they are helpful.
“To him be the glory forever. Amen. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 11:36-12:1).
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8).
“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!-assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:17-24).
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away” (Colossians 3:5-8).
“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:13-14).
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).
“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7).
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
“Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: ‘It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.’ But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Corinthians 7:1-5).
“Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man’” (Genesis 2:23).
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11).
For those struggling with sexual purity, Stephen Arterburn’s Every Man’s Battle and Shannon Ethridge’s Every Woman’s Battle.
For those who have been sexually abused, Dan Allender’s The Wounded Heart.
On the issue of pornography, www.xxxchurch.com has some alarming facts and some frank discussions for Christians.
The Original: Overcoming Sexual Sin
Christian Birth Control Options
The entire sermon can be found for free at www.marshillchurch.org or at iTunes. Furthermore, a greatly expanded version of the sermon content will be published in 2009 by my friends at Crossway, along with the answers to the eight other questions chosen by majority vote for the series. Until then, I wanted to briefly summarize some the main points of the sermon and give some recommended resources for those Christians wanting to further study the issue of birth control.
This blog will summarize the various options that a Christian couple has to consider regarding birth control. I will distinguish between no birth control, contraception, which literally means “against (contra) conception”ť (such methods prevent conception whereby a sperm fertilizes an egg), and abortion, which terminates the life of a fertilized egg. There are five levels of birth control, ranging from no birth control to abortion. Levels 1-3 should be considered acceptable for Christian couples, level 4 is more complicated and requires prayerful consideration, and level 5 is forbidden and sinful. Lastly, there are sixteen undergirding aspects of a Christian worldview (such as the Bible’s teaching on creation, life, gender, marriage, sexuality, and the blessing of children, including adoptive), which were included in the sermon but are not included here for the sake of brevity.
Level 1 — No Birth Control
Level 2 — Natural Birth Control
Natural birth control methods have many benefits. Included among them are the fact that, unlike most forms of birth control, they involve the husband, are free, require no surgery, no chemicals, no devices, no drugs, no side effects, are safe, reversible, and can also be used with other methods such as a condom during fertile times. One of the potential difficulties is that they require discipline and planning, which not everyone is equally faithful to pursue. In conclusion, natural birth control is permissible for a Christian couple.
Level — Non-Abortive Birth Control
Permanent non-abortive birth control methods are those chosen by couples who have decided not to have any more children. This can be achieved either by female sterilization, also called tubal ligation, or vasectomy for men.
Three things need to be mentioned regarding permanent non-abortive birth control methods. First, the heart really needs to be examined regarding motive on this issue; this method should never be used to abandon the blessing of children. Second, it is unwise for this decision to be made too early in life because it is not uncommon for a couple to later desire more children, or for someone to become remarried after being divorced or widowed and desire to have children with their next spouse. Third, there are Christians who are legalistic on this issue and declare that there is essentially never a good reason for such a permanent measure. However, life in a fallen world is complicated and painful. For example, a pastor and his wife who are good friends of mine suffered eighteen miscarriages before he had a vasectomy to stop what had become for them incredible physical and emotional pain.
To summarize, levels 1-3 are options for Christian couples to consider without concern that they may terminate a fertilized egg and thereby take a human life. At the next level we tread into more murky waters that are more difficult to discern for Christian couples.
Level 4 — Potentially Abortive Birth Control
Today, 50 to 60 million women worldwide take the pill each day and it is the most widely prescribed drug in the world. The debate over hormonal birth control, particularly birth control pills, is whether or not it results in the taking of a life by destroying a fertilized egg. Randy Alcorn, Christian author and teacher, has addressed this issue in an article called “Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?”ť Alcorn refers to the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR), saying:
The Physician’s Desk Reference is the most frequently used reference book by physicians in America. The PDR . . . lists and explains the effects, benefits, and risks of every medical product that can be legally prescribed. The Food and Drug Administration requires that each manufacturer provide accurate information on its products, based on scientific research and laboratory tests.
As you read the following, keep in mind that the term “implantation,” by definition, always involves an already conceived human being. Therefore, any agent which serves to prevent implantation functions as an abortifacient.
This is the PDR’s product information for Ortho-Cept, as listed by Ortho, one of the largest manufacturers of the Pill:
Combination oral contraceptives act by suppression of gonadotropins. Although the primary mechanism of this action is inhibition of ovulation, other alterations include changes in the cervical mucus, which increase the difficulty of sperm entry into the uterus, and changes in the endometrium which reduce the likelihood of implantation.
The FDA-required research information on the birth control pills Ortho-Cyclen and Ortho Tri-Cyclen also state that they cause “changes in . . . the endometrium (which reduce the likelihood of implantation).”
Notice that these changes in the endometrium, and their reduction in the likelihood of implantation, are not stated by the manufacturer as speculative or theoretical effects, but as actual ones. They consider this such a well-established fact that it requires no statement of qualification.
Syntex and Wyeth, the other two major pill-manufacturers, say essentially the same thing about their oral contraceptives.
In summary, Alcorn argues that there is not one but rather three purposes for birth control pills. First, the pill exists to inhibit ovulation, which is its primary means of birth control. Second, the pill thickens the cervical mucus with the effect that it becomes more difficult for sperm to travel to the egg. Third, the pill thins and shrivels the lining of the uterus so that it is unable or less able to facilitate the implantation of the newly fertilized egg.
The bottom line is this, the first two purposes for birth control pills are contraceptive in nature and therefore acceptable for use by a Christian couple. However, the third use of birth control pills is potentially abortive in that it seeks to disrupt the ongoing life of a fertilized egg. That potentiality is incredibly controversial; thus, faithful Christians who are staunchly pro-life and believe that life begins at conception are divided over the issue. Even Focus on the Family and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations (CMDA) are undecided on the issue.
Therefore, whether or not a Christian couple should use birth control pills is a very complicated issue on which faithful pro-life Christians and doctors disagree. As a result, it seems legalistic and inappropriate to declare that use of the pill is sinful. Yet, at the same time it seems that Christian couples need to be informed of the potential abortive nature of birth control pills so that they can study the matter further and prayerfully come to an informed decision according to their own conscience and the leading of God the Holy Spirit.
Level 5 — Abortive Murder
Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers of the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, says that “the primary action of the IUD must be classified as an abortifacient.” (Thomas W. Hilgers, “The Intrauterine Device: Contraceptive or Abortifacient?”ť Marriage and Family Newsletter, January–March 1974, 14).
Focus on the Family has also issued this statement:
birth control pills which contain only the hormone progesterone do not reliably prevent ovulation (the release of the egg from the ovary). This is also true of Norplant, a device implanted under the skin which slowly releases progesterone. With these methods, the pregnancies which do occur have a greater chance of being ectopic–that is, outside of the uterus. This may be evidence that these contraceptives act in some cases to disrupt normal implantation of an early pregnancy and not merely to prevent conception. Thus, the use of Norplant and the progesterone-only pill is problematic for those who believe life begins at conception.
It may seem odd for me, as a pastor writing primarily for Christian readers, to include this level as a form of birth control. Yet, tragically, many people, including Christians, use abortion as a form of birth control. Undoubtedly, there are very rare cases where even the most devoutly Bible-believing, pro-life Christians are caught on the horns of an ethical dilemma involving abortion (e.g., when the mother’s life is at stake), but for the purposes of this blog I am speaking of abortion in its majority sense as a murderous form of birth control. Regarding abortion, a division of Focus on the Family says,
The Alan Guttmacher Institute is a nonprofit corporation for reproductive health research and policy analysis. The Institute is also a public education arm of Planned Parenthood. It reports that one in six women who have had abortions are evangelical Christians. Based on these statistics, 5.6 million women in our churches have chosen abortion as a way out of an unwanted pregnancy. Each year, 1.5 million American women have an abortion. This means 250,000 evangelical Christian women could choose to abort a child this year.
Women ages 20 to 24 obtain 32 percent of all abortions. Teenagers obtain 20 percent.
Forty percent of women ages 15 to 44 have had at least one previous abortion.
Fifty percent of women who have abortions use it as their sole means of birth control.
Fifty-eight percent of abortion patients say they used birth control during the month of conception.
Some will argue that there is a difference between a child in a mother’s womb and one outside, yet the early church saw both as equally living people and the taking of life in either state as equally murderous. Their convictions were based on Scripture, which uses the same word (brephos) for Elizabeth’s unborn child John the Baptizer in Luke 1:41, 44, as is used for the unborn baby Jesus in Mary’s womb in Luke 2:12, and also for the children brought to Jesus in Luke 18:15. Simply, in the divinely inspired pages of Scripture, God reveals to us that a child in the womb and a child singing and dancing around Jesus in worship are equally human beings who bear the image of God and thankfully Mary did not abort the “tissue” in her womb because He was God (see Charles H. H. Scobie, Ways of Our God: An Approach to Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 834).
Thankfully, Jesus can forgive any sin, even the sin of murder, as he did while hanging on the cross and asking God the Father to forgive those who murdered him. Furthermore, pro-life ministries are devoted to extending the love, grace, mercy, compassion, and support needed for men and women who have suffered from abortion to experience healing and new life. In our church this includes a ministry to post-abortive women run by female deacons who were once sexually active, fornicating feminists who aborted their own children only later to meet Jesus, repent, experience new life, and become godly wives, mothers, and church leaders.
In summary, as a pastor I would support Christian couples practicing levels 1-3 of birth control, urge those considering level 4 to prayerfully and carefully reflect on their decision, and oppose any Christian couple considering level 5, unless there were extremely weighty extenuating circumstances. In eleven years as the pastor of Mars Hill Church, which has seen hundreds and hundreds of weddings and pregnancies, I have not yet faced such circumstances and by God’s grace pray I never do. Should that occasion occur, I would work with the family, aided by prayer from our church, counsel from my fellow elders, and outside expert medical counsel to arrive at a decision based on carefully examining all of the variables involved.
January 6, 2008
Posted by Pastor Mark Driscoll
As part of the Religion Saves and 9 Other Misconceptions sermon series, I answered the ninth question chosen by voters on January 6, 2008: “There’s no doubt the Bible says children are a blessing, but the Bible doesn’t seem to address the specific topic of birth control. Is this a black and white topic, or does it fall under liberties?”
Some Christian couples determine to only use prayer in their family planning. As a result, they simply enjoy normal marital sexual relations and trust that if God desires for them to have a child, He will provide according to His timing. When this is chosen as the course of action by a Christian couple, family planning by simply praying and trusting that whatever happens is God’s good will is acceptable. The only problem is when this conscience preference is legalistically imposed on others as if it were the only acceptable option for a Christian married couple.
Natural methods include any method of contraception where pregnancy is prevented by abstaining from vaginal sexual intercourse on days where the wife is likely to be fertile. The most popular natural method is the calendar-rhythm method, which has been replaced by more effective methods such as the symptothermal method and the standard days method. Fertility computers are a new development in contraceptive technology that makes these natural methods easier to use by telling a couple when sex will or won’t result in pregnancy. Natural methods are approved for use by the Roman Catholic Church. Furthermore, abstaining from sexual intercourse does not necessarily require abstaining from all sexual activity.
Like the natural methods, non-abortive birth control methods also seek to influence the timing of conception but do so by taking either temporary or permanent additional measures. Temporary non-abortive birth control methods are generally barrier methods. Barrier methods of contraception include all methods that permit intercourse but prevent the sperm and egg from coming together. For husbands, this includes condoms. For wives, it includes the diaphragm, contraceptive sponges, cervical caps, and female condoms.
The pill is a categorical term for more than forty types of oral contraceptives, which are also referred to as birth control pills and sometimes combination pills because they contain a mixture of estrogen and progestin. These hormonal contraceptives are designed to override the female body’s normal cycle and “trick” the brain into believing she’s already pregnant, thus preventing the release of an egg from the ovaries.
Abortion is the taking of a human life through the killing of a fertilized egg. Biblically, it is also known as the sin of murder. Abortions include medical procedures of various kinds as well as RU-486 or the morning-after pill. Other items that cause abortion are the intrauterine device (IUD) and Norplant, which do not prevent conception but prevent implantation of an already fertilized ovum. The result is an abortion, the killing of a conceived person.
The Original: Chirstian Birth Control Options
Post by: Josh LaRavia
2008-11-04 09:22:47
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