Contributed by Abbey Thangiah • Oct 29, 2024
Christians have a high view of sexuality, and yet we are freer from the need of it than anyone else. Sex has certainly been a taboo for some and a flamboyant behaviour for some. It is sad how society has trivialised sex. In the 80’s we had the TV series Dynasty. In the 90’s, we had Beverly Hills 90210. Nowadays there are many high school dramas such as “Elite” that directly and indirectly emphasise sex as a part of life that doesn’t require marriage. Many tend to follow what they see and watch and consider it a norm because others follow it. The Bible is very honest. It speaks about the sins of the biblical heroes, even when it involved porn and sexual sins.
There was a playboy judge, Samson whose BMI (Body Mass Index) was perfect. His strength, muscles and hair was certainly a sight to behold. He would have been on the cover of magazines to get citizens to sign up as soldiers. He also was intelligent, he told riddles and showed off in elaborate parties. He was also a successful warrior and judge. The Bible showed he was weak when it came to women. Like the Game of Thrones, he regularly visited prostitutes. He also forced his parents to marry him to a Philistine.
The singer Neil Sadaka tried to warn Samson in 1959 with the song “Run Samson Run” , but he was two thousand years late. Delilah the courtesan was on her way. She must have been a beauty since Samson spent the most of his final years as a judge, with her. To this day I ask, “how dumb can Samson be” because Delilah coaxed and outsmarted Samson? She did it not once, twice but three times before he lost his strength. In God’s own way, he gave Samson two chances to come back to God’s way. Samson sadly chose to fulfil his sexual fantasies instead. He was so focused on his own sexual pleasures to the point that he was not thinking about breaking his Nazarite vow by telling the truth to Delilah. He must have thought he was unbreakable. Samson let his ego, pride and desires above the truth that having sex with a prostitute is wrong. To this day, prostitution is the oldest profession because people justify and isolate the fulfilment of sexual desires to serve a Faithful God.
David was chosen as king. The church has just completed a saga of David in 2 Samuel. This is nothing short of a ’Game of Thrones” tv series. David watched a lady bathe naked on the roof. This is porn before technology. I will further speculate that this wasn’t the first time. This was above the pleasures he had with the wives and concubines he already had. If David had fled like Joseph, probably this shameful saga wouldn’t have happened.
Watching a woman bathe naked was only the first part. David then acted on his carnal desires by inviting her to the palace. Refusing to obey a king is punishable by death so Bathsheba had no choice. David could have anyone in the kingdom, but he chose to have sex with another person’s wife and she became pregnant. He went out of the way to cover this up. Since there were no DNA or blood tests back then, he tried to bring Uriah to be with her during her pregnancy but Uriah was a dedicated soldier. To cover this up further, he ordered Uriah to be killed in battle. David only repented when the prophet brought it out in the open. An innocent child had to die as a consequence of this sin.
Sexual sins are serious and come with severe punishment. It was true then. It is true now. I think of a group of married colleagues covering their “company trips” to each other’s wives (and husbands). They feel so smart that they have successfully escaped for decades. I also think of people who are cohabitating. They have lived for years and do not see the point of getting married at all even after having children. For them, marriage is indeed a waste of time and a show to make parents and relatives happy.
Joseph did the right thing by fleeing from Potiphar. There is actually no other way to stop sexual sin. If drinking causes you to be sexual, flee alcohol. If your friends justify sex and always talk about how ‘good’ their massage was, you really need new friends. Dwelling in sexual sin is like walking in a quicksand you will only drown further. Only God can rescue you. Call to Him. DUMC has a Men’s Fellowship that regularly prays for each other and deals with these issues. Rightnowmedia.org has amazing resources for men too -grab your free membership via DUMC.