Sexual Past

[Dave-W]

Ah, the wonderful fruits of sexual legalism in the Church.

I have seen it over and over. And in some places it STILL is like that. I fight it and speak against it where I can.

That absolutely sucks. I pray for you and your wife.

Thanks.

 

[Purge187]

Same here, Dave.

I know I shouldn't, but I hate people like Joshua Harris and Bill Gothard for wounding people's God-given sexuality. I make the rounds on the internet to help others; I think God sometimes allows us trials for the sake of being able to empathize and minister to others in similar places.

 

[Dave-W]

I do not know that much about Harris; but Gothard certainly had his problems. I would say LaHay was equally bad. But the fault was not with them but a byproduct of the gentilization of the church in the 2nd century. Cut off from the Jewish understanding of the Jewish authors of scripture, the early church fathers intrepreted and twisted the prohibitions on lust and premarital sex into a worship of virginity bordering on idolatry. Some wrote that even married sex was so abhorant to God that the Holy Spirit had to leave the house when a husband and wife were so occupied. Jerome wrote that the ONLY reason God allowed married sex was to make more virgins for the church.

So what any of those contemporary guys wrote, it was not as bad as the early church fathers.

 

[Purge187]

I do not know that much about Harris; but Gothard certainly had his problems. I would say LaHay was equally bad. But the fault was not with them but a byproduct of the gentilization of the church in the 2nd century. Cut off from the Jewish understanding of the Jewish authors of scripture, the early church fathers intrepreted and twisted the prohibitions on lust and premarital sex into a worship of virginity bordering on idolatry. Some wrote that even married sex was so abhorant to God that the Holy Spirit had to leave the house when a husband and wife were so occupied. Jerome wrote that the ONLY reason God allowed married sex was to make more virgins for the church.

So what any of those contemporary guys wrote, it was not as bad as the early church fathers.

True. Joshua Pharisee and Bill Gothard are just picking up where guys like Origen left off.

 

[Dave-W]

True. Joshua Pharisee and Bill Gothard are just picking up where guys like Origen left off.

And we and our fellow believers are the ones who reap the bad fruit of that. We have been doing so for over 1800 years ......

Thank GOD that people like Shedd, Dobson, the Penners and others in the 1970s and 80s started reversing that trend by speaking out against these millenia old mindsets.

 

[Gkosh99]

Both myself and my husband had past experiences before marriage, and for me at least, it has been very difficult to overcome the guilt. We have both prayed for forgiveness, and believe that God has forgiven us, but if I'm feeling a little blue, I am reminded of my past sins and I feel the guilt again. My advice to youngster is that they stay away from such sin for their own sake. It has been 4 years since I got married, but my past sin can still hurt me. I wouldn't want anyone to go through that kind of pain. Blessings!