Sexual Immorality

A lady doctor working in Rajaji hospital at Madurai, recently studied the sexual behaviour of women in South India. Her study included doctors, nurses, teachers and village women. Totally she surveyed the sexual behaviour of 205 ladies in her research work.

Her study revealed that 86 women were involved in love affairs before marriage, and 61 women had sex before marriage. She also found that 62 married ladies had sexual contacts outside marriage, and among them 12 were having contacts with many persons. This survey shows the actual picture of sexual immorality in our country.

In this context, what is the Biblical teaching on sexual immorality? The Bible tells believers to, “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” I Cor 6:18. The Bible says that sexual immorality is a sin against the body, and it brings judgment of God. Do we find such behaviour among Christians?

Mr George Werwer, the leader and founder of Operation Mobilisation, said in a youth conference in Walsrode (Germany). “Many Christians, among them the leaders of some Christian organisations, have sexual problems. Some have never learned to handle their sexuality in a natural way”. This situation has arisen mainly because the believers are also carried away by the philosophy of sex taught and practised by the people of the world.

They say, ‘My sexual behaviour doesn’t have any effect on my usefulness to God’; ‘I am dead careful’; ‘I’ll never get caught’; ‘I can get out of my relationship whenever I want’; ‘Everyone else is doing it, so it is not wrong’; and ‘Our God is a forgiving God and so He understands me and will never punish me’. But the Bible teaches clearly on sex and its consequences in Proverbs 5 to 7, and gives a solution for the sexual sins.

1. Causes for failure in sex:

• Not comprehending the destructive power of sex: “Whoever commits adultery with the woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul” Prov 6:32 and “My son pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding” to save yourself from the perils of adultery Prov 5:1.
• Not knowing the allurement and seductive power of sex: “Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, not let her allure you with her eye lids” Prov 6:25 and, “With her enticing speech she caused him to yield; with her flattering lips she seduced him, immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks” Prov 7:21, 22.
• Not heeding to the clear warning against sex: “Remove your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honour to others and years to the cruel one” Prov 5:8, 9 and “Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; Do not stray into her paths” Prov 7:25.
• Not learning from the past experiences on sex: “For she has cast down many wounded; and all who were slain by her were strong men” Prov 7:26. 

2. Consequences of failure in sex: Severely damages the body: “You mourn at last, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and say ‘How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof, I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me, I was on the verge of total ruin” Prov 5:11-14.

• Sends the soul to the hell: “Whoever commits adultery with the woman lacks understanding;  He who does so destroys his own soul” Prov 6:32 and “Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death” Prov 7:27.
• Spoils the whole life: “For by means of a harlot, A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life” Prov 6:26 and “Immediately he went after her… an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would take his life” Prov 7:22, 23.
• Stains the honour: “Wounds and dishonour he (whoever commits adultery) will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away” Prov 6:33 and “… Do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honour to others and your years to the cruel one” Prov 5:8, 9.
• Steals the freedom: “His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin” Prov 5:22 and “With her flattering lips she seduced him, immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks… as a bird hasten to the snare…” Prov 7:21-23.
• Swindles the material possessions: “Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, and your labours go to the house of a foreigner” Prov 5:10 and “For by means of a harlot, a man is reduced to crust of bread” Prov 6:26.

3. Cure for sexual problems:

• Personal awareness of its perils: “Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding, He who does so destroys his own soul” Prov 6:32.
• Positively taking steps to overcome sex: “Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house” Prov 5:8 and “Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids” Prov 6:25.
• Putting the Word of God in the heart: “My son, keep my words… Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart… that they may keep you from the immoral woman…” Prov 7:1-5 and “For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light… to keep you from the evil woman…” Prov 6:23, 34.
• Purposefully resisting it: “Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths” Prov 7:25 and “With her enticing speech she caused him to yield” Prov 7:21.

The Bible calls us to ‘reckon ourselves to be dead to sin (Rom 6:11) and yield our members not to sin but to God (Rom 6:13,  Let us today decide to resist sexual sins and purpose in our heart not yield to its pressures.