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</script> <h6 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13px;">The Sex talk.</span></h6> <p><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-256" title="Babie" src="http://springvalestudents.org/benbartosik/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Babie-300x225.jpg" alt="Babie" width="300" height="225" /></p> <p>Where to begin…</p> <p>I actually had so much material going into this topic that I wasn’t even really sure where to start or where to end up. My desk was literally covered in papers and books and scattered notes with a wide variety of thoughts and scripture stats that I was having a very difficult time putting it into a concise, linear talk.</p> <p>I had left off last week with this idea of <em>disconnect</em>. Human relationships have become disconnected. Sex, marriage, love, and dating have all become disconnected from one another. We’ve become disconnected from God and from each other. We find human sexuality today right in the middle of this disconnect.</p> <p>I began with a couple problems. The first is that this topic is <strong>controversial</strong>. Which is why churches rarely talk about it. Everyone is going to be representing their own expectations and opinions. I had to be aware of that.<br /> The second problem is that this topic is <strong>personal</strong>. There are both current struggles and past backgrounds represented. It’s not just a theoretical abstract; we’re talking about personal stories. I had to be sensitive to that aspect as well.<br /> But the biggest problem, the reason this topic matters, is <strong>the problem with sex itself</strong>. Something just isn’t right. Sex has become the ultimate achievement in dating or ‘hooking up’. Becomes a bit of a conquest or a goal. Virginity is mocked while sexual freedom and experimentation is considered open-minded and outwardly praised. Our world encourages sex.</p> <p>Turn on the TV, go to a movie, listen to the radio, open a magazine, even drive down the street and you will notice something. <strong>Sex is everywhere</strong>. Our society sells it and profits off of it. And in the process we’ve become so desensitized or disgusted with it that it’s purpose and beauty have been lost and perverted. This dirty little secret is out there and we have to be willing to address it and seek to understand God’s purpose and beauty.</p> <p>You can’t really discuss this topic of sex without considering how we were made, who we were created to be. Or, more importantly, who created us.</p> <p><strong>God created our sexuality</strong>. And like everything he made, he had a good and perfect purpose behind it. It was made to be so much more than what our current culture makes it out to be.</p> <p>Humanity was created specially. Sometimes we forget that. The creation account in Genesis describes God as putting his very image into us. This is something he only does with humans. It doesn’t talk about trees or dogs or monkeys or amoebas or dolphins or lizards having that image of God. Just us. This is a special blessing that he gives only to us. God breathed his very image into us when he created us and all of us, every single human being, carry this within our very being. This is ultimately what it means to be human. God saw such beauty and purpose in us that he finishes by describing us as “<em>very </em>good.” And this is of vital importance to the topic of sex.</p> <p><strong>How we view each other, humanity, is central to how we view sex. </strong></p> <p>We’ve traded God’s purpose in human sexuality for something else; something cheaper and less. Something that focuses on temporary satisfaction and pleasure. Something that depreciates the value of humanity into sexual objects for our selfish purposes. The bible calls this <em>lust</em>.</p> <p>The world, on the other hand, refers to this as sexual freedom. They say that what, or who, you do with your sexuality is (more or less) your own business and that you are encouraged to embrace that part of you. It actually says that we are most free when we embrace and act upon our every desire and indulge our fantasies. The world says that this is who we were born to be.</p> <p>But the bible stands in direct opposition to that. And it actually says the opposite. It refers to this “sexual freedom” as slavery. Giving in to our every lust and desire isn’t free, it’s slavery. Lust provides momentary satisfaction in getting what we want; but once we get it we usually end up disappointed or uninterested. That initial feeling of pleasure, however, felt so good that we begin to crave it again. And so, in order to get that feeling of excitement or pleasure back we return to our lusts, giving in to them over and over again, acting on every craving and desire until we become slaves to our passions. That’s an addiction. Ultimately, lust will only leave you feeling unsatisfied and unhappy. Empty and disconnected. I was reading some <a href="http://www.sexscience.org/uploads/media/JSR_43-3_Grello.pdf" target="_blank">studies</a> yesterday in which links have been made between casual sex and depression, suicide, and drug use.</p> <p>So I ask, does this sound like something God would create and call “very good.”</p> <p>No, there is a definite problem with the way we view sexuality, and more importantly, the way we view each other. Because how we view humanity, each other, is central to how we view sex.</p> <p><strong>And actually, how we view humanity, each other, is central to how we think about God.</strong></p> <p>When we treat each other as sexual objects, as a means of satisfying our desires and cravings, we’re actually doing something very dangerous. We’re making them less than human. We’re perverting that beautiful image of God that was put into each and every one of us. We’re distorting it and it’s ruining the way we see each other. But it’s also distorting how we think about God.<br /> Because how we treat one another is a reflection of how we feel about the one who created us.</p> <p>And we are all image bearers of the one who created us. So I pray that we would begin to see one another through his eyes and with his heart.</p> <p>Thanks,</p> <p><strong>Additional Notes:</strong> This was only part 1. Next week, Alex and I will be tackling a bunch of questions from the students themselves and focusing a bit more on the purpose of human sexuality. Should be good.<br /> Also, a lot of my influence on this topic has come from several places but specifically from a book called “Sex God” by Rob Bell. It is a study of human sexuality and identity as it relates to how God created us. I highly recommend it.</p> <p>*<a href="http://springvalestudents.org/srhighsite/podcasts/thursdaytalks/babiesdontgrowontrees.mp3" target="_blank">Audio Available</a>.</p> <script type="text/javascript">tweetcount_url='http://benbartosik.com/?p=255';tweetcount_title='Babies Don't Grow On Trees (Part 1)';tweetcount_cnt=0;tweetcount_src='RT @benbartosik blogged';tweetcount_via=false;</script><div style="float:left;margin-right:10px;"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://widgets.backtype.com/tweetcount.js"></script></div><a href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://benbartosik.com/?p=255&title=Babies Don't Grow On Trees (Part 1)&srcTitle=benbartosik DOT com&srcURL=http://springvalestudents.org/benbartosik"target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://springvalestudents.org/benbartosik/wp-content/plugins/wp-google-buzz/icon/small_horiz.png" style="opacity:1;filter:alpha(opacity=100)" onmouseover="this.style.opacity=0.7;this.filters.alpha.opacity=70" onmouseout="this.style.opacity=1;this.filters.alpha.opacity=100"/> </a> </div>  <h3 id="respond" class="post">Leave a Reply</h3> <form action="http://springvalestudents.org/benbartosik/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform"> <p><input type="text" name="author" id="author" value="" size="22" tabindex="1" class="text" /> <label for="author"><small>Name (required)</small></label></p> <p><input type="text" name="email" id="email" value="" size="22" tabindex="2" class="text" /> <label for="email"><small>Mail (will not be published) (required)</small></label></p> <p><input type="text" name="url" id="url" value="" size="22" tabindex="3" class="text" /> <label for="url"><small>Website</small></label></p>  <p><textarea name="comment" id="comment" cols="100%" rows="10" tabindex="4" class="text textarea"></textarea></p> <p><input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit" tabindex="5" value="Submit" class="btn submit btn-teal" /> <input type="hidden" name="comment_post_ID" value="255" /> </p> </form> </div> </div> <div id="right-col"> <div id="logo"> <h1>Ministry Commentary with a Hint of Professionalism</h1> </div> <ul id="right-content"> <li id="text-2" class="widget widget_text"> <div class="textwidget"><a href="http://twitter.com/benbartosik"> <img src=" http://springvalestudents.org/Benbartosik/tweet.png" alt="http://twitter.com/benbartosik"></img></a> <script src="http://widgets.twimg.com/j/2/widget.js"></script> <script> new TWTR.Widget({ version: 2, type: 'profile', rpp: 1, interval: 6000, width: 250, height: 300, theme: { shell: { background: '#333333', color: '#ffffff' }, tweets: { background: '#000000', color: '#ffffff', links: '#4aed05' } }, features: { scrollbar: false, loop: false, live: false, hashtags: true, timestamp: true, avatars: false, behavior: 'all' } }).render().setUser('benbartosik').start(); </script></div> </li><li id="text-4" class="widget widget_text"> <div class="textwidget"><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=Benbartosik-dot-com&loc=en_US"> <img src=" http://springvalestudents.org/Benbartosik/email.png" alt="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=Benbartosik-dot-com&loc=en_US"></img></a></div> </li><li id="tag_cloud-2" class="widget widget_tag_cloud"><h5 class="widgettitle">Article Tags:</h5><div><a href='http://benbartosik.com/?tag=culture' class='tag-link-50' title='3 topics' style='font-size: 10.545454545455pt;'>Culture</a> <a href='http://benbartosik.com/?tag=design' class='tag-link-49' title='2 topics' style='font-size: 9.2727272727273pt;'>Design</a> <a href='http://benbartosik.com/?tag=ministry-thoughts' class='tag-link-47' title='12 topics' style='font-size: 22pt;'>Ministry Thoughts</a> <a href='http://benbartosik.com/?tag=random-thoughts' class='tag-link-52' title='3 topics' style='font-size: 10.545454545455pt;'>Random Thoughts</a> <a href='http://benbartosik.com/?tag=social-media' class='tag-link-45' title='1 topic' style='font-size: 8pt;'>Social Media</a> <a href='http://benbartosik.com/?tag=sr-high-updates' class='tag-link-54' title='1 topic' style='font-size: 8pt;'>Sr. High Updates</a> <a href='http://benbartosik.com/?tag=thursday-talks' class='tag-link-48' title='10 topics' style='font-size: 19.454545454545pt;'>Thursday Talks</a></div> </li> </ul> </ul> <br /><br /><br /> </div> </div></div> <div id="footer" class="clearfix"> <div> <ul class="footer-pages clearfix"> <li class="first"><a href="http://benbartosik.com" title="benbartosik DOT com Home">Home</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-183"><a href="http://benbartosik.com/?page_id=183" title="About the Author">About the Author</a></li> </ul> <br><p><big><strong>© Copyright benbartosik DOT com. 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