Church of God, New World Ministries

Love, Marriage And Sex - Part Four

Why Sex?

History is being written in unhappy, frustrated lives. Why is the “New Morality” not solving the problem?

The more human leaders have tampered with moral codes, social regulations, forms of government, and international movements for peace, the further they have plunged the world into evils, wars and violence, human misery and suffering. And the further they have driven humanity from mankind’s transcendent potential.

There is – we repeat again and again – a cause for every effect.

And of course! The missing dimension – the basic foundational knowledge – the very premise for all explanations, philosophies and guidance in conduct. And the way of life that would cause all good.

Our first parents rejected revelation as the starting point in knowledge and human conduct. They rejected the law of God. All humanity has continued in that fatal error. Through nearly 6,000 long and painful years the lesson has been written in cruel experience.

Man is a physical being, but with a spiritual attribute. And of the whole man, the mind, with spiritual attributes and potential is the all-important factor. The body is merely the mechanism, or vehicle, that the mind directs and uses. But how is the mind connected with sex?

Sex anatomy and sexual functioning are connected directly with the mind through the system of nerves. There can be no use of sex apart from the mind. Every bodily action is directed, consciously or subconsciously, by the mind.

And so it is, that attitude is an all-important fact of sex, and directly associated with its every function.

So there are two phases of any use of sex – the one, of first importance, the mental-spiritual phase: the other, physical.

Thus, as in almost every activity of life, attitude is of prime importance. Direction of mind!

Now, let’s understand what is so fatally wrong with all this modern knowledge of sex. In both the “Old Morality” and the “New Morality” of this world’s teachings and customs, ignorance of the Creator’s intended purpose, and dissemination of evil moral teachings have poisoned human minds, and injected damage-causing attitudes.

A mixture of half good food and half potassium cyanide will kill you as surely as the dose of potassium cyanide alone!

Not all of the purely physical knowledge published in this modern onslaught of sex books has been correct by any means. But even if the dissemination of the physical details, of itself, were completely true, it is combined, in every case whether in such a book or from other sources with a false and poisonous attitude of mind concerning sex purposes and uses!

It thus becomes deadly moral and spiritual poison. And today’s world is gulping down the fatal dosage! When physical information is combined with a poisonous mental attitude, it emphatically destroys moral purity and character!

Now consider the first man. Adam was not born: he was created, suddenly, a full-grown adult man. His wife Eve was created, suddenly, a full-grown adult woman.

But we must not suppose that they were created with a full storehouse of knowledge implanted automatically in their minds. Perhaps you never thought of it in this light before, but consider:

How did we, the adults of today, come into possession of the knowledge we have? We were not born with it. A newborn babe knows nothing at birth. He is born with a mind, capable of absorbing knowledge – a very little at first, but cumulatively additive. Humans must be taught – they must learn.

That is one of the vital reasons why marriage and family life are necessary for humans, unlike animals. Human babies start out very helpless. They need parental care, protection, teaching, training and love. They need the warmth and companionship of family life.

What was the difference between Adam, at the instant of his creation, and a baby at the instant of birth?

Within a portion of a single day, an adult man was miraculously created, suddenly, out of the dust of the ground! Adam was created with a mind, as yet unfilled with knowledge, but capable of receiving knowledge, reasoning from it, acting on it.

And it was a mind free from defect or degeneration! What, then, was the difference between Adam at the instant of his creation, and a baby at birth? He was started off as an adult, his mind had adult capabilities, but he was as much without knowledge, and therefore as helpless, as a newborn babe! He was created with adult capacity, but not with adult knowledge.

The very first need of the first man and the first woman was to be given essential knowledge! That is humanity’s first need today, but humanity has rejected that essential knowledge. But of necessity, the first man and woman were created with ability of speech and of understanding speech as taught them by God.

And here enters a basic truth long ago forgotten by the world! The Almighty is not only the Creator! He is also the Great Educator!

The Eternal instructed the first man and woman. And He instructed them about sex. The Great Designer, Creator and Lawgiver revealed for mankind the basic foundation of all knowledge! That foundation of necessary knowledge – not otherwise discoverable by man, is available today in the Bible.

Yet our first parents rejected God’s revelation of knowledge, rebelled against God and His law for man’s welfare! And their children have been rejecting and rebelling ever since!

Think of it! God the Creator is also Ruler of all His vast creation. He is also the Great and Supreme Educator for all mankind. Yet mankind rejects Him as both Ruler and Educator, and most reject Him as Creator!

On the physical plane, God instructed the first human family in regard to food (Gene. 1:29). And He also instructed them in regard to sex.

“And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good’ (Gen. 1:26-28).

God made mankind male and female. God created sex in humans. And God said it was very good – not evil, shameful, degrading or sinful of itself. Only wrong use becomes sinful.

God created sex for use. Had He not intended sex to be used, He would not have designed it. In the angel family God did not intend sex to be used – so He did not design angels to be male and female. Angels have no sex apparatus, perform no sex function, and do not reproduce.

If the Creator designed human sex anatomy, and set in motion human sex stimuli and capacity for functioning, he did if for definite purposes.  And God most assuredly did not neglect His responsibility of revealing to that first man and woman the right purposes this functioning within their bodies and minds was to serve.

In the passage quoted above, God commanded sex to be used for reproduction! He said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 1:28). But that is far, far from the only purpose as we shall see later!

Now reproduction, merely as such, is of course, common to animals and plants, as well as humans. But in humans, reproduction has a sacred and God-plane meaning not applicable to any other kind of life!

We shall see, later, that the birth of a human baby differs in striking manner from that of animals. Animals are not born to become the very heirs of God!

In humans, there is tremendous, awe-inspiring meaning and significance to begettal and birth that is entirely nonexistent with animals or plants. And God intended – had man been willing to heed God’s instruction that the very knowledge of these deep and wonderful meanings should bring man dynamic joy!

So far as the purely physical functions of the process are concerned, reproduction is the same in mammals as in humans. That is a mere physical process. But there is deep, spiritually transcendent meaning in human begettal, gestation and birth that raises it to an altogether and incomparably higher plane than mere animal reproduction.

Human children are begotten through sex. And that very begettal, period of gestation and birth of a human baby gives us the very picture of the spiritual salvation and gift of eternal life made possible through Jesus Christ!

This is another reason Satan seeks to deceive his world regarding the purpose and right attitude toward sex! By this very blinding of the world to God’s purposes of sex, Satan has hidden from his world the true knowledge about God – that God is actually a Family, a divine Kingdom into which we may be born! He has hidden from the world the real truth of salvation - what it is, where it leads, how we receive it!

This false morality – both the so-called old and the so-called new – has been a far more potent weapon for the destruction of humanity than has been realized!

Now see and understand how human reproduction pictures spiritual salvation!

All human life comes from a tiny egg, called an ovum, produced inside the human mother. This ovum is about the size of a pinpoint. Inside it, when highly magnified, can be seen a small nucleus. But this ovum has a very limited life, of itself! Some doctors and scientists believe it has a life of some 24 hours, unless fertilized by a sperm from a male.

But human life may be imparted to it by a sperm cell, produced in the body of the human father, The sperm cell is the smallest cell in the human body – about one-fiftieth the  size of the ovum. That sperm – technically named a spermatozoon (plural spermatozoa) on entering an ovum, finds its way to and joins with the nucleus. This imparts life – physical human life – to the ovum.

But it is not a born human being. Human life has merely been begotten. For the first four months it is called an embryo. After that, until birth it is called a fetus. This human life starts very small – the size of a tiny pinpoint – and the sperm that generates it is the smallest cell in a human body!

Once begotten, it must be fed and nourished by a physical food from the ground, through the mother. From this physical nourishment it must grow, and grow and grow – until physically large enough to be born – after nine months.

As it grows, the physical organs and characteristics gradually are formed. Soon a spinal column forms. A heart forms and begins to beat. Other internal organs form. Finally hair begins to grow on the head, fingernails and toenails develop – facial features gradually shape up. By nine months the average normal fetus has grown to a weight of approximately six to nine pounds, and is ready to be born.

Now notice carefully the astounding comparison! First, understand briefly what spiritual salvation is. Few professing Christians understand this.

“God said, in the “forbidden fruit” chapters of Genesis, that man is wholly composed of physical matter from the ground (Gen. 2:7 and 3:19). Job said there is a spirit in man (Job 32:8). It is explained in I Corinthians 2 that no man could have human comprehension, knowledge and intellect, but by “the spirit of man which is in him” (v. 11).

This spirit essence is not the man, but something in the wholly physical man. It imparts the power of intellect to the physical brain. It marks the vast, vast difference between animal brain and human mind. This spirit cannot see, hear or think. The physical brain sees through the eye, hears through the physical ear, and thinks with the physical brain. Yet this spirit acts as a computer, adding to the brain the psychic and intellectual power. It also adds to man a spiritual and moral faculty not possessed by animals.

The human’s life, however, is not supplied by this spirit. Human life is merely a temporary physical and chemical existence, caused by the breathing of air, the circulation of blood by the heartbeats, and by refueling through food and water. Man’s life is mere temporary physical chemical existence, like the life of an automobile engine, or all vertebrates.

 Remember, God told Adam and Eve that for disobedience, and stealing the forbidden fruit, they would surely die. But God had offered them freely the gift of eternal life, by choosing the tree of life.

When they chose the forbidden fruit, God drove the man (and his wife) out of the Garden, “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the three of life, and eat, and live for ever (Gen. 3:22).

But, through Christ, a repentant humanity may yet receive God’s gift of eternal life. To Nicodemas, Jesus explained, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Of course Nicodemas couldn’t quite grasp that. He knew that he had been born by being delivered from his mother’s womb. He knew the difference between being born and being merely begotten – something few theologians seem to know today.

Jesus explained, ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh: and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6). Man is mortal. Man came from the ground. He is flesh – material flesh. Jesus was not talking about another physical birth – but He was talking about a spiritual birth – when man shall be spirit – be wholly composed of spirit. He shall then have been born of God! God is Spirit (John 4:24); man is physical flesh.

Now see how human begettal, period of gestation and birth is the astounding identical type of spiritual salvation – being born of God – being given eternal life in the Kingdom of God – the God Family into which we may be born.

 Each adult human is, spiritually, an “egg” or “ovum.” This spiritual ovum has a very limited life span, of itself – compared to eternal life – an average of some 70 years. But spiritual, divine immortal life may be imparted to it by the entrance into it of the Holy Spirit, which comes from the very Person of God the Father. This divine Spirit of God imparts to us also the divine nature (II Peter 1:4).Heretofore we have had only human, fleshy or carnal nature.

As the human sperm cell is the very smallest of all human cells, even so, many newly begotten Christians start out with a very small measure of God’s Holy Spirit. Many may still be, at first, about 99.44 percent carnal! Apparently those in the Church of God at Corinth were (I Cor. 3:1-3).The apostle Paul said he still had to feed them on the spiritual milk – not yet adult spiritual food.

 Now, as the physical male sperm finds its way to, and unites with the nucleus in the ovum, so God’s Spirit enters and combines with the human mind! There is, as explained above, a spirit in man. This human spirit has combined with the brain to form human mind. God’s Spirit unites with, and witnesses with our spirit that we are, now the children of God (Rom .8:16).

And God’s Holy Spirit, now combined with our human spirit in our mind, imparts to our mind power to comprehend spiritual knowledge (I Cor. 2:11) – which the carnal mind cannot grasp.

Now we have the presence of eternal life – God life – through God’s Spirit, but we are not yet immortal spirit beings – not yet born of God – not yet inheritors, and possessors, but physical heirs (Rom. 8:17) .But if God’s Holy Spirit dwells in us, God will, at the resurrection, “quicken” to immortality our mortal bodies by His Spirit that “dwells” in us Romans 8:11; I Cor. 15:49-53.

Now see how the astonishing analogy continues!

As yet we are not born divine beings. We are not yet composed of spirit, but of physical matter. The divine life had merely been begotten. This divine character starts so very small it is doubtful if much of it is in evidence – except for the glow of that ecstasy of spiritual “romance” that we may radiate in that “first love” of conversion – spiritual speaking. But so far as physical knowledge and developed spiritual character goes, there is not much, as yet.

So now, once spiritually begotten, we are merely a spiritual embryo. Now we must be fed and nourished on spiritual food. Jesus said man shall not live by bread (physical food) alone, but by every word of God (spiritual food)! This we drink in from the Bible! But we drink in this spiritual knowledge and character, also, through persona, intimate, continuous contact with God through prayer, and through Christian fellowship with God’s children in His Church.

Now the physical embryo and fetus is fed physically through the mother. God’s Church is called Jerusalem above “which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26).

Notice the exact parallel! The Church is the spiritual Mother of its members. God has set His called and chosen ministers in His Church to feed the flock –“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body (Church) of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13).

It is the duty of Christ’s true ministers (and how scarce today) to protect the begotten but yet unborn saints from false doctrines, from false ministers.

The human mother carries her unborn baby in that part of her body where she can best protect it from physical harm; and that protection is part of her function, as well as to nourish the unborn child! Even so the Church, through Christ’s ministers, instructs, teaches, counsels with, advises and protects from spiritual harm the unborn members! What a wonderful picture is human reproduction of spiritual salvation!

Continue further! As the physical fetus must grow physically large enough to be born, so the begotten Christian must grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ (II Peter 3:18) – must overcome, must develop in spiritual character during this life, in order to be born into the Kingdom of God.

And as the physical fetus gradually, one by one, develops the physical organs, features and characteristics, even so the begotten Christians must gradually, continually, develop that spiritual character – love, faith, patience, gentleness, temperance. He must live by, and be a doer of the Word of God. He must develop the divine character!

    Then in God’s due time – though the man may die meanwhile – by a resurrection, or by instantaneous change to immortality at Christ’s coming, he shall be born of God – into the Kingdom of God – because God is that Kingdom! He is no longer material flesh from the ground, but composed of spirit, even as God is a spirit (John 4:24).

How wonderful is the truth of God! Yet, by his dastardly perversion of sex attitudes and purposes and the true sex knowledge of God’s Word, Satan has deceived the world – has blinded humanity to the fact that God is this Kingdom Jesus proclaimed – and that we may be born as spirit individuals – as part of that divine Family – as part of the God Kingdom!

How precious, pure and wholesome is God’s Truth! And God designed reproduction to picture His truth in physical manner and to keep us constantly in the knowledge of His wonderful plan of salvation! Let us, then, allow the living Savior to clean up our minds, and open them to His truth!

    We will continue with this study in future articles.  Be watching.

 
Want to know more?
  1. Enroll in our correspondence course Request the FREE correspondence by clicking here
  2. Sign up for our monthly DVD Sermon program Request the FREE monthly sermon DVD's by clicking here
  3. Subscribe to our mailing list Request to be added to the mailing list by clicking here
They are all free, there are NO strings attached and we DO NOT solicit for money.
 
  Web Site Artwork Credits
© 2024 Church of God, New World Ministries
P.O. Box 770 New Tazewell, TN 37824       (423) 626-0553