Things That Make Sexual Sin Easy
Kerry Duke

There is entirely too much familiar and intimate talk between men and women and boys and girls. Some things are private and need to stay that way. There should be a clear line of respect between males and females that keeps them from mentioning personal matters pertaining to the body. But too many young men shamelessly talk about their bodies, the bodies of young women, and sexual matters openly. Too many young women allow this kind of talk and even engage in it themselves. And far too many grown men and women still think this stupid, crude language is funny. When people are this common and carefree about personal matters, there is little to keep them from expressing this attitude by their actions.

There is far too much casual bodily contact between the sexes. Boys and girls are allowed, and even encouraged, to wallow and wrestle with each other from an early age. When they begin to date, they see nothing wrong with cuddling on a couch like married couples. They freely sit on each other’s lap and embrace with full body-to-body contact. They hang all over each other without a second thought. Where are the parents, the teachers, and the church leaders? Where is their head? Grown people, especially married people, know what such contact does to youthful passions, and they also know that if two people who are dating display this kind of affection in public, then they will go much farther in private. Are these adults afraid to say anything, or do they just not care?

There is little supervision in the home and little accountability on these matters in the home and in the church. Working single parents have a tough job trying to keep up with teenagers in this free and open culture. But even in homes with both parents, young people often receive little guidance and correction about sexual purity because the parents have their minds on other concerns. In the church, little preaching is given on the sins of adultery and fornication. Preachers try to be so nice and positive that they rarely mention a word that would cause a fornicator or adulterer to feel guilty enough to repent. Even worse, too many congregations are like the church at Corinth before Paul rebuked them in I Corinthians 5. They shut their eyes to sin in the church and refuse to put the wicked away from them.

Dating practices today make it extremely hard to stay pure. People should know better than to watch a movie in a house or apartment alone when they are dating. They are kidding themselves if they think this is harmless. Two people who are dating have no business parking a vehicle in the dark so they can be alone. There are some simple facts of human nature one has to overlook to deny these things. Sexual desire is progressive – it seeks fulfillment and will progress until it reaches that point if there is opportunity. Attraction to someone of the opposite sex begins with a look, a smile, or a conversation. Then feelings develop, and those feelings seek expression in touch. Once the touching begins, the direction is always forward, never backward, and as long as the two have opportunity it will build in strength. The sensible thing is not to put oneself in a situation where these passions have room to burn. In other words, stay around people who have the highest morals.

Dancing between the sexes is looked at as innocent recreation. I found a tract entitled “Dancing in Our Public Schools.” A preacher delivered what is found in the tract on a radio program, and it is hard to find anything like it. He openly criticized school dances, asking mothers and fathers: “Do you mean to tell me that a normal man can take into his arms night after night, a beautiful woman, perfumed as they are, with her in his arms for hours, his hand on her nude back, his body hard against hers, his limbs entwined about hers, his cheek to hers, his hand clasping tight her hand – slowing waltzing to the sweet strains of lustful music and not have his emotions, at some time in this experience, stirred almost and many times beyond his control?” He said to anyone who denies this effect: “You are either a liar or you are a dead man.” I would to God we had preachers who would talk like this today! But this tract was printed in 1951 by E. R. Harper, and there are very few preachers who will even mention dancing in a sermon today.

Indecent and provocative clothes draw attention to the body and stir lustful passions. Women and men have no business exposing their bodies the way many of them do. Women wear dresses and tops that have virtually no back and that shamelessly expose cleavage. They know they are exposing their bodies when they put on these clothes. They wear skirts and shorts that display their thighs for the whole world to see. They show every curve of their bodies by wearing clothes that fit as tight as saran wrap. Even worse, men and women expose themselves in their underwear and try to justify this indecency by calling it swimwear! Many people, both men and women, are downright dishonest about this. Women know the effect these clothes have on men, and men full well understand it. But neither of them do anything to change.

Television and the internet dump every vile scene imaginable into the minds of men and women. People soak in hours of this garbage every week and become as hardened and disgusting as the people they watch on screen. Sex scenes are burned into their memories. Filthy language still rings in their ears long after they have watched a rotten movie. Their souls become corrupted and their actions follow. People have reduced themselves to animals by watching and listening to this dirt. With so many Americans entertaining themselves with this satanic material, it is no wonder that our society is plagued with every form of illicit and perverted sex: adultery, fornication, pedophilia, homosexuality, bestiality, rape and incest. Like ungodly sinners described in the New Testament, these have a worthless mind (Rom. 1:28) and even become so callused that they are “past feeling” (Eph. 4:19).

Ultimately, it is man’s free will that is responsible for sin. “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust” (James 1:14). But circumstances can open the door and give encouragement to sin, and we are facing these on every hand. God give us strength to endure and to do all we can to stem the tide of this ungodliness.

The Sin of Silence
Malcolm L. Hill

When Moses went up to the top of Mount Sinai to receive the law of God he was there for a while. The children of Israel became upset that Moses stayed so long and they as usual, started grumbling and griping about the matter. They told Aaron to make them a god whom they may serve and follow. As for Moses they said they did not know what had happened to him.

Aaron told the children of Israel to give him all the gold they had. They gave him bracelets of gold, earrings of gold, and other gold pieces and he melted these things by fire and designed a golden calf with the work of his hands using a tool of some sort. When Moses came down from the Mountain with the law of God in his hands he threw the two tables of stone on the ground and broke them. He then approached Aaron and held him accountable for not speaking out against this terrible sin of the people. We see a weakness in the character of Aaron as we look at this event. He did not have the backbone he needed. He refused to speak out against this sin. He kept quiet about the matter (Ex. 32:22-24). Aaron committed the sin of silence on this occasion.
May we suggest that Aaron is not the only man that has committed the sin of silence. Many moms and dads are guilty of this sin each day that passes. Many elders in the church are guilty of the sin of silence. They should be speaking up and holding to the straight and narrow way but they are not. Evidently too many elders are without courage and strength in the Lord’s service. Many like Aaron will go the way of the crowd. The church of Christ today has far too many in it with closed lips and who are spineless.

All of us need to remember there is a time to speak and a time to refrain from speaking (Eccl. 3:7). In most cases men do not have trouble keeping their mouths shut when the pressure is on and a stand must be taken against the majority.

We are living in a time of crises in the church of Christ. A stand must be taken for the Lord and His church and it must be a strong stand. We cannot kill elephant size trouble with little pop guns and soap bubbles.

Child Molestation – Its Cause and Cure
Ronald D. Gilbert

Child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year. Many who deal with these problems on a daily basis say that the number of unreported child sexual abuse cases is far greater than the reported cases. There are over 400,000 registered sex offenders in the USA. To see who those registered sex offenders are in your area go to the internet www.sexualpredators.com then you can click on your state and then by county, and be informed on who these sex offenders are and where they live. Much has been written in defense of homosexuals trying to convince the public that only a small percent of child sex abuse is committed by homosexuals. These numbers are often cited in an attempt to mislead.

About 2% of adult males in the USA are homosexuals. Some studies have indicated that approximately 35% of pedophiles are homosexual. Further, since male-on-male pedophiles victimize far more children than do heterosexuals it is estimated that approximately 80% of pedophilic victims are boys who have been molested by adult males.

Pedophilia is the psychiatric term used to describe adults who sexually molest children. The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) states, “An adult who engages in sexual activity with a child is performing a criminal and immoral act that never can be considered normal or socially acceptable behavior.” Well, that’s what the Psychiatric Association did believe and teach. The American Psychological Association (A.P.A.) just recently published a new major study which was written by a homosexual writer. The author’s conclusions were, “That childhood sexual abuse is on average, only slightly associated with psychological harm – and that the harm may not be due to the sexual experience, but to the negative family factors in the children’s backgrounds. When the sexual contact is not coerced, especially when it is experienced by a boy and is remembered positively, it may not be harmful at all.” The A.P.A. recently redefined the criteria for pedophilia according to the latest diagnostic manual. A person no longer has a psychological disorder simply because he molests children. To be diagnosed as disordered, now he must also feel anxious about the molestation, or be impaired in his work or social relationships. Thus, the A.P.A. has left room for the “psychologically normal” pedophile.

The North American Man-Boy Love Association for many years was a lone voice lobbying for the normalization of dophilia. Some of these NAMBLA representatives have marched in gay-pride parades. In 1990, the Journal of Homosexuality produced a special issue devoted to adult-child sex which they entitled, “Male Intergenerational Intimacy.”

One article said that many pedophiles believe that they are “born that way and cannot change.” Another said he believed that when a man counseled with troubled teenage boys that “miracles” could be achieved, not by preaching to them, but by sleeping with them.” He went on to say “a loving pedophile can offer a companionship, security and protection which neither peers nor parents can provide.”

Many pedophiles often delude themselves into viewing their actions are beneficial to the children and that they are contributing to the children’s development. It is strange how perversion makes many think (Rom. 1:27). “And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.” All homosexual acts are perversions and they are choices that are made. Any sex act is a choice that is made and that will be answered for on the day of judgment.

What about the rapist; why can’t he argue “That’s the way I was made?” In fact, 33% of high school boys think they have the right to rape their dates when the girls are drunk and 40% believe they have the right to rape after dating six months. The survey went on to say that 60% of high school boys think they can rape a girl if they plan to marry her. (Coalition Against Pornography, Kansas City, 1991 survey of high school boys).

Pornography seems to be a factor both in child molestation and in the rape of females by males. According to the FBI, in 1985, 81% of serial sex murderers admitted they were users of pornography. According to another survey 86% of rapists admit to regular use of pornography, with 57% admitting actual imitation of pornography scenes in their commission of sex crimes. (Dr. William Marchal, 1998). According to a recent National Women’s Study, 78 women are raped in America each hour.

The proverb writer said in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” God’s plan is, “nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband” (I Cor. 7:2). God’s plan is for man and woman to be joined in marriage and to enjoy each other (Heb. 13:4). Pornography must be avoided; it incites lust, and evil desires (Gal. 5:19-21; Col. 3:5-7; I Cor 6:9-11). Any sex act, whether lawful in God’s sight or unlawful in God’s sight, is a choice made. Homosexuality is a perversion of God’s plan for men and women (Rom. 1:24-32; I Cor 6:9-11). Child molesters must view children as disposable human beings and merely objects for their own perverted sexual pleasures. They practice what Paul warned against in Phil 3:19 “...whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame...”

When men abandon God’s plan the only path is downward. It is time for the righteous to stand up and be heard. Will America be known as a nation of homosexuals, child molesters and rapists? The cause of this problem is a nation that has forgotten God. The cure is a return to God’s Word and following the path of true righteousness.

In Leviticus 20:1-5 those who offered their children in human sacrifice to Molech were to be put to death. God however, also said those who hide their eyes from these terrible sins against innocent children, that He would set His face against them. If parents and society will not protect our innocent children from sexual predators, then who will? May God help this nation to wake up before it is too late.

Editorial

Peter, in his great sermon on the day of Pentecost, used the words we are using for the theme of this month’s Living Oracles – This Sinful Generation. Indeed, the world in which he lived was a sinful generation. There was fornication, idolatry, the breakdown of the family, sex perversion, people were soft on everything; stealing, lying, cheating, covetousness, drunkenness, foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, and the great majority of the people cared not for spiritual things, but for the temporal things. They were so bad in those days that they were not pleased to practice the same old sins but they were forever seeking out ways to involve themselves in new sin (Rom. 1:30).

This sinful world is not a new thing. After the fall of Adam and Eve the world has been going down into the miry depths of sin and ruin. Sometimes the world gets a little better and sometimes it gets a little worse. It reached the depths of deprivation during the days of Noah (Gen. 6:1-6). It got so bad that God could not put up with it any longer and He destroyed the people of earth with the flood of Noah’s day. Some have suggested that was a sad day and indeed it was. When an all-loving, all-caring, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-just God has to destroy a world of sinners, you may rest assured that indeed, it is a sad day. What made it so sad was that they were not fit to live.

But what about our present day and the present generation? Are we better than those in the days of Noah? We may still be some better than those of that day, however, we do not have anything to brag about. We have immorality of every kind piped into our homes by way of TV and magazines of all kinds. Young, old, and middle age sometimes feed on this garbage day after day. Do they think that such does not work on their minds and hearts? Evidently so, but take a good look at what is happening. Sex is running rampant, innocent babies are being born out of wedlock, both male and female are given to immodesty, illegal drugs are so available that it is unsafe to get on the streets or travel alone. Profanity could not be worse, and shame has left our land. Moms and dads have turned the rearing of their children over to athletics, fun, television, education, and things of the world while they focus on their chief things of this world.

What is in the minds of parents these days? A new house, a new car, new clothes, what is in style, how to get to the top, how to get the children to the top, education, good grades, being popular, buying children a new car, going to the prom and what to wear to the prom, how to keep the children from being bored, and the list goes on and on. The sad thing about the whole thing is that God cannot get a word in edgewise.

How can we have a better nation and a greater people when the home, which is the very foundation of society, is crumbling beneath our feet? How can we expect our daughters to do better when Mama helps make the garment to wear to the prom and in which many daughters get pregnant? Or how can dads expect purity from the children when he spends more time on the job trying to pay for new automobiles which often bring about sin? How do we expect our children to be spiritual when we exalt the wicked and condemn the just, when we are so aware of the material and are not very much concerned with the spiritual?

Many children have never heard the voices of their parents in prayer but they have heard their voices many times in an argument or fuss. The children have never heard their parents cheer the preacher on but they have heard their voices in putting the preacher down. Most children have seen sacrificing for a vacation but they have never seen sacrifice for Jesus Christ. All children have seen their parents work hard and long to make a living but very few have been taught how to live by their parents. Many children have heard the voices of their parents when it comes to getting the homework for school done, but very few have heard the voices of their parents when it comes to getting the Sunday school lesson done. Many parents are educated these days in many things but there is a great dearth or famine when it comes to Bible knowledge and Bible practice. Many know the songs of Elvis Presley but few know the Psalms of King David. Many know about Pope John Paul II, but very few know about servant Paul the preacher (Rom. 1:1).

When we see the emphasis placed on the material above the spiritual in the home and family, how can we wonder why the world is in the shape it is? The question for me is, why it is not worse? The world will never be any better than it is until the homes of the world return to their God-given place in society. The husband is to be the head of the home (Eph. 5:22-25). The wife is to be subject to her own husband (Eph. 5:22-24). The children are to honor their parents (Eph. 6:1-2). Children are to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). The father is to see to it that the family is fully developed in all aspects (Lk. 2:52). The entire family should forever be wrapped up in the kingdom of God and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 22:37-39).
––Malcolm L. Hill

The Breakdown of the Home – Its Cause and Cure
Glenn B. Ramsey

What is happening to the moral fabric of our society? Why are children killing each other? Why are teenagers committing suicide in increasing numbers? Why do fathers and mothers kill their children and themselves? Why do we have to wonder if the new family (person) that just moved into our community is a threat to our children and ourselves? Why is it now dangerous for our wives and daughters (yes, even the fathers and sons) to go about daily activities in our communities and business places? There has to be a problem here! This is a problem that is not being solved by the increaing number of dollars that is being spent on law enforcement and increasing incarceration of offenders. This is a problem that is not being solved by the increasing number of dollars that is being spent on various “schemes” of education! What is the root of the problem?

The root of this problem is so basic and elementary that the sophisticated minds of worldly people completely miss it. The problem is that the basic unit of any orderly society – the home – is nowhere near the model that God intended it! We briefly discuss some of the causes of the breakdown of the home and then we will discuss briefly the cure for this. Indeed, if we go down the stairway of home break-down, we would simply turn around and go back up these stairs to restore or cure the problem.

The “manual of operation” for the home is the Word of God, the Bible. It says that the husband (father) is to provide for his own family (I Tim. 5:8). It says that the wife (mother) is to be a “keeper at home” (Tit. 2:5). But this instruction is seldom followed by the “modern” family. The Bible says that the husband is to be the head of the family unit – its physical provider and protector as well as its spiritual leader. The Bible says that the wife is to be subject to the proper leadership of her husband (Eph. 5:22-23). This instruction is seldom followed in the “modern” family. So what can we expect? If a piece of machinery is designed to function in a certain way (and all machinery is so designed) and the operator of that machine uses it in a way almost opposite to its intended purpose, the machine will fail! So with the home!

During World War II most of the men of our nation (who were of proper age) were sent to fight a war on foreign soil. To survive, many women (mothers) took jobs in our industrial factories – providing means for their children and themselves. Who can fault this? Was it the best arrangement – well, it was the only arrangement for many. But history reveals something else. When the men returned from the war to resume their place as providers for their family (they had been acting as protectors in the war), the women did NOT leave their factory jobs and return home. They stayed as they had been. Perhaps many of the husbands wanted this. But here is the problem – these families were now violating the manual of operation for this piece of human machinery – the home – and the machine could not stand the pressures! It failed. The homes failed. Divorce increased in staggering percentages. Children were left to figure out for themselves that which their mothers (keepers at home) should have been teaching them. Wives were left to be providers for their families (that which the husbands and fathers should have been doing). Now, I know that there are various scenarios that can be discussed in justifying or condemning these changes. My concern is to see the basic problem. The basic problem is that men and women have left the following of God’s plan for a proper home. Most Christians (preachers, elders, etc.) who have counseled troubled marriages see a basic pattern. In most (nearly all) cases where there are problems between husbands and wives, the wife and mother is not a full-time “keeper at home.” She is, for various alleged reasons, working to earn money in an environment outside the home itself. Problems are generated. Why? The answer is obvious.

So the steps down from the proper home arrangement include the leaving of the God ordained role of the husband and father – providing physical and spiritual needs for his family; the leaving of the God ordained role of the wife and mother – being a keeper at home for the husband and children, and being content with the great task God had given her. The results are the breaking up of husbands and wives through the various sins that bring on divorce. The results are children who received no proper instruction in the way of the Lord as concerning life and living. These children, thus ignorant of what a home should be, grow up and marry without real knowledge of what they should expect of each other and of life.

The way back, the cure of this problem is to go back to God’s “manual of operation” for the home – the Bible. Let the men be men and follow God’s will in this matter. Let the women be women and follow God’s will in this matter of the home. Then the children will be blessed with the results that God intended. When will it happen? Only when people humble themselves and go back to God’s will as related to the responsibilities and duties of husbands and wives.

The State of Tennessee Bible College
Malcolm L. Hill

Tennessee Bible College is in the very best year of her history. We have never had a better student body. Our students are capable men with the very best attitude and who have the cause of Jesus Christ at heart.

Support for the college continues to pick up. Many have included us in their wills and for this we are grateful. Tennessee Bible College is where our Christian schools were fifty years ago – she is on the truth and staying with the truth.

There is not a school among churches of Christ today that has not been influenced by liberalism and a digressive spirit. The only one left that brethren try to hang on to is Freed-Hardeman University. But Freed-Hardeman is not what Freed-Hardeman used to be. Some brethren remind us of trying to hold up a drunk man when it comes to Freed-Hardeman University. They do all they can to clear her of her namby-pamby, frail, feeble, crippled, disabled way, but when they turn her loose she refuses to stand.

The discussion (I refuse to call it a debate) between Marlin Connally and Phillip Morrison is proof that Freed-Hardeman University is just what we have said about Freed-Hardeman. As a Bible loving person listens to that discussion, it brings on a righteous indignation beyond words. That discussion is full of I love you and you love me and don’t you press me and I will not press you. They could not speak very strongly because of the honey running out of their mouths. Have many forgotten that Jesus preached His sermon in Matthew 23 to those who knew the truth but refused to follow the truth? And what did Christ do with the money changers in the temple of God? Did He not turn their tables over and run them out (Matt. 21:12)? Was the Lord out of place doing this? We know that He was not. We are under the impression after listening to the discussion that brother Connally and brother Morrison did not want the listeners to think they were very far apart and by all means they wanted the facade of love, like the blinding of smoke, to shine through. Such nonsense!