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No Prescriptions for Sex, Please
By John W. Kennedy | March 3, 2008
Unsurprisingly, Relevant Church Pastor Paul Wirth of Tampa, Fla., has been besieged with media interview requests after he embarked on a five-part sermon series titled “The 30-Day Sex Challenge.” Wirth contends that busy Christian spouses aren’t being fulfilled because they are avoiding intercourse. His solution, in case you missed it?
“Relevant church is proposing a challenge encouraging married couples to purposely engage in sexual activity for 30 days,” the church’s Web site declares.
That sounds more like a prescription for exhaustion, resentment and a further strain on hectic marriages to me.
The Bible doesn’t suggest that love and tenderness between a couple grows because of repetitious physical expression.
One of the reasons Wirth’s proposal attracted so much notice from secular TV, radio and newspaper interviewers is because evangelical churches have a reputation that sex, even in the context of marital fidelity, is to be repressed.
Wirth points out that many people believe God is against sex. And perhaps even romance. I tend to put my arm around my wife when we’re sitting in a church pew, but more times than I can count I’ve heard comments that such a demonstration of affection shouldn’t be exhibited.
I contend that a genuine display of affection is a safeguard to keep romance in a marriage. Our sons have benefited from seeing their parents demonstrate affection, from a smooch in the kitchen to a hug in the car.
I’m not talking about wild displays of physical expression. While sex is a God-given gift to married couples, it’s a private matter.
When evangelicals start bragging about how great their sex lives are, as Ted Haggard did in last year’s HBO documentary Friends of God—just before his downfall in a sex scandal—it’s improper. But love needs to be expressed in more than words, and I continue to rejoice in the wife of my youth (Proverbs 5:18).
Topics: sex |