Yesterday I posted on a spat of sorts between Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe over how American Idol and The Voice differ when it comes to handling contestants’ sexuality. I’d like to now add this:
Our postmodern culture has relegated all things sexual to the sovereign will of the individual. The individual’s choice in these areas is all that matters these days. But that’s in stark contrast to Scripture, which offers a radically different vision of the purpose and place of sexuality in our lives.
Let me frame it this way: When it comes to sex, I think we need to answer two important questions. 1) What is the purpose of our sexuality? 2) Who gets to decide? Our culture answers those questions by stating—emphatically—that the purpose of sex is to provide pleasure to the individual. And the individual is the one who gets to decide what’s OK and what isn’t. As long as there is mutual consent, do as you please, we’re often told.
The Bible, though, repeatedly shows us that sexual expression serves two intertwined purposes: the physical and spiritual union of a man and a woman in marriage, which reflects the fullness of God’s image (Genesis 2:23-24), which in turn results in offspring who will have stewardship over God’s creation (Genesis 1:28). These purposes undergird the first institution sanctioned by God, the family, and thus individuals are not really free to decide on their own how their sexuality should be expressed. God, not the individual, is the one responsible for setting the limits and context for sexual expression.
Framing the discussion this way, it’s easy to see that even though Lythgoe and Levine differ a bit in their perspective on how sexuality should be expressed, they’re in lockstep when it comes to the individual’s sovereignty over it. And they represent a way of thinking about sex that, while culturally fashionable, is diametrically opposed to the biblical perspective on the purpose and place of sex in our lives.
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