Perversion – Part 1

Jude 6-8 “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.”

 

The word “perversion” is defined as: The act of perverting; a turning from truth or propriety; a diverting from the true intent or object; change to something worse. We speak of the perversion of the laws, when they are misinterpreted or misapplied; a perversion of reason, when it is misemployed; a perversion of Scripture, when it is willfully misinterpreted or misapplied. 

 

I was shocked earlier this year to hear of a married member of our church’s worship music band, who sang praises to the Lord weekly, having marriage difficulties and instead of working to mend and restore the holy marriage, dumped his wife, found a girlfriend and spent a wild sex-filled weekend at a mountain resort, then bragged about it openly. When confronted of this sin and marriage-crushing error by the pastor, he stated that Jesus died for his sins then proceeded to commit character-assassination against the pastor on Social Media for his outdated views of morality. We expect this from non-believers, but this false-salvation imagination of a self-made, non-conviction, all-forgiving pseudo-savior based on a sinful flesh desires and a perverted mind mentality is not new in the church.    

 

Ephesians 5:1-4 “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”

 

French mathematician, physicist and theologian Blaise Pascal wrote in the mid-1600’s, “Those who indulge in perversion tell those who are living normal lives that it is they who are deviating from what is normal. They think that they are following a normal life themselves. They are like people on a ship who think that it is those on shore who are moving away. But, we need a fixed point by which to judge it. So, the harbor is the fixed point for those who are moving aboard ship. But in morality, where are we going to find a harbor? Secular society has no moral compass or a "just" fixed point of reference. It time of sorrow, physical [biological, sexual attraction] science will not console me for my ignorance of morality. But a knowledge of [biblical] morality will always console me for being deficient in the knowledge of physical science. Imagination is the dominate facility in man. It is the mistress of error and falsehood, all the more so for not being evident as such an impostor.”

Let's continue my timely message on sinful "Perversion"  and the Christian response in the next post.

In Christ, Brian