Do you recognize these lyrics from the likes of Louis Armstrong and Fred Astaire? “You say either and I say either; you say neither and I say neither. Either, either, neither, neither; let’s call the whole thing off. You say tomato, I say tomato; you eat potato and I eat potato. Tomato, tomato, potato, potato; let’s call the whole thing off. But oh, if we call the whole thing off then we must part; and oh, if we ever part then that might break my heart.” Does it really matter how we say tomato or potato? It’s just words right; just cultural preferences and geographically-based pronunciations? Can’t we just live in the tension and agree to disagree? Why make a mountain out of a mole hill over such small matters? (more…)

“O love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee.” God gave them up, but refuses to give up on them; i.e. Christ died for sinners. Some people believe that sexual orientation is fixed and predetermined. Others believe that it is more fluid, shaped by genetics, environment and choice. We all (myself included) have friends and family members who identify themselves as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender), so what do we do with Biblical texts affirming the orders of creation and condemning homosexual practice? Do we ignore them, revise them, or treasure them?

What do we do when both Jesus and Paul endorse the orders of creation (Mark 10 and Romans 1) and call sinners to daily repentance? Do we sin (more…)

Recently, while visiting with a 25-year-old male military virgin, I heard the following confession: “It’s not easy being odd. We live in a society where one has to apologize for being sexually pure. People have starter dishes, starter furniture and starter homes. Now people are having starter marriages as well. Society just assumes that this is the way it must be. People hook up, shack up and then break up. No one seems to care what Jesus said.” Jesus, commenting on the sins of unrepentant cities, references Sodom: “But I tell you that on the ‘day of judgment’ it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you” (Matthew 11:24). We’ve been having the talk, the sex talk, for the past two months. We’ve looked at two Biblical cities, Sodom and Corinth, where sexual immorality was normalized and licentiousness was embraced as a civil right and liberty. St. Paul reminds us that those who flagrantly forget that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, a worship place, make a prostitute out of Jesus (I Corinthians 6:12-20). This month we are going to look at what Jesus said about sex.

Some people assume that silence means indifference, or minimal words means diluted importance. (more…)

“Sex and the City” is the title of a 2008 movie and a comedy drama series that ran on HBO for six seasons. Newspaper columnist Carrie Bradshaw, a “sexual anthropologist,” and her three high-society, thirty-something friends carve the Big Apple to the core, making an art out of sleeping around and hooking-up. Sex is portrayed as recreational and noncommittal. Currently on television one finds equally repulsive demonstrations of the debasement of human sexuality; e.g. Charlie Harper prides himself in womanizing, drunkenness, and free-spirited debauchery (“Two and a Half Men”). We all laugh. But is it really funny? That which was designed by God to be good and sacred is often reduced to nothing more than sick humor and late-night perversion. Recently, David Letterman joked about Sarah Palin looking for make up that would give her the “slutty flight attendant look.” He went further, and admittedly crossed the line, when he joked about her teenage daughter getting “knocked up” by a NY Yankee. Some things just aren’t funny. Last month, we talked about having the talk; you know, “the birds and the bees”. (more…)

Have you had the talk with your children? You know, the “birds and the bees”; the SEX talk? My parents didn’t have the talk with me, so I made it a priority in my ministry to educate myself and others in the area of human sexuality. Research shows that the best place to talk about SEX is in the home; about 6% of families actually do so. The second best place is in the church. Churches seem to have as difficult a time talking about SEX, as parents do. The third best place for SEX education is in the school. The problem of course is obvious: whose values get taught. How about these values? Martin Luther, commenting on the Sixth Commandment, writes, “We are to fear and love God so that in matters of sex our words and conduct are pure and honorable, and husband and wife love and respect each other.” For more than twenty-five years I have been teaching youth and adults a Biblical view of SEX. I’ve studied, researched, and read.

I’ve learned that SEX is Sacred in the eyes of God. Scripture and Tradition have a consistent view regarding (more…)