I read a quote the other day about a very famous young actor, and in the MSN story that floated by, he expressed that he was open to a girl wanting to have sex on the first date. What I lamented the most is the loss of true beauty in our culture. This man is a creature made in the image of God, but he doesn’t seem to know it. Instead, he uses his beauty and others’ around him for the sake of connection and as just another way of communication.
Please know that I am not picking on this man. His quote was the one I saw; I know that he is simply voicing the opinion of many people today. Sex has become for our culture like dinner conversation during a date, just a regular, expected, “natural” part of dating.
This attitude and picture of our existence exhibits how far we have wandered from Eden and the sacred love that was given us there. The word “sacred” is becoming less meaningful in our culture, and it is most apparent in the realm of sexuality. That which is supposed to be hallowed has become too often a means to promote our own agendas/popularity and has been reduced to that of a simple commodity to be traded both for women and men. Women flaunt and use it to gain power in their worlds. And, men wield it to command worthiness and seek their own fulfillment.
Ultimately, the connection that is supposed to remind us of the Godhead’s unity and our reflection of that has been lost. We have lost a holiness about our lives that many had before us. There is a pedestrian quality about our modern life that is so vulgar and trite; we have lost any originality. There is no wonder to explore in someone else—because it can be discovered at will. The tantalizing mystery that was so long guarded through the consecration of matrimonial sex has left us. And, there is no putting someone else’s worth above one’s own; instead, there is just endless, animalistic craving—an incessant hunger that seems never to be quenched.
I wish for more holy in my life and in this young actor’s life and in all of our lives, especially for the hearts of my young children and their future loves. I long for more of Eden for them, me, and all of us. Because, this constant titillating leaves everyone wanting more, yet the more is never enough. The thing we truly ache after is the Holy of God, the taste of Him, the wonder of discovering His beauty. Only then, only then can we even begin to look at another’s beauty with any kind of true, more-than-pleasing-ourselves-love. Only then will our hunger be satisfied. The communion we long for-- Holy and beauty-- will finally be known.
Please know that I am not picking on this man. His quote was the one I saw; I know that he is simply voicing the opinion of many people today. Sex has become for our culture like dinner conversation during a date, just a regular, expected, “natural” part of dating.
This attitude and picture of our existence exhibits how far we have wandered from Eden and the sacred love that was given us there. The word “sacred” is becoming less meaningful in our culture, and it is most apparent in the realm of sexuality. That which is supposed to be hallowed has become too often a means to promote our own agendas/popularity and has been reduced to that of a simple commodity to be traded both for women and men. Women flaunt and use it to gain power in their worlds. And, men wield it to command worthiness and seek their own fulfillment.
Ultimately, the connection that is supposed to remind us of the Godhead’s unity and our reflection of that has been lost. We have lost a holiness about our lives that many had before us. There is a pedestrian quality about our modern life that is so vulgar and trite; we have lost any originality. There is no wonder to explore in someone else—because it can be discovered at will. The tantalizing mystery that was so long guarded through the consecration of matrimonial sex has left us. And, there is no putting someone else’s worth above one’s own; instead, there is just endless, animalistic craving—an incessant hunger that seems never to be quenched.
I wish for more holy in my life and in this young actor’s life and in all of our lives, especially for the hearts of my young children and their future loves. I long for more of Eden for them, me, and all of us. Because, this constant titillating leaves everyone wanting more, yet the more is never enough. The thing we truly ache after is the Holy of God, the taste of Him, the wonder of discovering His beauty. Only then, only then can we even begin to look at another’s beauty with any kind of true, more-than-pleasing-ourselves-love. Only then will our hunger be satisfied. The communion we long for-- Holy and beauty-- will finally be known.
RSS Feed