THE TALK
by Bob Wickizer
Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-20, Psalms 139:1-6, Psalms 139:13-18, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1:43-51
Title: The Talk
Author: Bob Wickizer
Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-20; Psalm 139:1-6,13-18; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51
Dear Friends,
We've been sharing God's word (some call it preaching) and celebrating a sacred meal of self-sacrificing love for about a year now. It's time for us to have "The Talk."
Much of Western or even American morality about those actions adults do in private is unknown in history and in much of the world today. Our journey from global, historical views on this to our uniquely American, modern, prudish, Victorian double-standard is worthy of a college semester course, but today I can only give you a brief sketch.
- Historically and perhaps even globally across many cultures and centuries, sex has been considered just another bodily function like eating and sleeping
- Marriage in biblical times up through 18th century Europe was more about property rights and securing family alliances than romantic love
- Deep friendships and physical same sex relationships were just part of everyday life. No big deal
- Then, along came the Enlightenment (the age of reason), the Industrial Revolution, and the American and French Revolutions. These developments gave us:
- A reaction to science and industrialization was Evangelical Christianity (think of John Wesley and the rise of Southern Baptists and Pentecostals) and the use of sexual morality as both a means of control and as an identity card. Government action was pushed as part of their belief in their righteous cause (and their call to evangelize others)
- This religious morality applied across all social classes. In upper class Victorian England there was a measurable decline in gambling, horse races, and obscene theatre. One Cambridge historian remarked that "The highly visible debauchery characteristic of aristocratic England in the early 19th century simply disappeared."
- The same happened in the middle- and working-class social strata. Historians looking at statistics ...
Author: Bob Wickizer
Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-20; Psalm 139:1-6,13-18; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51
Dear Friends,
We've been sharing God's word (some call it preaching) and celebrating a sacred meal of self-sacrificing love for about a year now. It's time for us to have "The Talk."
Much of Western or even American morality about those actions adults do in private is unknown in history and in much of the world today. Our journey from global, historical views on this to our uniquely American, modern, prudish, Victorian double-standard is worthy of a college semester course, but today I can only give you a brief sketch.
- Historically and perhaps even globally across many cultures and centuries, sex has been considered just another bodily function like eating and sleeping
- Marriage in biblical times up through 18th century Europe was more about property rights and securing family alliances than romantic love
- Deep friendships and physical same sex relationships were just part of everyday life. No big deal
- Then, along came the Enlightenment (the age of reason), the Industrial Revolution, and the American and French Revolutions. These developments gave us:
- A reaction to science and industrialization was Evangelical Christianity (think of John Wesley and the rise of Southern Baptists and Pentecostals) and the use of sexual morality as both a means of control and as an identity card. Government action was pushed as part of their belief in their righteous cause (and their call to evangelize others)
- This religious morality applied across all social classes. In upper class Victorian England there was a measurable decline in gambling, horse races, and obscene theatre. One Cambridge historian remarked that "The highly visible debauchery characteristic of aristocratic England in the early 19th century simply disappeared."
- The same happened in the middle- and working-class social strata. Historians looking at statistics ...
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