Gone Fishing

In all the years I’ve been a Christian I’ve heard countless sermons. I’ve attended many conferences and listened to numerous teachings on tape. The subject matter varied from dreams to healing to spiritual growth. The one subject Christians seemed to stay away from is sex. It’s not a subject that Christians find comfortable to speak of, unless of course they are telling you not have it.

Outside the boundaries of marriage it is taboo and should be. Pre-martial, extra-martial sex is not healthy for you. Why? Millions of Americans are infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STD) each year. God can forgive sin, but we have to live with the consequences of our sins.

Beside the risk of diseases there is the whole moral and spiritual aspect to why we shouldn’t break these boundaries. Mark 10:7-9 states:

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.

One flesh in the spiritual sense as highly binding as the physical aspect of joining another person. Present relationships suffer when people have to deal with past sexual partners. God can heal past sexual relationships and give us “new virginities” but what if we try to skip that part all together and stick to one sexual partner. Wait until marriage and keep sex within the boundaries of marriage. Why? Because sex is a beautiful thing and a pleasurable aspect of the marriage relationship.

I believe because of the all the talk against pre-martial and extra-martial sex that martial sex gets lost in the shuffle. How often have I heard a woman tell me she doesn’t enjoy this aspect of marriage or there is some type of dysfunction in this area? They may have engaged in pre-martial sex and now can’t enjoy the legal kind. Even worst, they may have been abused sexually.

Now why did I entitle this posting, Gone Fishing? I have a theory. In this country to hunt or fish you need a special license. You have to pay for this license so that you can enjoy the thrill of catching a fish or shoot a deer. I don’t do either of these things, so that type of license would be wasted on me. I do have a marriage license. I love using it. There is nothing wrong with exercising your legal rights and it’s not just for creating a life.

Inside the boundaries of marriage between a husband and wife, here on earth, where we are flesh and bone, sex is an important aspect of marriage. There are other aspects equally important – trust, good communication, honesty, etc. Talk to anyone who is not using their license and they will tell you how important it is to them. How much they miss it. If they don’t, then they weren’t using it correctly in the first place. So put up a sign on your door – Gone Fishing – and catch a good one.

© Nadine Z. 2006