This series has gotten more complicated and convoluted than I ever expected. Since it is about sex, I doubt this post will change that. 😏
What do I mean by more complicated and convoluted? After I posted WHAT DOES THE WORSHIP OF IDOLS LOOK LIKE? — PART 1, I got into a debate/discussion with an Agnostic. Check out the What Do Atheists Worship? series at the bottom of this post.
Anyway, for the time being we are back to the series.
The Worship of Sex
In the modern era, many conceive of the sex act as merely a wonderful and splendid form of recreation. That, however, is just not true. The Bible made it clear from the beginning that the sex act is sacred. Consider the reverence in Adam’s joy.
Genesis 2:22-25 New American Standard Bible
22 And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“At last this is bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called ‘woman,’
Because she was taken out of man.”
24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.
Note that last verse. The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed. They were not shameless, but they were not ashamed. They had not yet done anything for which they should be ashamed.
The Lord had brought Eve to Adam and presided over the first wedding. In holy matrimony, He made two to become one flesh. Unfortunately, our ancestors eventually did something for which they should be ashamed. Worse, too often they and now we have become shameless.
As will be presently indicated, we have evidence from a number of sources to show sex was at one time frankly and openly worshipped by the primitive races of mankind. This worship has been shown to be so general and so wide-spread, that it is to be regarded as part of the general evolution of the human mind; it seems to be indigenous with the race, rather than an isolated or exceptional circumstance.
The American Cyclopedia, under Phallic Worship, reads as follows: “In early ages the sexual emblems were adored as most sacred objects, and in the several polytheistic systems the act or principle of which the phallus was the type was represented by a deity to whom it was consecrated: in Egypt by Khem, in India by Siva, in Assyria by Vul, in primitive Greece by Pan, and later by Priapus, in Italy by Mutinus or Priapus, among the Teutonic and Scandinavian nations by Fricco, and in[Pg 24] Spain by Hortanes. Phallic monuments and sculptured emblems are found in all parts of the world.”
from THE SEX WORSHIP AND SYMBOLISM OF PRIMITIVE RACES
The primitives and the ancients justified their obsession with sex by creating Pagan gods and serving those gods. We laugh and roll our eyes at such behavior today, but has the worship of sex ended because we are now, supposedly, so much more advanced? No. Consider three examples.
- Type the words worship of sex into Google. That will get you about 313,000,000 results (0.45 seconds). The top returns will come from Christian websites, but far more comes from porn websites. There is a great deal of pornography on the web.
- Those in the LGBTQ movement self-destructively pursue pleasure and “identity.” Increasing numbers of our fellow human beings tamper with their bodies using dangerous drugs or mutilate themselves by submitting to surgery.
- Advocates for the abortion of the unborn call themselves “pro-choice,” but the only choice they seem enthusiastic about defending is the choice to end the life of an unborn child. For an example of how the supposedly pro-choice think, check out AN OPEN LETTER TO PRO-LIFERS (CW: ABORTION, CHILD ABUSE). Note that the fundamental issues are not addressed. What rights do the unborn have? When do unborn acquire those rights? Instead, advocates make emotional arguments based upon the most extreme cases, and they insist that any regulation of the practice of abortion violates the rights of women. Yet, ironically, many of these people are so confused that they don’t seem to be able to define the word “woman.”
What is the problem? Bob Dylan put it simply. Whatever we do, we do in service to somebody.
But you’re going to have to serve somebody, yes indeed
https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-gotta-serve-somebody-lyrics
You’re going to have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re going to have to serve somebody
What is the solution? The Bible says sex is only appropriate between a man and a woman who are married to each other. What should such a marriage look like. Read Ephesians 5:22-33.
If we want to fix a problem, we must focus on the solution (see ARE YOU FOCUSING ON THE PROBLEM OR THE SOLUTION?). The solution is God. If we want to understand and perform our sexual role properly, we need to look to our Lord — our Creator — for guidance. Unfortunately, too many focus on object of their immediate desire and make that their god.
References
- WORSHIPPING THE GOD OF SEX
- John Piper: Don’t be embarrassed by sex, it’s an act of worship
- Sex as an act of worship
- This Is What the Bible Really Says About Sex, For Those Who Are Wondering
- Is it wrong for a married couple to have sex just for pleasure?
- The Purpose of Sex as Worship
To Be Continued
- The Worship of Science
- The Worship of State
- The Worship of State
Posts in the What Do Atheists Worship? series.
Citizen Tom 
As you and I know, the rainbow was given to Noah as a sign from God that He would never again destroy the earth by flood…it’s crazy how satan will mis-represent the symbols of God for his own agenda to lead people away from God’s truth.
Another good post. — thank you.
I suspect the people who came up with the rainbow flag intended their perversion to be an insult, but it pales in comparison to the real thing. Just watch the reaction of a child.
It makes sense that humans would elevate sex, as it’s the only way to keep the tribe going. But it also must be carefully controlled to prevent illness or a higher population than the tribe can support. So it becomes ritualized. Our traditional marriage was a sexual rite, as well. Why does it not surprise me that young people aren’t engaging in the marriage ritual any longer? Sex is anything but sacred in our culture. It’s sterile and cheap and easy like the Dollar Store. Better to bring it back in the realm of the sacred. In Christianity that would mean ritualized marriage and prayers and thanksgiving for fertility. At least pagan cultures understood that sex was sacred, even if it turned into worship of false gods. There’s a reason why pagans readily accepted Christianity at one time. I can’t imagine their being very interested in our current materialistic Christianity that often denies the reality of the spiritual world and encourages birth control.
That strikes me as a secular commentary. Practical and pragmatic, but true enough.
I think our current materialistic Christianity stems from the success of those who used government funding of education to secularize our education system. Thanks to being taught by instructors who were hired and promoted for their unbelief, generations of pastors never learned to believe.
Many have the idea that when someone goes to the seminary that they must be born again, but that does not seem to be the case. I suspect that many seminary students just like the idea of being a pastor. Unfortunately, most seminaries don’t even have the desire to filter out such seminary students.
Since you are a secretary in a Catholic church, I assume you are a believing Catholic. Correct? Do you believe sex is act of worship (everything we do can be an act of worship, but I think sex, in particular, should be), or not? Why or why not?
My argument is the opposite of a secular argument. It’s the recognition that the sacred truths of God’s universe are so hard wired that the pagans understood. They just didn’t fully understand, which was why they engaged in idol worship. They knew they had to pray and thank an entity for sex and fertility because it was that important to life, while at the same time being intensely mysterious. Materialism in Christianity really dates to the Enlightenment. Sometimes I think pagans understood the nature of reality better than our enlightened selves do because they didn’t take such a cavalier attitude towards the spiritual world. Yes, I’m a believing Catholic Christian. Catholics take sex very seriously. It is a sacrament of the church. There should be no birth control, no (intentional) sterilization, no divorce, no sex *just* for pleasure, although that is certainly an aspect of it. It’s supposed to be a mysterious bonding between the male and female in love with the possibility of creating new life. That is certainly something to be worshipful about. I recognize not all or even many Catholics take it that seriously, but they should. It’s their doctrine.
Thanks for elaborating a bit. Great addition to your previous comment.
Tom,
Your post reminded me of another issue or challenge in the USA between the separation of Church and State which has evolved ever since the government was given the power to teach our children’
For Example,
In your mind, you believe sex to be the result of persons making choices to worship pleasers they choose to indulge in worshipping an idol, instead of sex being blessing of marriage given by God.
Whereas our sexualized government believes all problems related to sex, or drugs, are related to be the result of brain science that result in addictive behaviors.
If interested, Read this article in the link below
https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/preventing-drug-misuse-addiction-best-strategy’.
What I find interesting is this set Excerpt Statement of how best to address how to prevent drug addiction.
“Can research-based programs prevent drug addiction in youth?
Yes. The term research-based or evidence-based means that these programs have been designed based on current scientific evidence, thoroughly tested, and shown to produce positive results. Scientists have developed a broad range of programs that positively alter the balance between risk and protective factors for drug use in families, schools, and communities.”
In other words, both beliefs believe the root cause can be cured or lessened by teaching youth something related to this Wisdom proverb.
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverb 22:6)
In My Opinion,
,
We both, “faith and secular” believers, need to discern and focus on the root problem which in my opinion is understanding that what we are not teaching youth obviously the root problem of most of the folly we read or hear in the news every day.
Because, if we do not teach wisdom and love in the Bible, or science of the brain functions to youth, when they become adults, their brains are more “conditioned” to become “addicted” to choose the foolish paths in life that lead to both moral and health problems.
Faith which our founders of USA which they believed of the issue of freedom.
Science because their amygdala brain organ has never been trained to warn youth to choose the wise moral and/or lawful paths in life to follow, during our short time on earth as explained in my previous post below.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
As a practical matter, the government study is worthless. The problem is that politicians cannot be trusted to properly instruct children or to protect them. Government-run education
I need to get a new laptop. Sigh!
Government-run education is rapidly growing worse. Our leaders are allow drug pushers and the drugs they peddle into our country almost unobstructed. Yet those are the leaders the Secularists want us to trust.
Consider again your post: https://rudymartinka.com/2017/10/29/king-solomon-amygdala-pathway-to-wisdom/ It is correct, but not complete.
Read that proverb again.
Fear by itself does not lead to wisdom. We can fear the wrong thing. We can fear man more than we fear God, and that is not wise. That is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.