Standing for decency and the wonder of sex

By: American Decency Staff

Standing for decency and the wonder of sex I was counseled by a friend of this ministry to sometime write about the fact that sex is not a bad thing but rather beautiful in the context of Christ and His plan for our lives.He stated "Be careful that in your strong stands against pornography, obscenity and indecency that you don't give the impression that you are against sex." He said otherwise people will just write you off as an old man in the northern woods who's against anything that has to do with sex. So with this being my 61st birthday today I decided this is as good a day as any to offer my brief testimony on the subject of the wonder and beauty of sex. Here are my several points. (1) Once I was young. I was not a Christian and had no interest in spiritual things. In that condition and position, I did what comes naturally, I self-pleasured to pornography. I lusted regularly in my late teens and early twenties. I objectified women. (2) By the marvelous grace of God, I became a Christian shortly before I became married to Jan (23 years old). We had so much to learn about being married and also much about sexual things. (3) We have seen so many friends and loved ones fall in their marriages and sometimes sex was one of the core issues – both before marriage and during. That's one of the main reasons why we have regularly promoted Pam Stenzel's significant DVD/video "Sex Has a Price Tag." Here are some of Pam Stenzel's comments as she opens her message. I came here today so that none of you will be able to leave this auditorium and ever again be able to say to a physician, to a counselor, to a future husband or wife "nobody ever told me. I didn't know." If you've had sex outside of a permanent marriage relationship, you will pay. There is a cost. No one has ever had sex outside of the context or marriage without paying a price. The question you have to ask tonight though, is this: "What is the cost and is it worth it?" I speak and travel all over the US and internationally to ¼ million teenagers every year and have learned a tremendous amount, Before I began speaking full time, I spent nine years working at a Pregnancy Counseling Center. I began to ask the girls in my office, what could we have said before you made your choice that might of helped you make a better choice? After nine years I realized that there were a lot of teenagers out there who were making choices about sex and had absolutely no idea about what the consequences were. I want you to understand that I don't come here today to make a choice for you and I don't intend to. I can't go on all you dates. I don't have time. I can't choose for you. As much as we would like to, we can't put you in a box until you are 24. All we can do is love you and tell the truth, and hope you make the right choices. My goal today is that none of you here will ever again be able to say to a physician, pregnancy counselor, future husband or wife, "Nobody told me." What you choose to do after today is up to you. God created sex. It's awesome. It's not a terrible thing we can't talk about in a Catholic school. God created sex. God wants you to have great sex. It was his idea, not yours. But God created sex with boundaries. It's awesome when it is within boundaries. But when it happens outside of boundaries, it's horribly, horribly destructive. Pam asks the teenagers: "What's the context or boundary God created with sex?" They answer: "Marriage." Pam says: "That's the right answer, but most of you don't believe this. God did not create sex for love. He created sex for one context only, marriage for a lifetime. I love the law of God. I delight in the law of God: 1. It protects – no one gets hurts who follows His laws 2. It's simple, not complicated. Everyone can understand it. It is not hard. Either you are married or you are not married. …. ================================================= (4) Let me try to say it as simply as I can but I can't say it as well as Pam Stenzel. Jan and I love the law of God. We delight in the law of God. His law protects – we have never hurt one another as we have truly sought – by His grace to follow His laws. (I don't mean that we have never had problems or arguments. We have had plenty. But, we have been FAITHFUL AND TRUE to one another.) (5) So here we are at the age of 61. Old? Getting there yet enjoying intimacy more than ever before. Why? Because we have trusted God to build our relationship from the inside out. Spiritually we have grown in our love relationship with God and as we have seen that each one of us wants to live for Him honestly, sincerely, truly. We have seen that we both are yielded to Him more and more and more and more. In trusting God, we now see faithfulness, honesty, sincerity, love in one another. Our Christian lives have continued to blossom including in the realm of sexual intimacy. Hate sex? Hardly. Our sex life knits our lives together in a way that nothing else can do. We come away knowing that our relationship is healthy and that we are one in Him – to His glory and honor – and to our pleasure not to our shame. (6) Why do I speak out so strongly against indecency at the shopping mall, indecency at the checkouts, filth and trash on television -"Desperate Housewives"? Not because I hate sex but because I love God's great gift of sex – in the context of marriage – particularly a truly Christian marriage. His Word is truth. His ways are right and righteous! To God be the glory! I stand against the cheapening of sex, the cheapening and coarsening of the human body (so beautiful in its innocence and nakedness in the context of a Biblical marriage) because it destroys. It undermines what God intends for His precious children – you and me and our children and grandchildren. I don't want yours or mine damaged by sexually transmitted disease, fornication, homosexuality, sexual addictions, divorce, etc.. And you don't either. Sex entrepreneurs are degrading, damaging, diminishing God's great gift of sex via it's cheap themes on magazine covers, its regular portrayals of unfaithfulness, illegitimacy, illicit sex, promiscuous sex, licentiousness, homosexuality, perversion via television programming, movies, advertisements, billboards, the Internet, music, magazines. In closing, quoting Pam Stenzel: "God wants you to have great sex. It was his idea, not yours. But God created sex with boundaries. It's awesome when it is within boundaries. But when it happens outside of boundaries, it's horribly, horribly destructive. …." A special thanks to my friend for his counsel to address this subject of my stand for decency (and staunchly against indecency) and the wonder of sex. Yes. I stand against those "harmless" images of Victoria's Secret mannequins and displays with legs spread, and breasts showing in malls where we take our children, and I will continue to do so – by the grace of God. =================================== Lastly, this, Pam Stenzel's DVD is worth having. You can order it at: Order Pam Stenzel video tapes online https://secure4.afo.net/ada/main.php?f=store/display American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org

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