Emergence

The other day Tiger woods appeared on television and apologized publically for his sexual exploits.  I believe this was an act that took incredible courage.  
So here is what this blog is not:

1. Another pointless pile on of Tiger
2. Another self righteous person who is repulsed by Tiger, I to am a sinner who like Tiger is guilty of lust, dishonesty, and all sorts of other sins

The reason for this blog is more theological in nature, after the Avatar revolution I was certain the new religion of choice was going to be pantheistic nature worship--where we all decided to go back and live in tree forts to reconnect with the natural life force.  When suddenly out of left field came this the other day…

Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don't realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist, and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years. Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught. – Tiger Woods

This statement by Tiger could very well mean that the new hip faith of choice in the next couple months will be Buddhism.

Here is the over-arching theory for Tiger: that he will find fulfillment inside himself, and will find that fulfillment by learning to remove his cravings/desires.  The real bummer for Tiger, is that sex is a great gift not to be removed, but redeemed.  Sex is to be celebrated, and enjoyed as God intended in the covenant of marriage… and sex in that environment should be free and frequent.  The writer of Proverbs says it like this

Proverbs 5:18-19 (ESV)
18     Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19     a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated always in her love.
    
What the writer of proverbs is saying is that the biblical goal is not that the husband removes his desire/cravings for sexuality.  Rather, the biblical picture is a man who is intoxicated with sexual desire for his wife.  In fact the text is unashamed as it reads intoxicated by her love, the literal word there is “love making”.  The writer is wishing for his son (whom he is speaking to) that in the future as he goes about his days on earth he will live full of cravings/desire, and be intoxicated with making love to his wife.  This is a stark contrast between the call to remove cravings/desire by depending on one self. It is rather the call to depend on God’s grace outside of self, to honor God with the gift of sex, cravings/desire, and then to enjoy God’s gift and all the cravings/desires that come with it--in marriage.

This is why the warnings through out the Song of Songs is so consistent: to not awaken the desire until the God given time, and use the gift of sex as God intended it.  I think Agur puts it best when he writes

Proverbs 30:18-19 (NIV)  
"There are three things that are too amazing for me,
 four that I do not understand:
[19] the way of an eagle in the sky,
 the way of a snake on a rock,
 the way of a ship on the high seas,
 and the way of a man with a maiden.
 
The writer is saying there are three things too wonderful and a fourth I don’t understand. He is using a Jewish literary device: using three images to describe the fourth, which is his main point.  An eagle soaring in the sky, a snake though it has no legs glides effortless on a rock, a ship sailing through the ocean, and a man having sex with a maiden (the word means with his virgin wife).

All three images are images of one object penetrating the other as the author points out the wonder of sex.  The bible is saying that in marriage, sexual cravings/desire when used the way God intended is supposed to be full of wonder.  Sex as God intended is to be soaring and gliding and sailing filled with beauty, wonder, mystery and awe.  Now follow the contrast of the next verse…

Proverbs 30:20 (NIV)  
    "This is the way of an adulteress:
        She eats and wipes her mouth
        and says, 'I've done nothing wrong.'
 
Notice for the adulteress the sexual experience is sloppy, it has been removed from desire, and sex now has been reduced to simply a basic human appetite as the Bloodhound Gang sang, “You and me baby ain’t nothing but mammals so let’s do it like they do on the discovery channel”.  That typifies the sexual experience stripped of desire, absent of craving, and absent of wonder and awe.  

Ultimately, sex is a gift and the desire for sex when redeemed and not removed is too majestic for words in a blog that will fail its beauty. Ultimately the answer to human sexuality does not reside within ourselves, but stands outside of us, by its designer and creator.  He has given us not only the Bible so that we could experience the great joy of human sexuality, but also a Savior who paid for all our shortcomings--as we have sinned in the use of that gift and countless others…  

I think the best place to end this blog is with Paul’s word to the Christians in the letter of Colossians. 

Col. 2:20-23 (NIV)  
    Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: [21] "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? [22] These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. [23] Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.