We are all aware that in terms of sexual purity, our world is a sorry place. It would be unrecognisable to our great-grandpar­ents, and it’s alarming enough to those of us who are in the midst of our lives. In large part the change has come from what we call the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s and onwards. But this is just the visible face of deeper shifts in atti­tudes and beliefs in the western world. We have all seen huge changes in the way people live – in marriage and outside of it – and seen society’s acceptance of these developments. All this tempts us to shrink from the world and hide our­selves from it.

What can we do? It’s scary, intimidat­ing, and can place Christians who know it’s all wrong in a fearful and doubtful spot. Perhaps they will even have us prosecuted for opposing their practic­es? Things are changing so fast that we often don’t understand what is going on, and don’t know how to respond. Where do we turn?

We need good teachers and leaders; and that is what God is providing for his church. These days, their help is readily available via the internet, even if you never get to meet them. For instance, I’ve often found the writing of Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, very helpful. He has a clear-sighted grasp of what is going on in western society, he reads widely, and is prepared to speak out in a courageous way about what has gone wrong. He writes a regular blog, the occasional book, speaks at conferences, and even the secular print media have published his articles. He’s also prepared to advise the rest of us how to respond and point out the ways things will get worse if we don’t. He seems to me to be providing the kind of leadership we need to equip ourselves to deal with the so-called sexual revolution and its consolidation in the legislation in our land.

Recently, I heard a paper he gave at a Ligonier conference in Seattle, Washing­ton. It was a masterful overview of the origins and progress of the sexual revolu­tion in the United States; and, by exten­sion, in other western countries. I found it particularly helpful because, while he was obviously aware of pressure groups’ activity, specific instances of harassment of individual Christians and institutions, and the direction of legislation, he was also very clear about the real source of decline: human sin and its tendency to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. I thought you may find a brief overview of Mohler’s address useful – and perhaps give you some motivation to put aside an hour to listen to him yourself.

Mohler begins by pointing out that we face a big challenge today. Christians often have very little time to answer questions about sexual morality; and sadly, giving the wrong answers can cost us a great deal. (Christian colleges have recently been sued for discrimination against students who claim transgender and other sexual preferences subsequent to enrolment). He warns that we need to prepare ourselves with an understand­ing of what has happened in the past 50 years, and with a clear appreciation of biblical truth on these matters.

Mohler does not begin with Scripture, as he wants it to have the last word – but he does state clearly at the outset that sexual “devolution” (or a negative, counter-righteousness revolution) is the result of the Fall. What we have seen in the past 50 years is the exchange of a traditional moral wisdom that came from Christianity for the radical, indi­vidualistic make-your-own morality that we find today.

Five Revolutions⤒🔗

He goes on to outline five revolutions that have led to our current chaotic situation. The first of these was the contraceptive revolution. In the early twentieth century every Christian denomination opposed birth control. This began to change in 1930 when the Lambeth Conference (general confe-rence of Anglicans worldwide) ruled that artificial birth control could be allow­able in certain pastoral situations. The big watershed was in 1960 with the release of oral contraceptives, known as “the Pill”. The directive to doctors was that it was only to be made available to married women; though this was soon overturned. The result was that sexual activity was divorced from conception – that which, until then, was always assumed to be its consequence. One of the biggest sanctions on sexual immoral­ity was thereby removed.

The second revolution was that of divorce. In 1969 the first state in the U.S. to legislate no-fault divorce set a pattern that soon spread to the others, and of course to most western countries. Hard though it is to imagine now, it had been, until then, a requirement for one of the parties in a marriage to prove adul­tery before a divorce was granted. The coming of no-fault divorce was hailed as a big advance, removing the rancor – and embarrassment – of blame and sordid revelations from the courtroom.

The feminist revolution came next; and it was a dominant feature of cultural change in the 1970s. Men were blamed for the “domestic concentration camps” baby boomer wives found themselves in suburban America. Public discussion of male and female roles in marriage and in society changed everything – and Mohler observes that feminist leaders were stun­ningly successful in convincing Americans that “male” and “female” were simply culturally-imposed concepts. This was to have further, ominous, consequenc­es. This revolution also built on the last through arguments that controlling their fertility by easy access to contraception was the only way women could enjoy equal rights with men.

The fifth revolution was that of advanced reproductive technologies. These have mostly only been available in the last couple of decades; though of course in vitro fertilisation came earlier. Mohler gives a very rapid summary of some of these, pointing out that embryo sorting, the sale of gametes and free genetic screening have paved the way for “tentative pregnancies” (meaning that they may be terminated at will) and “de­signer babies”. They have also created a situation where it is possible for some to deny that marriage has any necessary link to procreation. We hear calls today for same-sex couples to have the same “rights” to have babies as anyone else.

Bewildering Speed←⤒🔗

The velocity of these revolutions has been bewildering. Many of us don’t un­derstand their technicalities; let alone their none-too-clear ramifications. And one of the most disheartening things about them is the way they have swept the general public along with them. Ten years ago, according to Mohler, 70% of Americans were against same-sex mar­riage. Today, the same percentage is in favour. It’s bewildering; and we wonder how it’s all happened. Part of the reason is a campaign on the part of the “sexual revolutionaries” to have their sexual acts normalized, not just allowed. Thus, the effort to have them talked about – placed in front of the public, in their homes, on sitcoms and dramas and documentaries via television, night after night and year after year – until they no longer seem strange. The “yuck factor” (as one social researcher mentioned by Mohler calls it) is, over time, simply dissipated.

The terminology has been changed, too (“partners”, not girlfriends or wives), and cohabitation has lost virtually all stigma against it. Living together is ap­parently the first choice of Americans – and not just among young people. Seniors live in the same way; claiming that to marry would lead to devastating taxation implications. But we have seen it here in New Zealand, too – grandpar­ents moving in with “partners” shame­lessly, and in a way that they would have frowned upon their grandchildren for doing only a decade or two ago.

But while some of this most recent activity is due to an orchestrated effort on the part of well-organised activists none of it could have happened without the previous revolutions – and, behind them, the Enlightenment of the 18^th century which was the arch-revolution in terms of people’s thinking. People are influenced, yes – but they are ready for it. They are receptive.

Mohler’s narrative of the situation ends with a sketch of the confusion that reigns among postmoderns: we aren’t even sure what gender means any more, since it is simply an identity we can change at will. People are even begin­ning to say we need to get past a fixed and binary understanding of gender – hence it is “one more problem we need to overcome” – and, no doubt, legislate about. Today’s legal rulings always seem to come down to “consent” – that is, if it’s not wanted, it should not be allowed. And everything else is permissible. This is the brave new world we now inhabit. It’s sometimes plain terrifying, isn’t it?

But yet, Mohler points out, we are the people who should be responding – “We’re not shocked, we’ve read Genesis 3.” Because we have the whole, over­arching biblical picture and the completed story of the gospel, we should be expecting this kind of rebellion to raise its head in a world that rejects Christ and his Word. We ought also to remem­ber that the only world view which can withstand the onslaught is a committed, informed, Christian one.

It is important to be clear, as well, that these demands to change our mo­rality, and to accept and approve the new one, is also a demand to give up the gospel. Where do we stand?

Teach your Children Well←⤒🔗

Mohler urges us to have a lot of con­versations with our children – perhaps conversations we’ve never had before. If children aren’t taught; if they’re not being encouraged to become intelli­gent Christians, and if they’re not well-grounded in biblical truth and the power of the gospel – then how will they stand when the pressure comes on them? We also need to realise how realistic and truthful the Bible is about sin. It knows about sin; it shows us sin. Mohler tells how, as a very young teenager, he in­stantly realised that some of the bad things mentioned in Leviticus are only there because someone, somewhere, was doing them ... how realistic are we? As Mohler says, we need to have conver­sations we’ve never had before.

I particularly liked the way Mohler concludes his address. He turns to Romans 1, the very passage which had made sense of everything for me as a young student when I was puzzled why so many had no desire to hear about Christ. The crucial point for Mohler (and, back then, for me) was the fact that men and women suppress the truth in unright­eousness. Nobody has any excuse: the Bible makes clear what sin is from begin­ning to end. But in their unrighteousness sinners have suppressed, twisted, and reinterpreted this truth about sin. This alone explains what has been happening all around us. We have, Mohler urges, no right to be surprised by any of it.

But then he shifts focus. Our tenden­cy is to look at Romans 1, especially its tale of the progression of sin from idola­try to sexual perversion, and think – yes, that is what those people do. Thank the Lord I am not like that. They are the ones who need the gospel. But read on. God again gave them up – to what? To “envy, murder, strife, deceit, malicious­ness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, in­ventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless...”

Do we, who believe the gospel, never do such things? We too are in this list – every one of us. And if we read the Sermon on the Mount we have to ac­knowledge that we, too, commit sexual sin – at least in our thoughts. This reali­sation, says Mohler, ought to drive us to love and compassion for those living in the chaos wrought by sexual devolution.

This is a heartening conclusion. It helps dissipate our fear, equips us with better understanding of the situation; and keeps us properly aware that the Christ who saved us is also the only hope of the fallen world round us.

You can hear the full lecture at the following web address:
http://www.ligo­nier.org/learn/conferences/overcoming­the-world-2014-west-coast-conference/sexual-devolution/