Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2012

Abstract

Oh, my. I am the bearer of statistics and trends related to sexual behavior and attitudes – what it is we’re talking about in these days together. God so loved the world... so what is it like, this world that God loves? My grandpa would probably disapprove of starting with conversation about worldly things – he was an American Baptist pastor, fundamentalist, studied under William Bell Riley, and the Bible was almost the only book he read. He’d sometimes try to read the newspaper, but would be so pained by the worldliness, he’d have to set it down.

I thought of Grandpa a few months ago when, after a talk I gave about sexuality, a woman stood up in Q&A and held her ears, saying, “All this talk about culture, culture, culture. It should just be about the Bible. We can’t just be bending truth around whatever happens to be going on in the culture.”

I agree – we can’t just bend truth around whatever’s happening in society. But I also disagree. I do think culture matters. But why? Why be informed about society, especially about matters related to sin?

Comments

Originally published as:

Paris, Jenell. “What’s Going On While We Were Avoiding the Subject,” Christian Ethics Today (fall 2012):4:5-9. http://pastarticles.christianethicstoday.com/cetart/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.main&ArtID=1742

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