SEX IS NOT A FOUR-LETTER WORD
Stories
THE FALL OF A SPARROW
AND OTHER EXTENDED ILLUSTRATIONS FOR PROCLAIMERS OF THE WORD
I WAS WALKING down the street one day when I bumped into a minister-friend whose attention had been diverted by a lovely mini-skirted lass. When he saw me he was clearly embarrassed.
"Don't worry," I said. "I was looking also."
The event reminded me of a television program I once saw in which an elderly artist was being interviewed by a master of ceremonies. For some forgotten reason, one of the questions asked the man was, "As a painter, what do you think is the most beautiful of all God's creation?"
The old man, without batting an eye replied soberly, "Why, a woman, of course!"
The audience and the announcer responded to the man's answer with amused laughter, but the elderly man was completely serious when he explained: "The mountains, the stars - they were all created before woman. She was the last of His creations and therefore the most valuable and the most beautiful."
Most men would agree with the statement of that wise artist, but few would admit it. In fact, the majority of men have never admitted it. That is probably why we have so much sex-ploitation today, with its resulting harm to our youth.
For generations we have been taught - and in turn have taught our children - that sex is a dirty word and the act itself is abominable, instead of the beautiful thing it was created to be.
A story is told of a little boy who tried in vain to learn some facts of life from his parents. Finally, irritated by their puritanical attitudes, the boy exclaimed, "If you and daddy think sex is so dirty, where in the world did I come from?"
Admittedly, there is a fine line between love and lust, or admiration and avarice, but it is about time we learned to spell. Sex is not a four-letter word.
It has only been made to appear as such by the puritans and the pornographers who have degraded and blasphemed that which has been beautifully created by God.
For Discussion
1. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE AUTHOR'S STATEMENTS?
2. IS THERE TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON SEX IN TODAY'S WORLD? (A) ON TELEVISION? (B) IN MOVIES? (C) IN BOOKS AND MAGAZINES? IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT AS CHRISTIAN WITNESSES? ARE THERE EFFORTS WHICH YOU HAVE PERSONALLY TAKEN IN REGARD TO THE ABOVE? ARE THERE EFFORTS WHICH YOUR CHURCH HAS TAKEN CONCERNING THE PROBLEM?
3. WHICH DO YOU CONSIDER MORE DANGEROUS TO YOUTH: TELEVISION AND MOVIE DEPICTION OF NORMAL SEXUAL ACTIVITIES, OR SCENES OF GRAPHIC VIOLENCE? WHICH WOULD YOU PREFER YOUR TEENAGE CHILDREN TO SEE: AN R-RATED MOVIE DEPICTING FULL NUDITY AND NORMAL SEXUAL ACTIVITY, OR AN R-RATED (OR PG-RATED) MOVIE WHICH GRAPHICALLY DEPICTS MURDER AND DISMEMBERMENT?
4. DO YOU REGULARLY WATCH "SOAP OPERAS?" HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT "SOAPS" ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN EXPLICIT MOVIES AND THAT PARENTS INFLUENCE CHILDREN IN A NEGATIVE MANNER BY WATCHING SUCH PROGRAMS?
SCRIPTURES FOR CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION:
MATTHEW 5:21-29
ROMANS 10:8
HOLY COMMERCIALISM!
EASTER SUNDAY has passed; the "Alleluias" have diminished; the new spring clothes have become everyday apparel; and the rabbits have stopped producing eggs and have returned to the more natural biological function of producing more rabbits. The folding chairs have been returned to church storerooms; business establishments refill greeting card cases and replace the colorful cellophane Easter lilies on candy boxes with equally colorful, cellophane sentiments to Mother - as the secular holiday cycle continues.
During the Christmas season, many people justifiably lament the gross commercialism injected into that holy holiday, causing at least one mourner to say: "In the early centuries, Christmas might have been celebrated as the day of the birth of Christ, but in the twentieth-century we celebrate Christmas as the day of Commercialism's birth."
Few people could argue with that statement, and many would agree that Commercialism's birth is celebrated many times throughout the year, beginning with New Year's Day, continuing through Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and culminating in the year-end extravaganza of Christmas Day. And interspersed among the above are assorted birthdays and anniversaries, resulting in fervent reminders jotted down on the daily calendar to "Buy a gift!"
Few persons, of course, resent buying a gift for a loved one, nor do they resent the merchant who advertises and displays the proposed gifts so conveniently - but every person should question the growing tendency to substitute "buying power" for "bying power."
Aside from the obvious fact that commercialism's bonneted bunnies and sleigh-riding Santas are beginning to force the manger and the Cross into medieval obscurity, of what value is commercialism as related to other holidays?
Is a mother only a mother during one particular day of the year, whose sole recognition of the other 364 days is a box of candy or a corsage of hastily prepared flowers? Does she then receive a gift because of loving sentiment, or merely because Commercialism must bolster its sagging sales by appealing to the lethargic consciences of "Mother's children?" And ditto for Father's Day.
And take Memorial Day - and you may, because I don't want it. Even here, Commercialism rears its ugly but indispensable head, although it is not the fault of Commercialism, but our own. Whom do we really honor - the dead, or our own consciences and grieving hearts? Is it really an honor to the dead to place on a grave plastic flowers which will, in a few days, become faded garbage in a dirty foam basket to be carted off by the cemetery custodian, or, as is often the case, be left as graveyard litter until the next "Memorial Day?"
Would the honor not be greater and the memory more meaningful if the mourner visited the gravesite more often, preferably taking, instead of plastic flowers, a pair of shears and a silent prayer?
Holidays can be good days, and they usually are, but we are surely destroying the deeper meanings of these special days - and our own integrity - by attempting to use these holidays as a salve for our own guilty consciences which allow us a year of domestic and spiritual indifference.
Christmas and Easter are Holy Days with special spiritual significance, and while Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny may have some merit, they are not instruments of atonement. And while a box of candy or a wreath of flowers might indicate an abiding love, they are not adequate substitutes for daily remembrances and kindnesses. Christ, Mother, Father - they are real every day of the year, whether in spirit or flesh. Our faith in them and our love for them is less than noble when our devotion is limited to particular days of the year.
Commercialism is a necessity, but it should be our servant, not our master.
And it should never be allowed to defile those things and peopie whom we hold most dear.
For Discussion
1. CHRISTMAS AND EASTER HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED IN PREVIOUS ARTICLES, BUT HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE AUTHOR'S STATEMENTS CONCERNING MEMORIAL DAY?
2. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT COMMERCIALISM IS OUR "MASTER" AND THAT WE ALLOW IT TO "DEFILE THOSE THINGS AND PEOPLE WE HOLD MOST DEAR?" IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT?
SCRIPTURES FOR CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION:
MATTHEW 27:57-61
(SEE ALSO THE NEXT ARTICLE AND SCRIPTURES)
PLAQUES ON BEDPOSTS
SOMEONE was telling me recently of a church parsonage in which most of the furniture was given as memorials. On tables, beds, chairs, and lamps there were conspicuous bronze plaques engraved with the names of the donors and/or the deceased relatives of the donors.
I can imagine the feelings of a pastoral family who must surely resent being forced to live in this kind of "mausoleum."
Memorials, of course, are perfectly proper in their place - if you can find such a place - but the above situation is a ridiculous extreme. I can also imagine the feelings of someone who might think his tenure here on earth would be remembered by a plaque on a bedpost or on the edge of a coffee table.
Therefore, I wish to serve notice to all my friends - if there be any - that at my passing I do not want to be remembered by a bronze plaque on a footstool. If I am to have a memorial, I want it to be something really significant. I would like a lot of cast iron statues made (similar to all those Civil War soldiers who stand guard on courthouse lawns), and distributed to all the cities in which I have lived.
The arms of the statues should be stretched wide (perhaps in a gesture of benediction) so the pigeons and sparrows will have plenty of sitting space, and the appropriate part of the statue should be made of pliable plastic so that my enemies might be able to walk by occasionally and give me a swift kick in the pants.
I certainly think that this kind of memorial would be much more practical than a nameplate on a kitchen table - and I know the birds and my enemies would enjoy it more.
Actually, all people, I suppose, would like to leave their footprints in the proverbial sands of time, and all do - in one way or another. However, a person will not be remembered because of a plaque on a piece of furniture or because of some statue which bears his or her name. Rather, one will be remembered for the good or evil he or she has done people, for the kindnesses given, or for obstacles one has overcome in the battle of life.
Our U.S. culture has conditioned us to think reverently about fame, and most of us, at one time or another, have probably harbored secret desires on the subject, wistfully substituting our name in the headlines for that of Sinatra, Salk, Kennedy, Lincoln, Springsteen, Graham, Parton, Taylor, Mother Teresa, or even the Virgin Mary.
In spite of our dreams, however, the lot of the majority seems to be cast with the Smiths and Jones (no relation to Tom), and any fame we achieve is the adulation which normally comes from sympathetic relatives and friends - and often expressed by a name on a stained-glass window, or a plaque on a bedpost.
Some people, of course, are perfectly happy to have their names left for posterity anywhere - even on the leg of a coal-burning cookstove; but most would simply prefer to have their names retained in the memories of those whom they have known and loved.
I once had the privilege of knowing a rich and respected banker who was constantly giving of himself to others. But his church and community will probably never know just how much that banker did give, because he made every effort possible to "give his alms in secret." And he was very insistent in his instructions to wife and associates that no "memorials" would be made in his name after his demise. I think he would have liked the sentiment expressed in the following poem.
Away with tears and verbose prose; away with requiems of woes.
Away with toasts of pungent wine, away with flowers ripped off the vine.
I ask instead as I pass by; that one can say with truthful eye:
"He lived, he died, what more to say; but that I'm glad he passed my way."
For Discussion
1. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE COMMON PRACTICE OF PLACING MEMORIAL PLAQUES ON PARSONAGE/CHURCH FURNITURE, CHURCH WINDOWS, ETC.?
2. CAN YOU THINK OF BETTER WAYS TO MEMORIALIZE OUR LOVED ONES?
3. SHOULD GIFTS TO THE CHURCH AND TO NEEDY INDIVIDUALS BE GIVEN ANONYMOUSLY OR WITH THE EXPECTATION OF ACKNOWLEDGMENTS?
SCRIPTURES FOR CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION:
MATTHEW 6:1-4
MATTHEW 6:19-21
"Don't worry," I said. "I was looking also."
The event reminded me of a television program I once saw in which an elderly artist was being interviewed by a master of ceremonies. For some forgotten reason, one of the questions asked the man was, "As a painter, what do you think is the most beautiful of all God's creation?"
The old man, without batting an eye replied soberly, "Why, a woman, of course!"
The audience and the announcer responded to the man's answer with amused laughter, but the elderly man was completely serious when he explained: "The mountains, the stars - they were all created before woman. She was the last of His creations and therefore the most valuable and the most beautiful."
Most men would agree with the statement of that wise artist, but few would admit it. In fact, the majority of men have never admitted it. That is probably why we have so much sex-ploitation today, with its resulting harm to our youth.
For generations we have been taught - and in turn have taught our children - that sex is a dirty word and the act itself is abominable, instead of the beautiful thing it was created to be.
A story is told of a little boy who tried in vain to learn some facts of life from his parents. Finally, irritated by their puritanical attitudes, the boy exclaimed, "If you and daddy think sex is so dirty, where in the world did I come from?"
Admittedly, there is a fine line between love and lust, or admiration and avarice, but it is about time we learned to spell. Sex is not a four-letter word.
It has only been made to appear as such by the puritans and the pornographers who have degraded and blasphemed that which has been beautifully created by God.
For Discussion
1. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE AUTHOR'S STATEMENTS?
2. IS THERE TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON SEX IN TODAY'S WORLD? (A) ON TELEVISION? (B) IN MOVIES? (C) IN BOOKS AND MAGAZINES? IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT AS CHRISTIAN WITNESSES? ARE THERE EFFORTS WHICH YOU HAVE PERSONALLY TAKEN IN REGARD TO THE ABOVE? ARE THERE EFFORTS WHICH YOUR CHURCH HAS TAKEN CONCERNING THE PROBLEM?
3. WHICH DO YOU CONSIDER MORE DANGEROUS TO YOUTH: TELEVISION AND MOVIE DEPICTION OF NORMAL SEXUAL ACTIVITIES, OR SCENES OF GRAPHIC VIOLENCE? WHICH WOULD YOU PREFER YOUR TEENAGE CHILDREN TO SEE: AN R-RATED MOVIE DEPICTING FULL NUDITY AND NORMAL SEXUAL ACTIVITY, OR AN R-RATED (OR PG-RATED) MOVIE WHICH GRAPHICALLY DEPICTS MURDER AND DISMEMBERMENT?
4. DO YOU REGULARLY WATCH "SOAP OPERAS?" HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT "SOAPS" ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN EXPLICIT MOVIES AND THAT PARENTS INFLUENCE CHILDREN IN A NEGATIVE MANNER BY WATCHING SUCH PROGRAMS?
SCRIPTURES FOR CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION:
MATTHEW 5:21-29
ROMANS 10:8
HOLY COMMERCIALISM!
EASTER SUNDAY has passed; the "Alleluias" have diminished; the new spring clothes have become everyday apparel; and the rabbits have stopped producing eggs and have returned to the more natural biological function of producing more rabbits. The folding chairs have been returned to church storerooms; business establishments refill greeting card cases and replace the colorful cellophane Easter lilies on candy boxes with equally colorful, cellophane sentiments to Mother - as the secular holiday cycle continues.
During the Christmas season, many people justifiably lament the gross commercialism injected into that holy holiday, causing at least one mourner to say: "In the early centuries, Christmas might have been celebrated as the day of the birth of Christ, but in the twentieth-century we celebrate Christmas as the day of Commercialism's birth."
Few people could argue with that statement, and many would agree that Commercialism's birth is celebrated many times throughout the year, beginning with New Year's Day, continuing through Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and culminating in the year-end extravaganza of Christmas Day. And interspersed among the above are assorted birthdays and anniversaries, resulting in fervent reminders jotted down on the daily calendar to "Buy a gift!"
Few persons, of course, resent buying a gift for a loved one, nor do they resent the merchant who advertises and displays the proposed gifts so conveniently - but every person should question the growing tendency to substitute "buying power" for "bying power."
Aside from the obvious fact that commercialism's bonneted bunnies and sleigh-riding Santas are beginning to force the manger and the Cross into medieval obscurity, of what value is commercialism as related to other holidays?
Is a mother only a mother during one particular day of the year, whose sole recognition of the other 364 days is a box of candy or a corsage of hastily prepared flowers? Does she then receive a gift because of loving sentiment, or merely because Commercialism must bolster its sagging sales by appealing to the lethargic consciences of "Mother's children?" And ditto for Father's Day.
And take Memorial Day - and you may, because I don't want it. Even here, Commercialism rears its ugly but indispensable head, although it is not the fault of Commercialism, but our own. Whom do we really honor - the dead, or our own consciences and grieving hearts? Is it really an honor to the dead to place on a grave plastic flowers which will, in a few days, become faded garbage in a dirty foam basket to be carted off by the cemetery custodian, or, as is often the case, be left as graveyard litter until the next "Memorial Day?"
Would the honor not be greater and the memory more meaningful if the mourner visited the gravesite more often, preferably taking, instead of plastic flowers, a pair of shears and a silent prayer?
Holidays can be good days, and they usually are, but we are surely destroying the deeper meanings of these special days - and our own integrity - by attempting to use these holidays as a salve for our own guilty consciences which allow us a year of domestic and spiritual indifference.
Christmas and Easter are Holy Days with special spiritual significance, and while Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny may have some merit, they are not instruments of atonement. And while a box of candy or a wreath of flowers might indicate an abiding love, they are not adequate substitutes for daily remembrances and kindnesses. Christ, Mother, Father - they are real every day of the year, whether in spirit or flesh. Our faith in them and our love for them is less than noble when our devotion is limited to particular days of the year.
Commercialism is a necessity, but it should be our servant, not our master.
And it should never be allowed to defile those things and peopie whom we hold most dear.
For Discussion
1. CHRISTMAS AND EASTER HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED IN PREVIOUS ARTICLES, BUT HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE AUTHOR'S STATEMENTS CONCERNING MEMORIAL DAY?
2. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT COMMERCIALISM IS OUR "MASTER" AND THAT WE ALLOW IT TO "DEFILE THOSE THINGS AND PEOPLE WE HOLD MOST DEAR?" IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT?
SCRIPTURES FOR CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION:
MATTHEW 27:57-61
(SEE ALSO THE NEXT ARTICLE AND SCRIPTURES)
PLAQUES ON BEDPOSTS
SOMEONE was telling me recently of a church parsonage in which most of the furniture was given as memorials. On tables, beds, chairs, and lamps there were conspicuous bronze plaques engraved with the names of the donors and/or the deceased relatives of the donors.
I can imagine the feelings of a pastoral family who must surely resent being forced to live in this kind of "mausoleum."
Memorials, of course, are perfectly proper in their place - if you can find such a place - but the above situation is a ridiculous extreme. I can also imagine the feelings of someone who might think his tenure here on earth would be remembered by a plaque on a bedpost or on the edge of a coffee table.
Therefore, I wish to serve notice to all my friends - if there be any - that at my passing I do not want to be remembered by a bronze plaque on a footstool. If I am to have a memorial, I want it to be something really significant. I would like a lot of cast iron statues made (similar to all those Civil War soldiers who stand guard on courthouse lawns), and distributed to all the cities in which I have lived.
The arms of the statues should be stretched wide (perhaps in a gesture of benediction) so the pigeons and sparrows will have plenty of sitting space, and the appropriate part of the statue should be made of pliable plastic so that my enemies might be able to walk by occasionally and give me a swift kick in the pants.
I certainly think that this kind of memorial would be much more practical than a nameplate on a kitchen table - and I know the birds and my enemies would enjoy it more.
Actually, all people, I suppose, would like to leave their footprints in the proverbial sands of time, and all do - in one way or another. However, a person will not be remembered because of a plaque on a piece of furniture or because of some statue which bears his or her name. Rather, one will be remembered for the good or evil he or she has done people, for the kindnesses given, or for obstacles one has overcome in the battle of life.
Our U.S. culture has conditioned us to think reverently about fame, and most of us, at one time or another, have probably harbored secret desires on the subject, wistfully substituting our name in the headlines for that of Sinatra, Salk, Kennedy, Lincoln, Springsteen, Graham, Parton, Taylor, Mother Teresa, or even the Virgin Mary.
In spite of our dreams, however, the lot of the majority seems to be cast with the Smiths and Jones (no relation to Tom), and any fame we achieve is the adulation which normally comes from sympathetic relatives and friends - and often expressed by a name on a stained-glass window, or a plaque on a bedpost.
Some people, of course, are perfectly happy to have their names left for posterity anywhere - even on the leg of a coal-burning cookstove; but most would simply prefer to have their names retained in the memories of those whom they have known and loved.
I once had the privilege of knowing a rich and respected banker who was constantly giving of himself to others. But his church and community will probably never know just how much that banker did give, because he made every effort possible to "give his alms in secret." And he was very insistent in his instructions to wife and associates that no "memorials" would be made in his name after his demise. I think he would have liked the sentiment expressed in the following poem.
Away with tears and verbose prose; away with requiems of woes.
Away with toasts of pungent wine, away with flowers ripped off the vine.
I ask instead as I pass by; that one can say with truthful eye:
"He lived, he died, what more to say; but that I'm glad he passed my way."
For Discussion
1. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE COMMON PRACTICE OF PLACING MEMORIAL PLAQUES ON PARSONAGE/CHURCH FURNITURE, CHURCH WINDOWS, ETC.?
2. CAN YOU THINK OF BETTER WAYS TO MEMORIALIZE OUR LOVED ONES?
3. SHOULD GIFTS TO THE CHURCH AND TO NEEDY INDIVIDUALS BE GIVEN ANONYMOUSLY OR WITH THE EXPECTATION OF ACKNOWLEDGMENTS?
SCRIPTURES FOR CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION:
MATTHEW 6:1-4
MATTHEW 6:19-21
