Chapter 3 Part 4

6) Lack of respect

“…But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.”
Proverbs 29:15

Another problem with fornication is that it causes us to lose respect for ourselves, our bodies, and the other person. You cannot respect others if you do not respect yourself. By fornicating you lose the sanctity of your own body. You profane the temple of the Holy Spirit. Your body becomes a tool against itself. When we can no longer resist our fleshly desires and become slaves to them, we lose respect for ourselves. We become disappointed in ourselves for our failure to withstand the onslaught of the flesh. Over the course of time, we become addicted to our pleasure and lose our identities. We become nothing more than instruments of gratification, losing our God given human dignity. God created us to be more than just sexual organs. We were designed to reflect the image of God on earth. I believe that we were created for a higher purpose than cheap sexual pleasure. Self-respect is gained through accomplishments of a higher level than the number of sexual partners or conquests we have. Men are not immune to this loss of respect. The more sexual partners we have the more of an object we become and the less respect we have for ourselves. When people become objects to us it does not matter who or what they are. It is no longer about them, it becomes about my selfish pleasure and me. There were times when I would be with someone that I not only did not know, but what I did know about her I did not like. That did not prevent me from having a sexual relationship. When our sexual desires become perverted it does not matter whom we are with, it only matters what we want. For some unknown reason many modern Christians believe they are entitled to some sort of exemption from God’s laws and God’s word. I think a lot of them are going to be in for a rude awakening. At some point in my life I came up with the mistaken idea that the rules did not apply to me. The laws of man and nature no longer held me in their limits. I was of course wrong and the results of my life bear witness to my error. I believed that I was smarter, cooler, slicker than everyone else so what happened to you would not happen to me. The laws of God apply to all, there are none who are exempt, none.

7) Deterioration of society

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.”
Isaiah 5:20

The Bible tells us woe to any society that does not obey God’s laws. The insidious nature of fornication is that it perverts God’s plan for the family. Without commitment between a man and a woman there is nothing holding together the fabric of the family or the fabric of society. God’s plan for us is more than momentary pleasure with no thought to the consequences. For a while now we have seen the signs of our society and community deteriorating. Our historical institutions are crumbling under the weight of this sinful epidemic. Crime in our community has reached new levels of savagery. It is no longer safe for children to pay outside or for old people to walk down the streets. Our community and neighborhoods have become war zones. Granted, society as a whole is falling apart, but it seems to be at an accelerated pace for us. The institutions that use to give us stability have not been able or willing to stem this tide of lawlessness. I believe the reason is their failure to address this crisis of fornication. I think that on further investigation many of our “so called” leaders may themselves be participating in this sinful activity. How many times have we heard on the news or read in the newspaper that some leader is confessing to having an illegitimate child from an illicit affair. It would be difficult for them to condemn what they themselves are guilty of committing. We have allowed society to dictate to us what is right and wrong and not relied on the word of God. Many black churches in particular and many modern churches as a whole have chosen their master and it does not appear to be God. If it were, they would not continue to condone through lack of condemnation, this problem. With no clear direction, it is no wonder our children are continuing down this slippery slope to hell. If I have been a fornicator and have not repented, how can I teach others not to do it with any conviction? It is like me telling my kids not to do drugs while puffing on a marijuana cigarette, kind of loses some weight. I do not know if our community can withstand another generation of angry children.