Marriage or Pansexuality: Two Choices
John C. Rankin
(April 13, 2014)
There are two choices in human history for defining human sexuality – biblical marriage or pagan/secular pansexuality.
First, in the biblical order of creation, all is created “good,” and prior to the intrusion of broken trust.
In Genesis 1 – the grand design of creation – man and woman are defined as the height and purpose of creation, and they together equal the image of God as equals and complements.
In Genesis 2 – the covenant of freedom given to the first man and woman – it concludes with the social structure of a man and woman joining as one in marriage. They each leave their parents and form a new household. The Greek word for “the rule of the household” is oikonomos, also our root word for “economics” (same essence in the Hebrew bayith). This means that the social structure, and trust, starts with man and woman in faithful marriage.
In Genesis 3, the ancient serpent strategically puts a wedge between Adam and Eve in counseling rebellion against God, seeking to divorce their decision making process. Eve was addressed apart from the involvement of her husband, lied to, and Adam did nothing to prevent it. Their unity in marriage was assaulted from the outset, as broken trust thus entered the human dimension.
In Genesis 4, Lamech brags about his polygamy, thus reifying women (the introduction of male chauvinism); and he also brags about his murders (as per the nature of his forefather Cain).
In Genesis 5, the text restates the central social assumption of the equality of male and female and their unity in marriage. Also, the purpose to pass along this image of God to subsequent generations is in place, as the bastion to counter the intrusion of broken trust.
In Genesis 6, the Hebrew language in place indicates that the great sin is men building royal harems, thus multiplying the reification of women. This led to the diagnosis of men’s thoughts being “only evil all the time,” and thus the judgment of the Flood followeds.
In Genesis 10-11, the historical seeds for Babylonian and Canaanite religion come into place, from which sexual and political male chauvinisms sprout again, and traces across the Bible..
In Genesis 16, Abram falls prey to sleeping with a concubine in the attempt to fulfill the Messianic promise, as rooted in Sarai’s advice. The subsequent war between Sarai and Hagar follows and leads the way for the war between the seed of Ishmael and Isaac, between their lineages, the Arabs and Hebrews, up to the war between Islam and the Jews, and to war between nations of this day.
In Genesis 19, the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, and as traced across the Bible, lead to sexual anarchy that produces political anarchy that in sum tramples the poor and the needy.
The Hebrew Bible traces the folly of broken marriage until Jesus appears.
The opening chapters of Genesis thus equal an eloquent plea for the faithful marriage of one man and one woman, and the rest of the Bible ratifies this from many angles. Genesis 1-2 is the only text in history that defines good and healthy human sexuality as being the fidelity of one man and one woman in marriage.
The second alternative in human history is a pagan or secular “pansexuality,” where broken trust is the assumption and painful norm.
“Pansexuality” is a word that means “all” forms of sexuality are permissible. Only an extreme among people believe in this fully. But, once sexual intimacy is justified outside the faithful marriage of one man and one woman for one lifetime, a Pandora’s Box of unhealthy possibilities is opened.
Heterosexual promiscuity as well as intrinsic homosexuality, or bi-sexuality or “transgender” issues, are all subcategories of pansexuality. And those who approve of sexual intimacy outside of marriage either knowingly or unknowingly approve of a pansexual religion or philosophy.
So whereas most people, at least here in the United States, do not (yet?) approve of polygamy, pedophilia, bestiality or necrophilia – we do see a society awash in pornography. (This word comes from the Greek roots porneia and graphe, which refer to pictures or writings that incite lust, and treat women or men, boys or girls, as reified objects of sexual conquest, usually by male predators or voyeurs.)
And the desensitizing power of pornography also serves the birth of concerted political advocacy groups that seek already to justify pedophilia by lowering the “age of consent,” and also to glorify polygamy. All this sexual anarchy invited social anarchy, and so many vulnerable people get trampled in the process.
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