Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: bnr-fos!bmers58!davem@watmath.waterloo.edu (Dave Mielke) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Strangers in a Strange World Message-ID: Date: 21 Dec 89 03:56:53 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada Lines: 60 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article procsy@cbnewsd.att.com (Jeff Sargent) writes: Speaking of God's commandment to man to be fruitful and multiply which was given before sin entered the creation, Jeff commented: >... [That is, indeed, the one >and only command of God which humanity has obeyed to the full! :-)] We are even disobeying this commandment very grievously these days. While we are certainly doing everything we possibly can to involve ourselves in the physical act that God uses to cause us to be fruitful and multiply, we are doing our utmost to avoid the results that God would have that act yield. Our use of contraceptive measures has far exceeded epidemic porportions! The Scriptures very clearly teach that it is God who decides when any given conception should take place. If we believe that God makes perfect decisions then we must assume that His decision to initiate another human life is for the long term best even if we cannot see it and even if the short term prospects do not look very good. Do any of us really dare think that our judgement, which is only based on an extremely short term outlook, is better than God's? By using contraceptive measures people are, in effect, deciding that they, rather than God, know what is best for their own lives. This is no less than out right, blatent insubordination! Under the guise of being self-proclaimed judicious stewards of their personal time and finances, people are rather crudely doing no less than trading obedience to God for the mere seeking of self-satisfaction. It is also worth noting, although I do not want this statement to initiate a massive debate on abortion, that our continual desire to seek our own pleasure and to overrule God all too often results in our committing the additional and very grievous sin of murder. We all can point our ever accusing finger at King David and talk about how wrong he was when he attempted to cover up his sin of adultery by having Uriah murdered, but then we readily and without conscience justify ourselves for doing what amounts to the very same thing. Most people engage in sexual intimacy for their own short term pleasure and not solely for the pleasure of their spouses. This, too, is a deliberate act of disobedience to God. The Scriptures teach that a husband is to please his wife and that a wife is to please her husband. They also teach that, once two people marry, they no longer own their own bodies; the woman's body becomes the property of her husband and the man's body becomes the property of his wife. When a man and woman marry both of their goals is to become the selfless seeking of the other's pleasure and betterment. Our selfishness for our own personal sexual satisfaction is also expressed by the extremely high number of people who involve themselves in sexual intimacy outside the confines of marriage even though God has very clearly placed this constraint on it. We not only have seriously disobeyed God's commandment to be fruitful and multiply but also have brought to almost complete ruin the marvelous gift of sexual intimacy which He has given us to richly enjoy! There really is no single commandment of His which we have even remotely been able to keep. Dave Mielke, 613-726-0014 856 Grenon Avenue Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2B 6G3