What About "Free Love"?
People talk about "free love," saying that one should be free to have sex with anyone at any time one so desires. For them marriage is slavery and bondage (even for the husband!), in
which there can be no happiness. They feel that they will know no happiness if they obey God.
Does God want us to be happy? From what we know of the Gospel, and from what we have learnt so far from the Biblical teaching on sex and love, the answer is: Yes, God wants us to be happy. The "~fruit of the Spirit" includes joy (Galatians 5:22).
God wants us to be sorry about and to turn away from our sins. We should turn away from our sins and from our selfishness, to Jesus.
But then we can also rejoice daily in the forgiveness of our sins - because God accepts us in Jesus, the Beloved One (Ephesians 1:6-7). The Gospel is God's good news to us - and we must be happy every day about his good news!
Because God wants us to be happy, in spite of the many threats to our happiness, his Word is very clear about the wrongness of sex outside marriage. In Deuteronomy 22:20-24 and 23:17 we read that prostitutes and all who have sexual relations with people to whom
they are not married should be put to death. (Read the verses!) Paul says that there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality among Christians (Ephesians 5:3).
Read 1 Corinthians 6:~9-10.
What will happen to those who are sexually immoral in any way?
Make a llst of all the sexual sins mentioned.
Shocking, isn't it? When we play about with these sins, our eternal welfare is in danger. Let us make sure that we understand what all these words mean. (The words
used in the King James Version of the English Bible are given in brackets.)
"The sexually immoral" (fornicators): those who indulge in sex without being married. "Male prostftutes" (effeminate) and "homosexual offenders" (abusers of themselves with mankind) are practicing homosexuals.
The Word of God is quite clear that such people will not inherit the kingdom of God. Unless they repent, they are eternally lost and under the judgement of God. Jesus
said that even such thoughts make us guilty of these sins (Matthew 5:27-28) because they come from a sinful heart (Mark 7:21-23).
The Bible builds a protective wall around sex, because without this "marriage-wall" there will be no place for mutual trust, joy and full sexual love. God wants us to be happy and he knows that we can only be happy if we enter into a permanent relationship of mutual trust and love as sexual partners. "Free love" breaks the wall down. Love
is a precious thing. "Free love" makes love cheap. "Free love" cannot give either love or happiness. Many a young person who practised "free love" at 17 ended up lonely, deserted and bitter at the age of 40. "Free love" can never give us the security we all need.
"Free love" is the background of many films and TV programmes. The impression is created that these "stars" have no problem with sex, love or happiness. The fact is,
however, that many of them are extremely unhappy.
Some of the most famous ones eventually commit suicide for this very reason.
The film and TV stars need Jesus as Saviour just as much as you and I need him.
Read 1 Corinthians 6:15-18.
Why should we flee from sexual immorality?
"Free love" was not unknown in Biblical times. It even had a religious meaning for many people. Jesus did not only save "good" people like Paul and John - he saved
many a prostitute (Luke 7:48-50, 15:1). Paul reminds us that many "free lovers" were saved in the city of Corinth (1 Corinthians 6:11). The forgiveness of sins is free, and God's love is free - and this free love, the love of God in Jesus towards sinners, is the only real free love.
Prayer: Holy Father, I now realize how dangerous "free love" is. Give me a "new heart" so that even my thoughts will be pure. Thank you for your free love for
me. Amen.
Questions to Discuss in the Group
1. Are people who have sex without a self-giving love really as happy as they are pictured in films and on TV? Explain.
2. Why is it so bad to have sex with someone to whom you are not married? Why does God forbid "free love"?
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