'A Better Story' (Harrison)

‘A better story’ – 17

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And so to the final chapter of this excellent book outlining a Christian response to the sexual revolution.

Too often, the Christian response to the sexual revolution has been harsh and uncaring.  We need, writes Glynn Harrison, better storytellers to tell our great story.

Listen to those who differ from you.  It is folly to answer before we have listened (Proverbs 18:13).  Criticising from a distance feels safe.  spending time in the company of those we may disagree with can feel uncomfortable. …

‘A better story’ – 16

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Let’s begin by acknowledging that the better story that Christians tell will not be welcomed in public square.  No matter how sensitively well tell our story, many will be offended by it.  But we cannot remain silent.

Our story begins with the hall-marks of the sexual revolution: radical individualism, a redemptive trajectory and a moral vision.  Our story must connect with these distinctives.  We need to show how the individual thrives when we safeguard the many, and how our narrative engages with concerns about equality, justice and freedom from oppression.…

‘A better story’ – 15

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To flourish is ‘to realize the full potential of what it means to be created and redeemed in the image of God.’  It is to follow our Creator in being creative.  It is to make more of the world in which he has placed us.

There is also a relational element to human flourishing.  Because relationship is central to God’s being as Trinity, love belongs to his very nature.  And, as God image-bearers, we ourselves are incomplete without God and without one another. …

‘A better story’ – 14

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C.S. Lewis invited us to consider that our appreciation of everyday objects of desire bring ‘news from a far country’.  They bid us come and behold that great reality of which they are faint reflections.

Indeed, writes Glynn Harrison, the gospel rescues all our desires – including sexual desire.  Our worship should include all legitimate expressions of love – and not just platonic love and agape love.

Sexual love teaches us about the intensity of divine love.…

‘A better story’ – 13

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Compared with the sensuous and graphic promises of Islam, the biblical vision of heaven seems positively chaste.  See, for example, Matthew 22:30.  But there is, perhaps, more to be said.

Sex as both a picture and a taster of divine love.  Although people will not marry each other in heaven, marriage itself will be by no means absent: there will be the one marriage between Christ and his church.  And this picture of heaven, although not the only one, is remarkable deep and powerful. …

‘A better story’ – 12

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Our ‘better story’ for sex and marriage begins as we are welcomed into God’s reality.

Five truths underpin this.

1. God has spoken.  We no longer have to strive to construct our our ‘reality’.  God has spoken in his Son and in his Scriptures.

2. We are God’s creatures.  This is his reality, not ours.  Our nature and purpose need to be understood in the light of our creaturely dependence on him.

3. We flourish when we work with the grain of God’s reality. …

‘A better story’ – 11

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Who am I?  People today are obsessed with the question of self-identity.

But a coherent sense of identity is under threat:-

In the past people settled into relatively stable patterns quite early on in their life cycle – a long-term job, getting married, bearing children. Now the transition from adolescence to adulthood stretches into the early thirties, with an ever-widening range of possibilities offering vastly increased options for how to be ‘me’ today.

The problem is magnified by the rise of hyper-connectivity, with the proliferation of social networks and streams of information. …

‘A better story’ – 10

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The sexual revolution has, in effect, declared war on the weak, namely, our children.

As our communities become more fragmented, our education system more unequal, and our families more broken, the gap between the more privileged and the less privileged is becoming ever wider.

Here’s a stark fact: by the time they start pre-school, children from professional families will have heard 19 million more words than children from poor backgrounds.

Although many factors are at play, the stability of home life is a critical one. …

‘A better story’ – 9

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Has the sexual revolution delivered on its promise to deliver more and better sex?

Probably not.

Oxford statistitian David Spiegelhalter reports that, contrary to popular perception, the frequency of ‘having sex’ is actually on the decrease.  No-one knows why this is the case, but it may have something to do with the general business of people’s lives, and with the availability of so many technological diversions – mobile phones, tablets, and computers.

So, if people are not having more sex, are they having better sex? …

‘A better story’ – 8

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A Christian critique of the sexual revolution must begin with honest self-examination.

So, quoting Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:4-5, writes Glynn Harrison.

Over the centuries, the attitudes of the Christian church have been beset by shame and hypocrisy.  These very attitudes have helped trigger create the discontent that has led to the revolution.

Too often, Christians have felt shame before issues of sex and relationships.  It was not so at the beginning.  Shame was no part of God’s original plan (Genesis 2:25), but entered immediately after the first, catastrophic rebellion against God. …