Friday, December 6, 2013

no advisory necessary

Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves. 

Song of Solomon 1:15


There should be no confusion about the Song of Solomon. It is a love song. It contains romantic advice and is sexually charged. But it needs no advisory, for it celebrates love in all its essential and exquisite goodness. A man and a woman are drawn to each other with inexplicable passion. They extol their love and long for each other. They express their love without any inhibitions. And those around them celebrate their love. They commit to each other through the ups and downs of the experience of their relationship. In that sense this song is almost like a wedding ceremony. In fact, I believe the book is something of a model love story meant to prepare people for marital commitment.


I don't think it is right to ignore the physical expression of love poetically portrayed in the song either. It celebrates love, commitment, romance and sex. All of these are among the very best things we humans can experience in life. That is why popular culture tries to celebrate them in song. But this biblical picture is the best, and it ought to be proclaimed together in context and sung about with passion for others to know and enjoy what God has given to us. Sex is God's great gift! Why else is this inspired work of scripture given by God as a song? By all means, sing it!


The way to combat a sinfully sex-saturated society is not to hide from sex. The way to fight it is to celebrate sex as God designed it to be celebrated... within the marital commitment of a man to his wife. We ought to talk about its goodness to our kids, instructing the next generation as the Song of Solomon does. If Christians did a better job singing of the beauty of sex, our world would not infiltrate the church with its polluted pornographic perversions of it. These porn portraits are sadly all too common in the hearts of most men and many women. Christians should learn from this small book how to properly celebrate sex. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Well... if it doesn't, something is wrong... because it should.

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