THE DESTRUCTION OF SEXUAL SIN!
THE DESTRUCTION OF SEXUAL SIN!
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. —I Corinthians 7:7-8
This chart shows the ages of men and women when they marry (first marriages). https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-the-average-age-of-marriage-in-the-u-s-4685727 From 1890 to about 1940 men married between the ages of 22 -26 years and women between the ages of 20-22 years. From about 1940-1980 men married between the ages of 22-24 years and women between the ages of 20-22 years. Since 1960 the ages when men and women marry have been steadily inclining. Today men marry between the average age of 29.8 and women at the average age of 27.8. The number of people living with an unmarried partner has climbed to 15%, up from 12% in 2008 according to this report.
So let’s ponder this statistics from God’s view. First He says that it is “not good to have sexual relations with a woman” or a man outside of marriage— fornication. Yet, because of sexual temptation a person ought to get married. This obviously is not, or should not, be the only reason for marriage. But the point is being made that if a person is not married then there will be temptation to have sex outside of marriage— outside God’s design for sex. Even within marriage each partner should be fulfilling the sexual need or there also can also be temptation there to have sex outside of marriage— adultery.
Satan uses sexuality to destroy God’s design for its use— within marriage. How destructive is this enemy? One porn site was visited 29% of the time by females in 2018— an increase of 3% over the previous year. 80% of this site’s visits come from smart phones and tablets. There are 4.5 million porn sites world-wide, half being in the United States. Extreme porn is now the new norm. Porn is a huge factor in violence and trafficking. Teen porn itself has tripled between 2005-2013 and teens are one-third of the total daily porn site searches— 500,000 daily searches! https://enough.org/stats_porn_industry
Pornography is one of Satan’s schemes to destroy God’s design of marriage. Instead of love— looking out for the best interest of another person— in marriage, culture has turn to lust— the selfish self-gratification of self— hedonism May God grant repentance and faith in Him to escaped this trap and imprisonment of Satan (II Timothy 2:26). Yes dear Father, may this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. So be it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjdaZlIXyEc