Life is More than Sex

Life is more than sex.

I want to shout this idea out there, because it’s very contradictory to what our American society believes, for sex has been put on this holy pedestal. Our culture is saturated with it. Heck, you even see it in toilet paper commercials. For some reason, sex is thought of as this pinnacle moment of life. Or it holds such importance, that one’s identity needs to revolve around his or her sexuality. But the truth is, there is so much more to life than sex.

Augustine and Gladiators

Alypius did not indeed abandon the earthly career of whose prizes his parents had sung to him. He had arrived in Rome before I did to study law. There he had been seized by an incredible obsession for gladiatorial spectacles and to an unbelievable degree. He held such spectacles in aversion and detestation; but some of his friends and fellow-pupils on their way back from a dinner happened to meet him in the street and, despite his energetic refusal and resistance, used friendly violence to take him into the amphitheatre during the days of the cruel and murderous games. He said: ‘If you drag my body to that place and sit me down there, do not imagine you can turn my mind and my eyes to those spectacles. I shall be as one not there, and so I shall overcome both you and the games.’ They heard him, but none the less took him with them, wanting perhaps to discover whether he could actually carry it off. When they arrived and had found seats where they could, the entire place seethed with the most monstrous delight in the cruelty. He kept his eyes shut and forbade his mind to think about such fearful evils. Would that he had blocked his ears as well! A man fell in combat. A great roar from the entire crowd struck him with such vehemence that he was overcome by curiosity. Supposing himself strong enough to despise whatever he saw and to conquer it, he opened his eyes. He was struck in the soul by a wound graver than the gladiator in his body, whose fall had caused the roar. The shouting entered by his ears and forced open his eyes. Thereby it was the means of wounding and striking to the ground a mind still more bold than strong, and the weaker for the reason that he presumed on himself when he ought to have relied on you. As soon as he saw the blood, he at once drank in savagery and did not turn away. His eyes were riveted. He imbibed madness. Without any awareness of what was happening to him, he found delight in the murderous contest and was inebriated by bloodthirsty pleasure. He was not now the person who had come in, but just one of the crowd which he had joined, and a true member of the group which had brought him. What should I add? He looked, he yelled, he was on fire, he took the madness home with him so that it urged him to return not only with those by whom he had originally been drawn there, but even more than them, taking others with him.

Modern Christianity?

“I mean, I celebrate Christmas. I mean, I’m not a churchgoer, but I believe in God. Uh, and I keep it to myself, thank you very much.”

I’m not going to call this person out, but I did hear a Youtuber say this the other day during a live-stream. And sadly, it’s a belief that many young Christians hold. Why be a part of a church when the term “Christian” is so toixc? Or why be a part of a group of hypocrites who point fingers and judge? And it’s how we’re supposed to act in a society with many religions, right? We don’t want to offend anyone, and should just let everyone believe what they want to believe, right?

Now, before I challenge this view, I want to make it very clear that I am not the Judge. I am not condemning anyone to Hell. That’s not my place nor can my words condemn a soul. What I do want to do, is to share what the Bible does say on these two topics.

Heaven or Hell?

If you had a choice, which would you choose–Heaven or Hell?

Most would probably choose Heaven, of course. Why even ask such an absurd question? Why choose torment over paradise? But what if I told you, that the majority actually choose Hell, almost daily?

You see, I believe that the physical world and the spiritual world are more intertwined than what we believe in our western thought. Therefore, every time we choose to sin, to disobey God, to cheat, to steal, to hurt, to insult, we bring a little more of Hell here on earth. But the opposite is also true, that every time we obey God and His commandments, when we’re honest, give, love, and heal, we bring a little more of Heaven here on earth.