Sex is just a symptom

Yam Yam

"With so many youngsters thinking deeply about what’s right and wrong for the world, this should be a golden age for Christianity — the most revolutionary of religions."

But it is, Theo, it is! Step out your cosy, polite, inoffensive liberal CofE bubble and go look at how the evangelical churches are growing. In my large inner city Pentecostal church it is standing room only on most Sunday mornings - and that's with two services running back-to-back!

Go and look at the fantastic success of the prison ministries, the youth outreach activities, and the dynamic impact of reverse mission activity by Third World Christians living here in the United Kingdom.

Indeed, go look outside the United Kingdom as well - at the amazing success of Gospel-based Christianity in Africa, South-east Asia and Latin America. Even in countries where the Church is persecuted, people are being drawn to the salvation of our Lord. In fact, there are now more practising Christians in China than there are all of Western Europe put together!

Contrary to what you imply, our young people don't want a watered-down Gospel preached by 'with-it' clerics who are not entirely sure what they believe. They want the real thing preach by people who are totally consumed by the love and power of Jesus - even if it challenges many of the shibboleths of our age, such as its materialism and sexual permissiveness.

After all, it is precisely because Christianity tells people what they NEED to hear, rather than what they want to hear, that it is so revolutionary.

Sir Graphus

Fully agreed, Yam Yam (could you think of a better nom-de-blog; perhaps you could use your own name, as I do).

The press seems to divide the CofE into 2 parts, the gay-friendly liberals and the austere conservatives who don’t approve of anything very much. The extraordinary success of evangelicals and their churches is conveniently ignored, possibly because it doesn’t fit the lazy or perhaps even sinister narrative that the CofE could be anything other than sclerotic, and dying. Journalists simply can’t be bothered to admit the existence of churches outside Rome or the CofE, as it would mean a lot of research and complicated research to be done.

hadrian

Two word jump out at one from your piece- 'authority' and 'revolutionary', one full of 'bad' connotations, the other presumably'good' ones.
However, those who follow Christ know that divine authority is a very good thing! It ensures true purpose, justice and order in existence. Christ expects us to obey His Commandments, a note repeated throughout the New Testament. Those who love God demonstrate it by keeping the Commandments of God. And a major Commandment is sexual continence and purity. This one issue does indeed prove Christianity to be sharply 'counter-culture' revolutionary! Societies both ancient and modern have glorified sexual licence; Christianity has ever countered it. We must keep our 'vessels' clean for both spiritual/emotional and physical reasons.
The greatest and only truly 'revolutionary' deed is repentence- we must TURN FROM a godless existence of self-rule to one of God-centredness in Christ.
The tired old ideas of other, self-styled revolutionary movements, be they political or whatever, all end up betraying themselves as empty, man-centred and essentially impotent to effect proper change. Only the Gospel of Grace can accomplish that at both a personal and a communal level: therein is true transforming power!

beachlover

In my experience sex is deeply religious in its very essence.

Without exception every lover has expressed herself before God, in very audible terms, at some point in the proceedings.