Sexual freedom or spiritual bondage?
A grad student from our church organized an effort this past week to evangelize the University of Cincinnati campus. The school was hosting what they called a “Week of Sexploration,” a week-long celebration of sexual freedom.
Those of us who participated in the counter, gospel-sharing effort on campus planted ourselves at various spots around the main student center, engaged people with the message that in Jesus Christ is the only true freedom found, and gave out copies of the booklet Some Things You Need to Know About God. As I spoke with various people, from a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities, I was reminded of just how pitiful and damaging are the efforts of humanity to find life, liberty, or light apart from God.
It seems mankind is constantly reenacting the garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve’s tragic mistake—we are always seeking to make ourselves gods. We are not content with our role as image-bearing creatures of the all-good, all-wise Creator; we persist in the futile effort of finding an autonomous, self-described source of meaning and pleasure. But happiness is not found, and never will be, in aspiring to be gods.
While Adam and Eve started their quest for personal divinity from a perfect garden, with perfect bodies, and with a sinless past, every person since has had an infinitely inferior starting point, toward the same goal, and yet we insanely hope for success where even Adam and Eve failed. If Adam and Eve’s pursuit ended with the entrance of death, rejection from the garden of God, and lifelong curses upon themselves and the earth, what result can we reasonably expect from our efforts when we start off where they ended?
And so as we prayed together for the evangelistic endeavor at UC, and as we spoke and listened to this slice of rebellious humanity, my heart was lead to repentance on behalf of all of us who have worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. For, truly, the only real freedom is found in Jesus Christ, the last Adam who chose to serve God rather than himself.
“For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9).
Resource: 'Finding Grace' Blog Categories: Finding Grace, Sin and Its Effects, Worldview and Ethics
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Those of us who participated in the counter, gospel-sharing effort on campus planted ourselves at various spots around the main student center, engaged people with the message that in Jesus Christ is the only true freedom found, and gave out copies of the booklet Some Things You Need to Know About God. As I spoke with various people, from a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities, I was reminded of just how pitiful and damaging are the efforts of humanity to find life, liberty, or light apart from God.
It seems mankind is constantly reenacting the garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve’s tragic mistake—we are always seeking to make ourselves gods. We are not content with our role as image-bearing creatures of the all-good, all-wise Creator; we persist in the futile effort of finding an autonomous, self-described source of meaning and pleasure. But happiness is not found, and never will be, in aspiring to be gods.
While Adam and Eve started their quest for personal divinity from a perfect garden, with perfect bodies, and with a sinless past, every person since has had an infinitely inferior starting point, toward the same goal, and yet we insanely hope for success where even Adam and Eve failed. If Adam and Eve’s pursuit ended with the entrance of death, rejection from the garden of God, and lifelong curses upon themselves and the earth, what result can we reasonably expect from our efforts when we start off where they ended?
And so as we prayed together for the evangelistic endeavor at UC, and as we spoke and listened to this slice of rebellious humanity, my heart was lead to repentance on behalf of all of us who have worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. For, truly, the only real freedom is found in Jesus Christ, the last Adam who chose to serve God rather than himself.
“For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9).
Resource: 'Finding Grace' Blog Categories: Finding Grace, Sin and Its Effects, Worldview and Ethics
Share This Resource:
It seems mankind is constantly reenacting the garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve’s tragic mistake—we are always seeking to make ourselves gods. We are not content with our role as image-bearing creatures of the all-good, all-wise Creator; we persist in the futile effort of finding an autonomous, self-described source of meaning and pleasure. But happiness is not found, and never will be, in aspiring to be gods.
While Adam and Eve started their quest for personal divinity from a perfect garden, with perfect bodies, and with a sinless past, every person since has had an infinitely inferior starting point, toward the same goal, and yet we insanely hope for success where even Adam and Eve failed. If Adam and Eve’s pursuit ended with the entrance of death, rejection from the garden of God, and lifelong curses upon themselves and the earth, what result can we reasonably expect from our efforts when we start off where they ended?
And so as we prayed together for the evangelistic endeavor at UC, and as we spoke and listened to this slice of rebellious humanity, my heart was lead to repentance on behalf of all of us who have worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. For, truly, the only real freedom is found in Jesus Christ, the last Adam who chose to serve God rather than himself.
“For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9).
Resource: 'Finding Grace' Blog Categories: Finding Grace, Sin and Its Effects, Worldview and Ethics
Share This Resource:
While Adam and Eve started their quest for personal divinity from a perfect garden, with perfect bodies, and with a sinless past, every person since has had an infinitely inferior starting point, toward the same goal, and yet we insanely hope for success where even Adam and Eve failed. If Adam and Eve’s pursuit ended with the entrance of death, rejection from the garden of God, and lifelong curses upon themselves and the earth, what result can we reasonably expect from our efforts when we start off where they ended?
And so as we prayed together for the evangelistic endeavor at UC, and as we spoke and listened to this slice of rebellious humanity, my heart was lead to repentance on behalf of all of us who have worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. For, truly, the only real freedom is found in Jesus Christ, the last Adam who chose to serve God rather than himself.
“For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9).
Resource: 'Finding Grace' Blog Categories: Finding Grace, Sin and Its Effects, Worldview and Ethics
Share This Resource:
And so as we prayed together for the evangelistic endeavor at UC, and as we spoke and listened to this slice of rebellious humanity, my heart was lead to repentance on behalf of all of us who have worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. For, truly, the only real freedom is found in Jesus Christ, the last Adam who chose to serve God rather than himself.
“For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9).