The St. Valentine’s Day release of the controversial film adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey has been the latest flare up in the Culture Wars. Christians and cultural conservatives are weighing in on what the popularity of a flick (which features, shall we say, disordered sexual acts prominently and glowingly on display) means for our culture. Groups on both the Right and Left have called for a boycott of the film.
Yet, the culture still insists that the sexual revolution (or reaction if you prefer) has borne fruit worth keeping. What is obvious is that evil and banal 50 Shades is exactly the product of the sexual revolution which firmly holds that whatever two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes is entirely ethical. By that logic the activities in the film can’t be condemned.
Yet Christians, who insist on heterosexual monogamous marriage for life, are the supposed repressive and regressive chauvinists who want to be the sex police ruining everyone’s fun. However, classical Christianity affirms marriage and strictures on behavior in it not because we hate fun but because it is itself a sacrament which mysteriously points to the union of Christ and his Church. It is a mystery which draws the couple into sanctity and prepares for the Heavenly Kingdom. As Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry writes:
The sexual act is meant to reflect God’s love by fostering a union at once bodily and spiritual — and creates new life. The complementarity of the persons in a marriage reflects the complementarity of the Persons of the Trinity, and the bliss of marital union is an inkling of the bliss of the union of the Persons of the Trinity. The fruitfulness of the marriage act reflects that God is a creator and has charged man to be an agent of his ongoing work of creation. And, finally, if God’s love means total self-giving unto death on a Cross, then man and wife must give themselves to each other totally — no pettiness, no adultery, no polygamy, no divorce, and no nonmarital sexual acts.
We have two options. We can choose the sexual revolution which is a never ending roving search to keep a tiny ember of sexual excitement alive through fantasy and trashy films or we can enter into marriage, a mystery that sanctifies us and allows us to enter into the eternal Life of the God man Jesus Christ, who is Yahweh, the ground of all being and prime mover of all reality, and ultimately experience infinite bliss forever in Heaven.
Call me crazy but I think the latter option is much more exciting! So sexual revolutionaries feel free to keep your whips and chains; I’m just fine with transcendence and eternity.
Comment by Papa Mincho on February 14, 2015 at 1:51 pm
“Christians, who insist on heterosexual monogamous marriage for life, are the supposed repressive and regressive chauvinists who want to be the sex police ruining everyone’s fun.”
No, you’re regressive and repressive chauvinists when you insist that your personal interpretation of religion should be the law of the land, including people who believe differently than you do. Why are we against ISIS again?
You can choose to bow before a dominatrix or an omnipotent space overlord, and that’s what makes this country great.
Comment by Chuck on February 14, 2015 at 4:21 pm
Oh, Papa Minch, you are so funny. No Christians are insisting that our interpretation of religion should be the law of the land, including people who believe differently than you do. That’s a straw man and you know it, or else he is very confused. You really should get out more and actually meet some Christians. I’ve been in evangelical churches both as a laymen in the pew and a pastor of a church for 62 years and never knew anyone who wanted what Papa is charging us with. We do believe in traditional morals that are found in every major religion and believe that their decline is destructive and corrupting. When people believe it is a good thing that women submitting to men’s sexual dominance in order to fulfill sick and degraded desires, you know how sad, mixed up and empty people are who keep searching for something to fill their aching souls. T
Comment by fredx2 on February 15, 2015 at 7:40 am
In your twisted world, there is nothing wrong with bowing down before a dominatrix.
Enough said.
Comment by Cory Atkin on February 14, 2015 at 7:50 pm
Sex, you can use it as a weapon of conquest and domination, as a toy for self-gratification, or as a means of creating love and life. Pick one. The cause of true freedom on this earth is to defend and protect love and life. Heaven is where love and life move onto the next level. People who love God and or freedom never use the power of love and life as a weapon or a toy.
Comment by Chuck on February 15, 2015 at 2:37 am
Well said, Cory and all true.
Comment by Sandra K Jenner on February 16, 2015 at 11:14 am
A fine article. The damage to marriage in America is not some ephemeral book or movie like 50 Shades of Gray, it’s the no-fault divorce culture that makes every marriage inherently unstable, because no matter how committed you are to your spouse, there’s nothing to stop the spouse from walking out on you. The churches were asleep at the wheel on this issue, just as accepting of serial divorce as the secular culture is.
Comment by CDGingrich on March 9, 2015 at 7:01 am
Once government started issuing licenses and deciding who is or isn’t married, it was inevitable that “marriage” would be bastardized. Perhaps we need a new word. Some have suggested “covenant marriage”. Works for me.