30 June 2024
I've been asked to explain my "moral wretch" comment from yesterday's post.
It used to surprise me when self-professed believers would exhibit a carefree attitude about over-exposed flesh. These days it's just tiring. This isn't about rules and where to draw the hemline. It's the underlying obsession, the western idolatry of sex. I'll grant that we could debate what and how much, but that's not the point. Our culture claims that nudity is not a sin, though laws tend to drag their feet on such issues. Full public nudity is very nearly legal in the US. And that doesn't make it okay.
The Bible makes a big deal of it. Exposing yourself provokes a sexual response. In men who seek peace with God, it should cause us to turn away from seeing too much feminine flesh. In Scripture, we have the Hebrew emphasis on the language of defilement and shame, but that's because immodesty is inherently defiling. The flesh is incapable of turning off its sexual response to seeing someone showing too much skin. Jesus said such desire is sin. You can deny it, and even pretend it's not conscious, but it's there. Scripture assumes that. Exposing yourself is shameful.
It's also immoral to promote that. In case you didn't notice, Arkhaven Comics shares one thing with its competition, in that it is borderline Hentai. I assure you this will prosper and make money until the day God's wrath falls on such things everywhere. The people behind it are defiant about the moral implications of their "art".
This is wholly consistent with the broader community that supports Arkhaven Comics. These people promote the advice that men should communicate with their eyes and subtle behavior cues that they are sexual predators in order to assert social dominance. This is "successful". I can't count how often voices warned that this is not Christian behavior; they were silenced in that community. Yet, it's painfully obvious that the Bible says the power of God is communicated through a behavior pattern that is quite different from that.
The Holy Spirit compels us to portray a genuine protective caring, not some appeal to the flesh. It doesn't matter if sinners misread us; God sees and knows. His people will respond appropriately. We have no use for what impresses the world.
As always, I have no intention of seeking to change the secular laws about legal activity. The righteousness of God will not come from human legislation. And I have no interest in enforcing my definition of "following Christ" on others. I'm simply offering an explanation using the term "moral wretch". That whole community is essentially secular, embracing a small subset of western Christian religion as a philosophical position. It's worldly and secular at best, and moral darkness is lurking there if you ask me.
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