Sitting in church the other day, when I should have been paying attention to the readings and sermon, a thought came to me.
I began thinking of St. John the Baptist and how he was murdered by Herod at the behest of his wife, Herodias. John was killed not only because he “spoke truth to power,” but because he spoke about the sexual morality of the person in power.
In other words, by calling Herod out for the illegitimate and immoral status of his marriage to his brother’s wife, he was attacking Herod’s sexual morality. And look how angry that made Herod and Herodias. First they imprisoned John, then they beheaded him.
Today, when those of us who advocate and defend traditional sexual morality are attacked as bigots and called every name in the book (while simultaneously being told sex is “no big deal” and to just relax about it all), we should think back to this episode.
There is something particularly pungent about this topic. It seems to inspire some of the most heated and angry rhetoric out there. I think it’s because that like Herod, we all have fallen short of the standard in this regard.
Seriously, does anyone really have a perfect record in the realm of sexuality? No. We’re all guilty of at least some minor mistakes in the past and many of us are guilty of ongoing indiscretions, at least if your standard is based on conventional Christian morality.
And so we all feel squeamish or hesitant about criticizing others lest we be labeled hypocrites, and feel perfectly justified in lambasting those who do criticize permissive sexuality or defend traditional sexual morality. They must, by definition, by hypocrites.
The leaders of our culture today in the media, government, and education are the modern Herodians. They tear down sexual morality, advocate strongly for permissiveness, and go after with a vengeance those who would question the new sexual orthodoxy.
Like Herod, who used his wife, who used her daughter, who used sex itself in the guise of her erotic dance, we attack defenders of morality through proxy. We enact laws, we laugh at jokes, we avoid having serious discussion about the issues in favor of hyperbole and vitriolic condemnation.
The result? What used to be considered deviant is now the norm. Children are encouraged to experiment with sex by the organizations who have been anointed as providers of sex education. Homosexuality in all its guises is jammed down our throats and if we cough a bit, we are labeled bigots and hate-mongers.
This degradation of sex goes hand in hand with the degradation of family and life. It’s part and parcel of the Culture of Death which now dominates our culture and will lead to social unrest, unhappiness, despair, and, ultimately, societal decline.
What’s the answer of our elites? More sex ed, more “tolerance,” less restriction, etc. For them, the cure is more of the disease. God help us all.
Trey Hoffman
Peachtree City, Ga.
