Created for Intimacy

"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Genesis 2v25 KJV

There are various statistics about the number of searches on the internet that relate to sex and pornography, certainly a large amount of spam relates to it. Go into any newsagent and you will see that sex sells. Sexual temptation can destroy marriages and relationships and we live in an age where it is not uncommon for 12 and 13 year old's to be experimenting with sex. In such a world it is easy for the church to be different, but how should we respond?

First question. Why is sex and pornography such a strong driver?

C S Lewis argues that the devil cannot create anything, so instead he takes what God has created and misuses it and abuses it and turns the good into something bad. We were created to have intimacy with God and intimacy with one another. We were created to walk with God and walk with each other, to share our lives and to share ourselves.

God created woman because man needed company.

18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." NIV

The problem is that there are so many people who feel so alone, and therefore vulnerable to the false intimacies that the devil offers. We live in a world of full of lonely people, a world full of Eleanor Rigsbys. It is not necessarily that people do not have friends, but that friendships do not go deep. We live in a world where we teach people the biology of sex, but not the importance of real relationships. Indeed it is difficult to teach relationships, we tend to learn by having them. However if you are born to parents who do not relate to each other it puts you at a disadvantage.

We need intimacy, and even in our damaged world, I believe that God is the answer and the healer. I do not believe that we are fully human unless we truly connect with each other. Sin therefore makes us less human. God however can and does restore the broken image.

We were created for intimacy, we were created to connect, and with God's help we can in a real way as God intended.