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the flesh was evil and nasty. But where
did this idea come from?
Have you ever stopped to consider
the source of the old morality? You
might be surprised !
T he Old TABOO Morality
Many have assumed the Bible was
the source of the inspiration for the old
morality. Yet, advocates of the old
morality considered the Bible vulgar
because it speaks out plainly on sex
matters.
Those advocating the
NEW
morality
with its sexual freedom have rejected
both the Victorian morality and the
Bible - Victorian morality because it
was wrong, and the Bible because men
asJIImed
it advocated Victorian prudery !
Plainly, the world is in utter con–
fusion! And unless there is a standard
that decides what is and is not moral
mankind is left in total confusion'
'
everyone with bis or her own personal
opinion.
There ought to be a logical answer -
and it logically belongs in the realm of
religion. Yet the Bible, supposedly the
Christian standard, has been rejected on
the
aJJIImption
that it teaches Victorian
morality.
How foolish!
Shouldn't we go back and see what
the Bible
real/y
does say on the subject?
Is it (eally fair to dismiss it without an
examination of the FACTS? Here is a
book, purporting to be the revelation of
God, which gives a standard of moral–
ity. It
claims
to reveal what type of
sexual knowledge and education is
RIGHT, and what types of "knowledge"
and sexual experiences are detrimental,
harmful and dangerous.
Here is a book - the Bible - which
claims to give moral guidelines and
principies. This Book is not prudish, as
anyone knows who has read its love
stories, its direct warnings about sexual
perversion, and its historical a,counts of
sex sins and their grievous consequences.
Bible NOT Source of Prudery
In fact, a candid study of Scripture
indicates that the Bible is not really the
source of prudish Victorian morality,
after all. Nowbere in the Bible will you
read that sex ís sinful, evil, or some–
thing to be ashamed of. Rather, you
will read that Gon Himself created
TIJe
PLAIN TRUTH
human beings with sex, and
com–
manded
them to "be fruitful, and mul–
tiply, and replenish the earth" (Gen.
1
:28). The first command mentioned in
the Bible, then, was actually a command
to
USE
sex in a proper manner.
Nor does the idea that parts of the
human body are shameful and degrad–
ing come from the Bible. Ratber,
according to the Bible, everything that
God created was
"VERY
coon" (Gen.
1
:31). This would include sex!
The Bible also upholds the sanctity
of marriage - and expressly forbids
adultery, fornication and illicit sex rela–
tionships. lt advocates obedience to
moral cedes which, if obeyed, promise
rich rewards. There would be no more
rampaging venereal disease. Young
people would be taught the proper use
of sex. Marriages would be happy.
That fact is attested to by our record
at Ambassador College campuses. Stu–
dents and graduates at Ambassador Col–
lege who have
fo/lowed
the Biblical
moral standards - which includes the
vast majority - have seen the wonder–
ful results in their own lives - no
promiscuity, no venereal diseases, no
adultery, no wife swapping among
those who heeded wise counsei before
and during marriage, and therefore no
broken bornes. There are no unwanted
babies born out of wedlock. No hippie
commune can make that claim.
The results preve this is the
ONLY
way to live, and
be
truly happy!
Origin of the "Old Morality"
We have seen that the 'Bible doesn't
teach that the human body is evil or
that sex is sinful and degrading. Where
did this common religious idea come
from? But where, then, did the Victo–
rían morality with all its taboos come
from? The aoswer will surprise you!
The roots of the old morality, with
its prudish attitude toward sex and the
human body, · lie in ancient Greek
dual–
iJm -
the ancient
pagan
idea that the
soul is imprisoned in a body, aod that
the soul is pure but the body is filthy
and dirty. Dualism taught that the body
is a tomb from which the immortal soul
must be released. "The goal of life,''
according to this view, "is
to
soar above
the sordid demands of the body, to
achieve the liberation of the spirit
December 1970
through contemplation of the eternal
verities. And such a good can be real–
ized ooly by walking the harsh and nar–
row path of asceticism ..." (Cole,
Sex in Chtútianil)' and Psyrhoanalysis,
p.
4).
Says Dr. Cole : "I t is one of the
myths of modernity that the strands of
dualism were first woven into the fabric
of western civilization by Christianity
. .. But even as early as the fifth cen–
tury, the Pythagoreans sounded their
hymn of
soma sema,
the body is a tomb,
and they dearly impressed Plato," says
this respected authority
(ibid.,
p. 6).
During the reign of Alexander the
Great, and in his wake, "The dualism
of Egypt and Mesopotamia and India
Rowed at full tide into Greece"
(ibid.,
p. 6). The dualistic teaching was part
and parcel of the ancient Babylonian
mysteries which blended with Greek
Hellenism. This teaching carne to be
the basis of Greek philosophical think–
ing. Stoic and Epicurean alike conceived
of salvation as the immortality of the
spirit and regarded sex as low and
degrading.
Thus it is dear that this philosophy
was not and is not Biblical or Christian
in its origin! Rather, it stems from
Godless paganism.
SODOM and Today!
Although the Biblical moral code
clearly does not support the Victorian
morality, it also condemns the so-called
new morality. Notice!
In the Bible there is an ancient his–
torical narrative reaching back 2000
years before Christ. It involves an
ancient city famed the world over for its
sexual "freedom," its total devotion to
sexualit}', scnsuality, and debauched liv–
ing. This was ancient Sodom, which has
given its name to unmentionable sexual
practices.
Sodom, the historical narrative of
Gencsis relates, was a bustling metrop–
olis - prosperous, wealthy, enjoying
the "good life." It was also filled with
advocates of thc then-new morality.
According to the narrative, this
ancient city was suddenly overthrown,
destroyed in a catastrophic upheaval -
a terrible paroxysm! Nothing remained
of it, or its sister city, Gomorrah. The
account in Genesis attributes this sud-