Dear Shoshana:

Thank you for that letter of Ralph Martin’s. I was interested to see that Mr. Martin is head of Renewal Ministry and a visiting Professor of Theology. He has been involved in interfaith and ecumenism for over 30 years, and I find his works inspiring.

It’s not easy to read some of the condemnations of a particular "life-style", to use the politically correct terminology of today. But many salutary things are not easy. It’s not easy to discipline a 2 year old, but if you don’t, the effects will be catastrophic, and not just in the short term. So often people focus on the punitive in discipline, and forget the charity that runs deep in true discipline--the concern for the well-being, physically, mentally and spirtually, of the other person.

While I feel deep sorrow for the victims in this scandal, and for those who have perpetrated such abuses, I do not advocate either the extreme of "no civil punishment--you’ve suffered enough" or "torture these monsters for the rest of their lives." Neither approach will address the root cause, and neither approach will give healing to victim or abuser. As well, the tacit condoning of sexual immorality, be it homosexual, heterosexual, adultery, fornication, is the true root cause of this scandal. We have (forgive the pun) erected sex as our god, and have no others before him. Our culture is permeated with sex. Our lives are built around sex--not sex for procreation, or family, but sex purely as gratification of desire. In this climate, it is no wonder that in the name of "tolerance" we have allowed such terrible perversion of all that is wholesome and "of God" in the sexual act.

It is time to stand up for true sexual freedom. This does not mean gratification, it means living in obedience to the laws of God. Only then can one be truly free. These perversions of sex have led us to be the slaves of sex and of our bodies, and will continue to lead us away from God and the Holy Spirit, to the loss of our souls. It is time for us to remember God, and to ask Him to be with us. It is time for us to treat our bodies as his temple again.

God, I do not condemn or judge those who sin against you, as all of us are sinners. I pray that we will begin to listen to you instead of to the media; that we will read your words and not those of Dr. Ruth or rock stars; that we will seek to turn our bodies to worship You, and not demand that others worship our bodies.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.