We Can't Keep Preaching the Gospel of 'Sex Without Consequences' and Escape
By Francis Ayieko
I laughed recently while editing a story in which a bishop accused some of his fellow ministers of "giving birth" to biological children with non-spouses instead of producing spiritual babies.
But I did not laugh last week when I learnt of how allegations of sexual misconduct are threatening to tear apart one of Kenya's most successful evangelical churches. A brief background: The presiding bishop of the ministry has moved to a Kiambu court seeking orders barring his Kiambu area overseer from carrying out church duties due to allegations of sexual harassment against him. The Kiambu principal magistrate certified the matter as urgent and ordered an inter-partes hearing from this week.
Even as this case unfolds, one thing is clear: it will not be the last time we are hearing about sexual immorality in the Church -- be it a pastor caught in the act with a member, or another revelation of sexual escapades by paedophile priests in Europe. But even as we reflect on what might be going wrong with the Church, we all need to admit that we have grossly abused a good gift from God -- and for that, humanity is paying a heavy price daily.
As a society, we have become so obsessed with sex that we hardly consider any misbehaviour to be wrong. You only need to listen to breakfast talk shows on FM radio stations to understand how casual we have become about sex.
In Kenya today, just like what is happening in many parts of the world, if you write or say anything against homosexuality (not necessarily against homosexuals), you will be vilified.
Unfortunately, that does not change the truth that homosexuality is unnatural -- and that it is wrong!
Sex is big business and the sex industry is a fast-growing multi-billion shilling operation. If you doubt that, all you need to do is put price tags on pornography, much of the soap operas, contraceptives and contemporary magazines. And each passing day, the sex industry recruits new players -- the teens. The recruiters are normally buoyed by the belief that sex is the only form of human behaviour that is "uncontrollable" in teenagers.
Cal Thomas, an American commentator, once said: "The sex industry makes money off young minds and bodies. The industry would go broke if abstinence among youth were to become a trend."
One of the tragedies of our times is the way our cultures always present sex as "fun without consequences". What comes out through music, videos, TV, films and radio talk shows is that anybody can sleep around with whoever he or she chooses so long as there is mutual consent.
In that case then, we should redefine the once revered terms like adultery and fornication. And in that case, Jimmy Gathu's "Fanya Hesabu" (do the math of marital unfaithfulness), is just good entertainment for tired minds. Remaining faithful to one's spouse is a choice. Oh yes, we all get tempted, but that is no excuse to engage in love you know is wrong.
In the words of Thomas, "Every married person has heard 'the voice'; the one that says you deserve something 'better'. Any man who claims never to have had thoughts of straying is a liar."
In Zuqka magazine last Friday, a young news anchor was asked whether he had ever cheated on his "better half", to which he responded: "Have I ever cheated on my better half? No. Have I ever been tempted to? Several times."
Allow me to get preachy here by quoting Roy Hession. In his book, Forgotten Factors: Sex - Lies, Myths and the Truth, Mr Hession writes: "No sins have the capacity to cause as much sorrow and shame as sexual sins. As I have travelled all over Britain, the United States and other parts of the world..., I have come face to face with many unhappy complications arising from this one sin. I have encountered many situations of great need, sorrow and perplexity that are the direct result of what I refer to as 'sexual misbehaviour'."
If you don't believe Mr Hession, then ask two American leaders in the Obama regime -- Governor Mark Sanford (South Carolina) and Mark Souder (an Indiana congressman) -- about the devastations of "sexual misbehaviour".
Mr Ayieko is the editor of 'The Shepherd', a monthly Christian newspaper
