The Exchange: Exploring Sexual Zeitgeist
There may not be a more pressing - or more sensitive - issue that faces not only Christianity today, but society (especially Western society) as a whole. This is the issue of sexuality and gender. How on earth, as spiritual people, do we understand and navigate a modern world of same-sex couples, pronouns, gender dysphoria, and our own sexual attractions and brokenness?
What I would like to do is give my spiritual insights on this topic - we are going to look at what I consider the core spiritual dynamics or laws of human sexuality. I’ll do that by breaking what I believe is a key passage in Romans, then we’ll zoom out and I’ll give some practical suggestions that I think could be useful for us.
I’m teaching on this topic now first, because I believe it’s time to do so. It’s rare to find good teaching on this topic because in our modern spiritual landscape there is very little wisdom on this topic.
Wisdom goes above knowledge. Wisdom is enlightenment from God that comes from integrating personal exposure or experience. So, for your sake, I’m going to share what I’ve learned from my own journey of navigating my own subconscious world and what I’ve gained from practical experience. In other words, I’m humbly doing my best to offer wisdom - integrated knowledge that comes from God’s enlightenment and personal experience.
General speaking, we know what the Bible says about sexuality and different forms of sexuality- this isn’t a mystery. However, in real life, I don’t believe this topic is as black and white as we would like to think it is. This is because, whether we will admit it or not, a lot of us wrestle internally with our own sexual brokenness - and this is something that we are rarely honest about because we fear shame and condemnation.
Or, we simply aren’t aware (or refuse to become aware) of the depths of our own souls. We prefer to judge others when we should be doing our own spiritual work to become self-aware and grow. I often state rather firmly that, under certain circumstances, we are all capable of straying sexually, even into areas we never imagined possible. Stop judging, because you’ll never know where you might find yourself when the trial comes for you.
We can be quite ignorant and reductive of what is a very complex spiritual issue. This harms us in the long run and really prevents us from understanding both ourselves and others. We should seek understanding and wisdom first, before speaking out an ignorant or uninformed opinion. That’s great life advice in general!
Let’s jump right in to our analysis of a very famous passage on sexuality from Romans. I think if we really take time to understand this passage, we can gain some insights into the prevailing collective mindset (zeitgeist) around sexuality.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them…For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking because futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles.” Romans 1:18-19, 21-23 (NIV)
Key points so far:
A present, ongoing revelation of the “wrath of God.” Despite what this looks like on the surface, this isn’t about God raging against us like an alcoholic father, but a manifestation in our experience of the consequences of living out of alignment with God’s spiritual design, which is the divine image in man, the inner Christ. This “wrath of God” is mental delusion or illness, sin, sickness and ultimately, death - in mind, body and spirit.
Knowledge of the truth of God. This is an experiential, integrated knowing of God through union with God in mind, body and spirit. Because, again, all humans are made in the image of God through Christ (Hebrews 1:2, Colossians 1:16). Awareness of this reality is in our nature. This passage states that the awareness of this truth is being “suppressed” through wicked behavior.
Rejection of glory. Paul says that despite having the intuitive awareness of God and knowledge of the truth of the divine image, humans have not glorified God. To “glorify” God isn’t about praying before bed or going to church on Sunday to lift up your hands, but to radiate the glory of the divine image and to manifest the life and power of God - in mind, body, and spirit. In other words, it’s walking in God’s reality, rather than our own self-created reality, so that the power of God can unfold and manifest in our experience.
The poisoning of the human heart and mind. The heart being our subconscious reality and the mind being our thoughts and imagination. This is what behavior outside of God’s design does to us: We love awareness and consciousness of God’s reality and walk in an illusion, a false or illusory reality.
The exchange of spiritual reality for sensual illusions - what Paul calls “images.” This is where the title of this teaching comes from. In this process of giving ourselves over to sensual illusions, there’s an exchange. The “exchange” is giving over the power of both our thinking and desires to sensuality and pleasure, and the spiritual forces that operate behind these desires. We lose a grip on God’s reality. Essentially, we become insane from heaven’s point of view and find ways to rationalize our behaviors that gratify our pleasures. These rationalizations can become quite intricate and complex. Although we can think we are wise and intelligent, our minds are simply slaves to the unconscious desires of a poisoned heart.
Before we continue, you may wonder how this could apply to you. Maybe you’re someone who feels you’ve never really rebelled sexually or given yourself over to lust. That’s absolutely beautiful but here’s a spiritual law: the destinies of the individual and collective are intricately connected through the generations.
In other words, no matter what, all of us have to navigate the complexities of a world in lust. We don’t inherit sin, but we do inherit the spiritual inclinations of the generations that have come before. A father may struggle with lust, pornography and promiscuity, which lays the spiritual foundation for the next generation. Lust and its expressions compound through generations. This is one reason for the seemingly spontaneous manifestation of homosexual desire or gender dysphoria in a child or young adult.
Put another way, we all inherit a spiritual deck of cards from the generation(s) preceding us, and we must use wisdom to know how to play our hand. This is a very difficult truth to accept.
A righteous young woman dealing with the shame of conflicting sexual attractions must understand that these inclinations aren’t necessarily her fault, but she (with God’s help) can learn how to play her cards well - ultimately finding life, peace, and freedom. This may not come easily, but wrestling with God is where true spiritual growth happens. In struggle, we put on divine life - in mind, body, and spirit.
Additionally, we have to navigate the sometimes extremely oppressive spiritual influences of a culture completely drowning in sensuality. These are the principalities and powers - the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). So, no matter where you may be in your personal journey of sexuality, your victories or failures will influence the spiritual destiny of those around you, especially your children. Another sobering reality. The level we reach is the platform for the next generation - so let’s all pray that we are raising the bar.
Continuing with our analysis of the Romans passage:
“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their heart to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator… Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what out not to be done.” Romans 1:24-28 (NIV)
Key points:
This “giving over” we see repeated multiple times here is the same thing as the revelation of the “wrath of God” mentioned earlier. Simply put, God allows us to have power and freedom and in this freedom we can take the path towards the light or towards the darkness. Our soul is a garden. The seeds we water with our thoughts and behaviors will grow - the others will die. Our thoughts ultimately shape our reality - a statement that can sound rather “New Age” to evangelical Christians - but is an undeniable spiritual truth that can actually be witnessed in our experience.
Again, we see the idea of exchange in v.25. The exchange is the truth, glory, and power of the divine image for lust - which can indeed bring us pleasure in the moment, but will always leave us wanting more and more and more. Give lust an inch and it will take a mile. We have to understand that pleasure divorced from God’s wisdom and reality is an incredibly powerful illusion, because it hijacks our senses to have us belief in false truths. This influences the whole human system - mind, body, spirit. Our reality becomes dictated by the pleasures of our senses, rather than God’s reality - the kingdom of God.
Lust, given space to grow, will eventually manifest in expressions of homosexuality, the expressions we can very clearly see in this passage. This is because, through generations, the spiritual force of lust is constantly and aggressively seeking deeper and deeper gratification and expression. The fire of lust never says “enough!” (Proverbs 30:16).
The point I would want to make most about this entire passage is that our sensual and bodily experiences have to be paired with the wisdom and truth of God - the divine image. When we lose our groundedness in God’s spiritual reality - we let the pleasures of our senses deceive us - we believe in lies that are finding their power in pleasure. John calls this the “lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh” in 1 John 2:16.
Paul will continue the passage to say that depravity knows no bounds, because it is constantly seeking gratification. The passage says that those trapped in the illusion of lust “invent ways of doing evil” (v.30) and, if you have any exposure to our social-sexual landscape, you know examples of what this looks like.
And here’s the hard truth: sexual pleasure that is divorced from the presence and wisdom of God will block the inflow of spiritual life that is available to us through the inner divine image - in mind, body and spirit. This is why this Romans passage emphasizes a “penalty” (v.27) - which is sickness and disease of both mind and body.
This is also why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that those who engage in homosexual behavior cannot “inherit the kingdom of God.” This is because behavior that serves the lie of pleasure (divorced from God’s presence) darkens our mind from receiving the presence and enlightenment of God in our experience.
If there is no power of God in our minds, there is no power of God in our bodies because, again, our thoughts have the power to dictate and shape our reality. If there is no truth in the mind - the “truth” that Paul says is exchanged in this passage - there is no manifestation of the life of God in our experience. This is “eternal life” or the “kingdom of heaven.”
Once we give ourselves over to sexual pleasure, our mind and thinking shift to accommodate our carnal pursuits. Our mind finds ways to rationalize our subconscious bondage - the bondage of the heart and the inner man. Proverbs 14:12 says that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” The scriptures call this inner idolatry. I write about this more extensively in my first book, The Mind of Christ.
How do we make this analysis more practical? Maybe you are a parent whose 14-year old son just told you he thinks he is gay. What do we do then?
Again, we need to acquire not only knowledge about this issue, but wisdom. Wisdom isn’t as simple as speaking Bible verses over yourself or others who may be struggling with their sexual identity.
Maybe you have chosen to identify as a homosexual, heterosexual or somewhere in between. The truth is everyone will have their own journey with God, and we need to individually seek God’s unique plans for us.
We need the power of God in our experience - in mind, body, and spirit - to obtain wisdom for ourselves by wrestling with God. It’s in that wrestling or struggle that we often find the unique answers and spiritual solutions we need.
We read in Hosea that “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). In other words, lack of awareness, lack of understanding, can bring death and decay into our experience in mind, body, and spirit. We have to obtain deep self-knowledge through spiritual process, something that I write about and teach about often.
As an adolescent who didn’t know how to access the transformative power and presence of God in my experience, I had a fair amount of my own wrestling. I remember the first time I saw an adult image on a computer screen, which was completely an accident, but it opened me up to a dark path which I followed that just became deeper, darker, and more twisted. Maybe you can relate to that.
Even though I was a child, I allowed lustful seeds to take root in my heart and I watered them through my behaviors, which is so easy to do in a digital age. And, as we saw in this passage, it took hold of my rationality and I pursued it deeper and deeper. I saw and did things that I knew were not in alignment with God’s truth, having no idea how deeply these things would impact me later in life.
Even though I did eventually stop watering certain seeds, anything planted in the soul does remain. Later, the enemy used it against me to absolutely torment me. I then needed to have a revelation of the true power, presence, and love of God. I talk about this process in my first book, the Mind of Christ.
This process of uprooting and replanting can be extremely difficult mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, so we are better off walking in the power and presence of God at all times. This is the truth of spiritual reality.
As we conclude, I do have some practical suggestions for navigating the complexities of our modern sexual landscape.
I do want to state what I believe to be a foundational truth and this is that all people must be given the freedom to live their lives as they desire. This is a core principle of spiritual freedom and God’s love.
We have to acknowledge that people may think and behave differently than us - this doesn’t mean we need to agree - but that’s the beauty of the freedom, which God gives to us. In other words, we have to find peace with the tension, rather than spending so much energy trying to change other people or wish our modern times were different.
Today, we can witness what some (usually homosexual) people term as “gay panic.” This is the intense social and political response - usually from traditional religious communities - about the rising manifestation of LGBTQIA+ advocacy, tolerance, and legislation.
I will comment to say that there’s not much we can do about this except to continue walking in the wisdom and enlightenment of God. Although difficult to navigate, isn’t anything new to mankind, and this wave will manifest and eventually pass, although it may take time and cost us as a culture. The societal and political reinforcement of depravity and sexual depravity is historically a strong indicator that a culture is at the end of its pinnacle. The narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis serves as a reminder of this truth.
What we can do is to trust what the scriptures actually say - that God will bring us all correction and discipline in His timing. Our role is to do our best to live in alignment with God’s design by being immersed and filled with the Spirit of God, having the mind of Christ and, therefore, making wise decisions as we navigate a darkened world.
Another point I would like to make is that our sexual brokenness, both personally and collectively, must manifest in our experience, before we can partner with God to address it with power and enlightenment.
We can’t do anything about something we aren’t consciously aware of. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians that the “man of sin” must manifest before Jesus can come to bring healing, restoration and renewal (2 Thessalonians 2:8). This may be uncomfortable and cost us our pride and comfort, but it is a spiritual reality. Jesus says that everything that is hidden must be and will be revealed (Luke 12:2-3).
I’ve watched people get absolutely swept up into fighting this issue and, while there are times to take a definitive stand on truth, there are also times to use discernment to let God and spiritual laws operate. Ecclesiastes says that there is a time for war, and a time for peace (Ecclesiastes 3:8). Again, we need to navigate this issue with grace and wisdom to discern the times.
Maybe you’re a man or woman who is wrestling with your own sexuality, or have a loved one who is. I would advise you to say that this is rather normal to the human experience, but the Church has very little teaching on this beyond mere dogma, so we can be led to believe that is is a very unusual experience, but there is no temptation that is not common to man, and none that cannot be overcome (1 Corinthians 10:13).
We forget that Jesus Christ was tempted in absolutely every way, but remained without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Christ was subjected to these temptations so He could advocate and eventually empower all. The implication is that Christ experienced the spiritual pressure of all sexual darkness and depravity. He understands what we are going through in our sexual struggles, no matter the situation, and will provide exactly what is needed. This stunning truth brings so much peace and hope!
People hide their inner struggles for fear of judgement or condemnation. My recommendation is to pray about finding safe, spiritually-enlightened and wise people who can help you process your own journey with God. Pray for and open yourself to both the wisdom of God and power of God in your experience. I promise that in the wrestling, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.
So much more can be said about this issue, but this teaching is a good start for understanding our sexual zeitgeist - the defining sexual spirit and mood of our modern age, giving us a peak into the spiritual dynamics of human sexuality.
