WHEN He was on earth the Saviour characterised the generation of that day as a “wicked and adulterous generation”. As we survey the history of our own nation, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion than that the present generation is an especially adulterous generation. We today ought therefore to acknowledge with shame to God, as Ezra did, “O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments.”
The Seventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” is treated as an irrelevance in this age. Throughout the nation marriage is in decline, and there is a steady increase in the number of unmarried couples living together. In England and Wales there were 8,000 fewer marriages in 1994 (the latest year for which statistics are available). The result is that about 40 per cent of babies born in 1995 were born out of wedlock compared with 9 per cent as recently as 1974.
To try to promote a Christian approach to such matters as marriage and sexual conduct, is to invite caustic ridicule. The appointment of Anne Aitkins (the vicar’s wife who had the courage to condemn the “sin of homosexuality” on Radio Four) as the Daily Telegraph’s first agony aunt, has moved some newspaper columnists to vent their hatred against her moral stand. One writer branded her as “a viper of the right”. Another protested that “in the real world… sex before marriage is the norm”, and expressed the fear of a “new puritan revolution” and of being enveloped by “a dark cloud of reaction”.
Despite the hostility of liberal commentators, the church must give no uncertain sound when it speaks about sins of uncleanness. It is shocking that in a sermon, a Bishop of the Church of England obliquely condemned, and branded as heretics, Anne Aitkins and other “so-called Christians who peddle ludicrous, antiquated prejudices and even broadcast them to the public”. He venomously added that “these heretics of today” should be burned at the stake as were “heretics in former times”. The Director of Communications for the General Synod of the Church of England, instead of backing Anne Aitkins, arrogantly demanded that the BBC apologise for giving her the opportunity to speak as she did. In vain do people of the land look to the leaders of the Church of England
for clear and unequivocal guidance with regard to Biblical morality.
Also it is in vain to look to other organisations, such as Health Boards, from whom one might expect a sensible lead in guiding young people through the morass of problems arising from the permissiveness of modern society. The Highland Health Board (HHB) recently distributed to schools in the Highlands a “safer sex directory” aimed at pupils over 16. While the directory does give some helpful advice, many parts of it are immoral and offensive. On the whole, its tendency is to encourage young people to have sex outside of marriage.
One correspondent to the press rightly says about the HHB that “it is inexcusable for them to insist on the use of corrupt and misleading material when there are many excellent books and pamphlets produced on Aids, especially for young people, by such bodies as CARE or Family and Youth Concern.” Although the HHB and the Education Authority were made aware of these books and pamphlets by concerned parents, they evidently ignored them. We suspect it was because the publications adopted a moral stance.
It is a serious dereliction of duty on the part of the HHB that it does not advise young people that the very best and safest course to follow is the God-appointed way of abstinence before marriage, and sex within marriage only. This message has gone down well and has been effective in many American schools, but apparently it is not a message that is consistent with the philosophy of the HHB. A spokesman for the Board said some time ago, “It is not the Board’s role to make a judgement on any moral basis in this regard. Morality is the problem of the church, of the family and of other people.”
Strange as it may seem, the HHB recently sent out a pack to ministers in the Highlands which provides “ideas for worship… on or around World Aids Day this year”. Has the Board decided to adopt a moral stance? In the material there is not even a whisper of criticism of the specific sins which, for the most part, are the cause of Aids. In the “Prayers, Responses and Reflections” section, one of the prayers’ reads, “We pray for lesbians and gays who often dare… to be themselves.” Perverse morality indeed! Health Boards ought to leave people in no doubt that the homosexual lifestyle is the principal cause of HIV spread and Aids in the Western world. In Britain the incidence of Aids is highest among homosexuals, as was announced by Baroness Cumberlege, a junior health minister, at the end of last November. Instead of steering men away from that destructive way of life, Health Boards and Aids organisations say we must “target more resources at gay and bisexual men”. Already, total public spending on Aids in Britain has reached £270 million a year: very much more than is being spent on any other disease (for example, whereas 541 people died of Aids in 1995, the death toll from cancer was 140,790, and the amount spent on cancer research was £245 million).
It gives us no pleasure, but rather pain, to speak about the prevalent and increasing immorality which so deeply stains our nation – but speak about it we must, if only to make ourselves more conscious of our need to plead with the God of heaven to have mercy upon us. It was for the sin of uncleanness, as well as certain other sins, that God sorely punished Israel in Old Testament times. Nationally we are guilty before God, especially for condoning and legalising the sin which brought His righteous judgement upon Sodom.
No doubt our comments will be denounced by some as homophobic and lacking compassion. The fact is that we have had some little experience of being at the bedsides of people dying from Aids. We know what it is to feel for them deeply, and to try to pray with them and direct them to the Great Physician of souls. The medical staff in our mission hospitals have the constant work of caring for men and women smitten by Aids, and our missionaries and ministers do what they can to give spiritual counsel to these patients and their relatives.
Our prayer is that those who are caught up in the sin of uncleanness may experience the wonderful liberation of which Christ speaks, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” The Bible reveals hope for even the chief of sinners. It was said to people in the Church of Corinth who were formerly guilty of particularly serious sins of uncleanness, “Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” ☐