The Sexual Revolution

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24, ESV)

This was God’s original plan for marriage and sexual relationships. The plan was first violated in Genesis 4 when Lamech, who was three generations descended from Cain, took two wives. The first laws identifying sexual sins are found in Leviticus 18 as God instructed the Israelites;

“You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you.” (Leviticus 18:3a, ESV) The will of God is clearly spelled out to be a life of purity.

It did not take too many generations after the creation, and it did not take too many generations after the flood to forget about God and live as they saw fit.

Among the 45 goals stated by Communist Party USA in 1963 are:

24.) Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.

25.) Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.

Many believe the sexual revolution began in the early 1960s with the advent of the birth control pill. In reality, it has been an ongoing rebellion against God since the early generations of human history.

Last year I watched a series of Mack Sennett shorts on Turner Classic Movies. Mr. Sennett made films from the late 1900’s to the early 1930s. Watching the series, I was amazed at the change in women’s attire as the productions evolved over time. In the early films women were attired from the neck down. By the 1930s, movie audiences were shown a lot of leg, arm and cleavage. By the 1930s, the American movie culture had evolved into a cesspool of depravity. The government intervened as much as it could and a government official set up a review board that producers had to get approval from to show their movies. There were also local censorship boards in most communities that would determine if a film was to be shown in their town. This system lasted until the 1960s when the current rating system was established and the film industry had no reservation about showing different degrees of what would have been previously described as pornographic.

For centuries women dressed modestly and very few would dare expose portions of their bodies publicly. In 1946, a French fashion designer designed the bikini. When it came time to display his creation, the designer could not hire a professional fashion model in France who was willing to display this product. He resorted to hiring a prostitute to model his creation. One generation later, bikinis more revealing than his were seen on beaches around the world. Somehow, despite centuries of needing to dress modestly and the beginnings of a feminist movement telling men not to objectify women, women have become more willing to show their bodies and share it with numerous sexual partners. It’s hard to name a top actress who has not performed some level of nudity in at least one production. With the expansion of the internet in the 1990s into almost every home, pornography has become the chief commercial use of this new technology. Many men have succumbed to this product and unfortunately their sons have as well. While I have alluded to the changes in feminine attitudes, the real guilt belongs to men worldwide who are not only consumers of pornography, but have also failed as leaders, husbands and fathers in not teaching their girlfriends, wives and daughters the advantages of modesty and purity.

With the published goals by Communist Party USA in 1963, they can again claim ‘Mission Accomplished’. With the spread of pornography, divorce rates have climbed, marriage rates have fallen, illegitimacy rates have climbed with the acceptance of pre-marital sex in our culture, sexually transmitted diseases have climbed, and the ultimate evil forced upon us, abortion.

According to the census bureau, 72.2% of adult US citizens were married in the 1950s. The same bureau recently reported that the marriage rate for the same categorization of American adults showed only 50.3% were married and this includes a recently added category of “same-sex” marriages.

While the marriage rate declined in the last 50 years, the divorce rate climbed over the same period and only began to decline recently. The concept of “no fault” divorce was a practice introduced in the Soviet Union during its infancy. This practice became US law in 1969 when Governor Ronald Regan signed a Democrat piece of legislation in what was one of the biggest blemishes in what was otherwise a distinguished political career. Once embedded in California law, the practice soon spread throughout the United States. This allows either spouse to leave a marriage for any reason and be free to pursue another relationship. This has turned the marriage from a covenant union to just a contract between two people that can be broken at any time without penalty. As recorded in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 19, Jesus, when questioned about divorce taught;

“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:5, 6, ESV) and

“…whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:9, ESV)

With the breakdown of marriage, and the policies of the aforementioned welfare state, the illegitimacy rate has increased exponentially. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, out-of-wedlock births increased from below 5% in 1960 to nearly 40% by 2007. When the Supreme Court negation of all state abortion laws is taken into consideration, the growth of this rate is astronomical. This indicates that conceptions among couples, without a covenant union, has gone from being a rarity to a norm. The political left fights viciously for the right to kill another human being in the womb even at the expense of the women’s health, meaning people can have sexual relationships without the responsibility of the primary purpose the sexual act is meant for.