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Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000099S
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00:01 - Unless you skipped a lot of history classes,
00:02 most of you know about the Third Reich and its devastation. 00:05 Today we're gonna look at a different 20th century Reich 00:08 that also caused a lot of damage, it's just not as obvious. 00:12 And if you've got little ones with an earshot today, 00:15 you should probably know that we're gonna be dealing 00:17 with some, well, pretty grown up concepts. 00:20 So maybe get those little ones out of your shot. 00:24 [bright music] 00:44 You know, it's a little disingenuous when I tell people 00:47 that I'm a child of the 60's 00:48 because in reality I barely qualify. 00:52 I entered this world in October of 1969, 00:55 so my memory of the 60's only amounts to whatever it is 00:58 that a newborn can remember which of course isn't much. 01:02 Although I will say this, 01:04 we know the human brain really does appear 01:07 to remember absolutely everything it's exposed to. 01:10 So somewhere in there I must have some kind of newborn 01:14 impressions of the last months of the 60's. 01:17 Some were written in my memory banks. 01:19 In fact, I've actually had this sneaking suspicion 01:22 for a long time, and this is a bit of a sidebar, 01:25 but I've had this suspicion 01:26 that some of those alien abduction stories 01:29 that you hear on late night radio or on that channel, 01:32 they used to be the history channel. 01:35 What if some of those stories are actually memories 01:37 of your birth? 01:38 I mean, if you think about it, 01:40 most of them seem to include some remarkably similar details 01:43 like suddenly being taken into a cold brightly lit room 01:47 where strange looking creatures begin to poke and prod you 01:50 and you're completely helpless while it's happening. 01:54 So what if just maybe some of those so-called abductions 01:58 are actually just fuzzy old memories of the doctors 02:01 and nurses who poked and prodded you in the delivery room? 02:05 Now, I don't have any research to back that up, 02:07 it's just kind of a hunch. 02:09 But I do think I've heard a psychiatrist suggest 02:12 the possibility, but it is just a hunch. 02:15 And now I'm wandering off topic. 02:17 So maybe we should come back someday 02:19 to the subject of flying saucers 02:21 because I think there are some very interesting 02:24 philosophical and spiritual questions 02:27 that go along with those stories. 02:29 But for today, I wanna get back to the 60's and the 70's 02:33 because as you know, it was a really tumultuous time 02:37 in the western world 02:38 and here in the United States in particular. 02:40 A lot of longtime social conventions 02:43 were being completely upended 02:45 with people questioning institutional authority 02:48 in challenging American participation in Vietnam. 02:52 It was the era of the flower children, 02:54 the hippies who were preaching a different approach to life 02:57 than the western world was typically used to. 03:00 Make love not war they said, 03:01 and they preached it with long hair and bare feet 03:04 and with peace symbol showing up just about everywhere. 03:08 These people were the ultimate non-conformists, 03:12 the ones who exercised their libertine lifestyles 03:14 by practicing sex, drugs and rock and roll. 03:18 It was the era of Timothy Leary, 03:20 the psychology professor from Harvard who began to promote 03:23 the recreational use of psychedelic drugs, things like LSD, 03:27 this strange new substance 03:29 that had been accidentally discovered 03:31 in fairly recent history. 03:33 And Leary suggested that maybe these drugs 03:36 were some kind of shortcut 03:37 to higher levels of enlightenment. 03:40 "Think for yourself and question authority" he taught, 03:43 which on its own is not that bad of an idea 03:46 because obviously not all authority is good, 03:48 or even trustworthy. 03:50 So yeah, I can appreciate the concept, but Mr. Leary 03:54 was also famous for that phrase, 03:56 "Turn on, tune in and drop out," 03:59 which I would argue was not as good an idea 04:02 as questioning authority 04:04 because it led to a great deal of anarchy. 04:06 And a lot of people used his philosophy as an excuse 04:09 to do a lot of drugs. 04:11 Some of you might remember that President Nixon 04:13 actually called Leary the most dangerous man in America. 04:18 The 60's and 70's were this radical turning point here 04:21 in the West because experimental ideas 04:24 that had been pretty much restricted 04:26 to the ivory towers of academia suddenly went mainstream. 04:29 And we saw traditional Western values being dismantled 04:33 at a rather disturbing pace. 04:35 And it's not that we shouldn't be questioning tradition 04:38 because I do think we should, but at the same time, 04:41 I think it's really, really important to understand 04:44 why social norms were invented in the first place 04:47 before we start to mindlessly rip them down. 04:51 It's a little like renovating your house, 04:54 and knocking down the walls without ever checking to see 04:56 if some of them might be load-bearing, 04:58 knock down the wrong wall, you lose the structure, 05:01 knock down the wrong social convention 05:04 and the same thing can happen. 05:06 Now, one of the places we started to do this was in the area 05:10 of human sexuality. 05:11 The 60's were the era of free love. 05:14 And once the pill was invented, 05:16 people started to think there was no reason to cling 05:18 to so-called outdated ideas like marriage or monogamy. 05:23 Those were considered outdated. 05:26 And as you know, people began to experiment. 05:28 And today I'm convinced we're living with the aftermath 05:31 of those experiments. 05:33 Now, before I go any further, 05:35 I should probably underline just a couple of ideas. 05:38 Number one, I'm gonna speak quite frankly 05:40 about this subject. 05:41 So if you have kids who are listening right now, 05:43 you might wanna find something else for them to do 05:45 for the next little while or just go to VOP.com 05:48 and watch this show later, 05:50 maybe after the kids go to bed. 05:53 Number two, because of some of the unfortunate stereotypes 05:56 associated with American preachers, 05:59 I should probably state right up front, I am not in favor 06:02 of Western Christians using the power of the state 06:05 to regulate the religious morality of their neighbors. 06:08 I mean, yes, there's no doubt I am a Christian, 06:11 and I firmly believe there is a right and a wrong way 06:14 for people to express sexuality. 06:16 But at the same time, I don't believe for one minute 06:19 that the church should be in charge of regulating 06:21 the way you choose to live your life because frankly, 06:25 these matters are between you and God. 06:29 Now with those disclaimers out of the way, 06:31 I think I wanna focus on the actual origin 06:34 of some of the ideas that prompted the sexual revolution. 06:37 And if I was gonna pick just one place to start, 06:40 just one great thinker who really had an impact, 06:43 I'd probably have to go with Sigmund Freud 06:46 who is still remembered 06:47 as having a rather strident obsession with the subject 06:49 of human reproduction. 06:52 Freud was a huge believer in the idea 06:54 that a lot of what we do as human beings is motivated 06:57 by the pursuit of pleasure. 07:00 He said, "We try to avoid or mitigate the painful parts 07:03 of life a tiny little bit like the ancient epicureans." 07:07 And he said, we should try to embrace the things 07:09 that give us pleasure. 07:11 "In the theory of psychoanalysis" he wrote back in 1920, 07:15 "We have no hesitation in assuming that the course taken 07:18 by mental events is automatically regulated 07:21 by the pleasure principle. 07:23 We believe that is to say that the course of those events 07:26 is invariably set in motion by an unpleasurable tension, 07:30 and that it takes a direction such that its final outcome 07:33 coincides with a lowering of that tension, 07:36 that is with an avoidance of unpleasure 07:39 or a production of pleasure." 07:41 Alright, I'll give him that. 07:43 So far so good because it kind of makes sense. 07:45 Most of us really do want to avoid pain 07:48 and experience pleasure, it's just our human nature. 07:51 But the way that Freud understood this concept led 07:54 to some real problems in a world 07:56 that was pretty much dominated by Judeo-Christian thought. 07:59 In other words, biblical thought. 08:01 Freud suggested that we should embrace all the impulses 08:05 that move toward pleasure, including sexual pleasure. 08:08 And if you try to restrict that he said, 08:10 if you try to suppress your natural urges, 08:12 it'll mess you up in the head. 08:14 He taught that the suppression 08:16 of your sexual instincts will somehow lead 08:18 to neurotic behavior and you would become mentally, 08:21 and emotionally unhealthy. 08:23 Then he said, that's gonna make you act irrationally 08:26 and that would be society's fault 08:28 because they shouldn't be telling you what's right or wrong. 08:31 Repressing your urges he said leads to irrational behavior, 08:35 and unnecessary anxiety. 08:38 And honestly, that's kind of ironic 08:39 because the least inhibited generation to ever occupy 08:42 this continent now seems to be one of the most anxious. 08:48 But let's get back to the 1960's where you find 08:50 the flower children taking these concepts very seriously. 08:54 We suddenly get people that concepts like monogamy, 08:57 or marriage are repressive and harmful. 08:59 They supposedly keep us from self-actualization 09:02 or personal fulfillment. 09:04 These people believe that the free love movement 09:06 couldn't possibly harm anybody. 09:08 They said it was an evolutionary step forward. 09:13 Now, to be honest, there really were some unhealthy ideas 09:16 about sexuality that emerged from the Victorian period 09:19 when the subject was usually treated as if it's shameful 09:22 and dirty, which is not the Bible's perspective. 09:26 So yeah, there were some things that probably needed fixing, 09:29 but the idea that controlling your animal instincts 09:32 will lead to mental illness, 09:34 that's a concept I really wanna challenge. 09:37 But right now it's time for a break. 09:39 So don't you go anywhere 09:40 because I'll be right back after this short message 09:43 to look at the ideas that came 09:44 from one of Freud's biggest disciples. 09:46 Another psychologist by the name of Wilhelm Reich. 09:53 - [Narrator] Here at The Voice of Prophecy, we're committed 09:55 to creating top quality programming for the whole family. 09:59 Like our audio adventure series, Discovery Mountain. 10:02 Discovery Mountain is a bible-based program for kids 10:05 of all ages and backgrounds. 10:07 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 10:10 from this small mountain summer camp and town. 10:13 With 24 seasonal episodes every year 10:15 and fresh content every week, 10:17 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 10:23 - Wilhelm Reich, the Austrian doctor 10:25 was easily one of the more radical psychiatrist 10:27 who emerged in the wake of Sigmund Freud, 10:30 and he went places with Dr. Freud's work 10:33 that really put a dent on the traditional moral values 10:36 of the West. 10:37 In fact, I believe that in a lot of ways, Wilhelm Reich 10:40 is a key architect, if not the architect 10:43 of the sexual revolution. 10:45 Like Dr. Freud, he taught that repressing your natural drive 10:48 is a bad idea. 10:49 He actually said it would lead to mental illness. 10:52 The moral inhibitions of society, he said 10:55 are actually making people sick. 10:56 I mean, just listen to what he wrote back in the 1930's. 11:00 He said, "Under the condition of neurotic sexual repression, 11:03 every patient carries within himself the insoluble 11:06 contradiction between instinctual drive 11:09 and moralistic compulsion. 11:11 The moral demands that under the constant pressure 11:13 of social influence he places on himself intensify 11:17 the blocking of his sexual and general vegetative needs." 11:21 So in other words, back in the 1930's, Wilhelm Reich 11:25 was teaching that the moral values of society, 11:28 the restrictions and boundaries that your culture places 11:31 on sexual expression, he said those are in direct conflict 11:34 with your natural passion, and that's what he said leads 11:38 to all the moral problems. 11:40 If only people were allowed to act out their urges freely, 11:43 he said, if only we provided a way for everybody 11:45 to indulge his or her appetite, 11:47 then horrible things like sexual assault would just go away. 11:51 I know it seems laughable today, but why did he say that? 11:56 It's because he believed that sexual crimes 11:58 are just the result of people acting out against 12:00 the unreasonable restrictions imposed by society. 12:04 Indulging your appetite he taught was perfectly healthy, 12:07 and before you're tempted to agree with him, 12:10 you should probably know that Mr. Reich also meant kids. 12:14 You heard me right. 12:16 Now, Dr. Reich built his theory 12:18 by studying some of his own patients, 12:20 which makes me think he was probably building his philosophy 12:23 on a very shaky foundation. 12:25 The people he was treating after all already had problems 12:28 with mental health or with normal sexual expression, 12:31 which makes me question the idea that the urges 12:33 of his patients should be used as a baseline 12:37 for an authentic human sexual expression. 12:40 He was taking symptoms of an illness 12:42 and using those to establish 12:43 what he thought should be the picture of health. 12:47 Of course, the drive to reproduce really 12:49 is a natural instinct and so is the desire 12:52 for physical relationships. 12:54 But in Dr. Reich's secular worldview, 12:56 he believed that all instincts, all drives, 12:59 all feelings are perfectly natural, 13:01 and he said we experienced them for a good reason. 13:04 But from the Bible's perspective, 13:06 in the Judeo-Christian understanding of our human nature, 13:09 we believe that our feelings need to be informed 13:12 by the fact that our natural instincts have been corrupted. 13:16 According to the Bible, 13:17 not every impulse you have is a good one. 13:21 So to suggest that we should just indulge every passion 13:24 when we feel it, well that idea becomes very problematic, 13:27 at least from a biblical worldview for that matter. 13:30 So do Mr. Reich's feelings about marriage 13:33 because he believed that marriage 13:34 and monogamy were unnatural. 13:36 In fact, he pretty much argued 13:38 that they are utterly outdated. 13:40 Listen to what he said. 13:42 "If no suitable partner is available, 13:44 as seems to be the rule under the prevailing conditions 13:47 of sexual life, the tendency toward monogamy turns 13:50 into its opposite, namely into the uncontrollable search 13:54 for the right partner. 13:55 If that partner is found, the monogamous behavior 13:58 is spontaneously restored and is maintained 14:00 as long as sexual harmony and gratification last. 14:04 Fantasies and wishes for other partners are either very weak 14:07 or else ignored because of the interest 14:09 in the current partner. 14:10 However, the relationship collapses irretrievably 14:14 if it becomes stale, 14:15 and if another companion promises greater pleasure." 14:18 So here's what he's saying. 14:20 Cheating on your spouse is natural he said, 14:22 and we should expect it 14:24 because nobody should ever control their sexual urges. 14:27 Reich believed that marriage is artificial, 14:30 an institution the church imposed on the world. 14:32 And he said that getting married makes you repressed 14:34 and unhealthy, which is exactly the attitude 14:38 that emerged during the sexual revolution. 14:40 We even questioned the need for the nuclear family, 14:44 and of course a lot of people are still doing that. 14:46 Marriage was seen as an unnecessary prison 14:49 for both men and women. 14:51 For men, they said it was keeping them 14:52 from pursuing their natural urges. 14:54 And for women they said it was a prison designed 14:56 to maintain the patriarchy. 14:58 And today, I believe we're living with the fallout 15:01 of that kind of thinking. 15:03 We now have a generation that was raised 15:05 on this libertine morality. 15:07 And honestly, I don't believe for a minute 15:10 that it's a coincidence 15:11 that this same generation now struggles 15:14 with terrible feelings of meaninglessness, 15:16 alienation and loneliness. 15:20 And yes, I'll admit, a lot of male attitudes 15:22 about women have been wrong and there are a lot of marriages 15:25 that do become prisons for the people 15:27 who have to live in them. 15:29 But what I can't agree with is the way 15:31 that some people point to the Bible or Christianity 15:34 as the problem. 15:35 When marriages fall apart, 15:37 or when so-called Christian spouses cheat on each other, 15:41 or when husbands and wives treat each other badly, 15:43 it's not because of the teachings of Christ, 15:46 it's in spite of them. 15:48 In fact, you might remember there was an occasion 15:51 when the religious authorities of the day, 15:52 the Pharisees approached Jesus 15:55 and asked Him a rather tricky question about divorce. 15:58 And I guess the reason I'm thinking about this 16:00 is because so many people are rightly alarmed 16:03 at the high divorce rate even among Christians 16:06 and much in the spirit of Dr. Reich, 16:08 some people are blaming the institution of marriage itself. 16:12 Now there's no question that the scriptures underline 16:15 the importance and sanctity of marriage, 16:18 but in a broken world, sometimes God's ideal 16:20 gets compromised by us. 16:24 So the Pharisees, knowing that divorce is undesirable 16:27 approached Jesus with a question 16:29 and you find it in Matthew 19. 16:32 It says, "The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him 16:35 and saying to Him, is it lawful for a man 16:38 to divorce his wife for just any reason? 16:40 And He answered and said to them, have you not read 16:42 that he who made them at the beginning made them male 16:45 and female and said, for this reason, 16:47 a man shall leave his father and mother 16:49 and be joined to his wife, 16:50 and the two shall become one flesh? 16:53 So then they are no longer two but one flesh. 16:56 Therefore what God has joined together, 16:59 let not man separate." 17:02 Alright, so far so good. 17:03 In fact, those words are still being used 17:06 by Christian ministers to this day 17:07 every time they perform a wedding. 17:09 "What God has joined together let nobody separate." 17:13 In fact, it's a formula I still use when I pronounce 17:16 a couple to be husband and wife. 17:19 When Jesus' critics bring up the subject of divorce, 17:21 He answers by underlining the original design. 17:25 From God's perspective, marriage was meant to last for life, 17:29 but then trying to trip Jesus up, the Pharisees pointed out 17:32 that the law of Moses actually allowed for divorce. 17:36 Here's what it says in verse seven. 17:38 "They said to him, why then did Moses command 17:41 to give a certificate of divorce, 17:42 and to put her away? 17:44 He said to them, Moses, because of the hardness 17:47 of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, 17:49 but from the beginning it was not so. 17:52 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except 17:55 for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery, 17:59 and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery." 18:05 In other words, the Bible is a very realistic document. 18:07 That's one of the reasons I prize this book so highly. 18:11 This book reveals God's original design, 18:13 His plan for humanity and then it openly deals with the fact 18:17 that you and I don't live up to that, not since the fall. 18:21 Yes, marriage was meant to last for life, 18:24 but given the ungodly way that you and I behave, 18:27 it can unsurprisingly fall apart. 18:29 So what we have in the Bible is a very realistic God. 18:34 Christians are required to make it work, 18:36 but then sometimes unfortunately it doesn't. 18:40 Now, here's the thing I really want you to notice. 18:42 In the first part of last century, Wilhelm Reich 18:45 was teaching people that that marriage, monogamy, 18:48 and sexual boundaries were standing in the way 18:50 of an authentic human sexuality. 18:53 But that was a radical departure 18:55 from the advice found in this book. 18:57 So then of course, we need to ask who was right? 19:00 Wilhelm Reich or the creator of the human race? 19:04 I'll be right back after this. 19:10 - [Narrator] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues, 19:14 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 19:19 If you've ever read Daniel or Revelation 19:21 and come away scratching your head, you are not alone. 19:24 Our free Focus on Prophecy guides are designed 19:27 to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible, 19:29 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 19:32 for you and our world. 19:33 Study online or request them by mail, 19:36 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 19:39 - The sexual revolution of the 60's and 70's saw people 19:42 throw away a lot of longstanding moral boundaries, 19:46 some of which have been serving us really well, 19:49 and that was fueled by this strange idea 19:51 that controlling your urges 19:53 is gonna make you something less than human. 19:55 They said it might even promote mental illness. 19:58 Now, that was a complete turnabout from the way 20:00 that Western philosophy thought about this subject 20:02 for thousands of years. 20:05 I mean, it used to be a point of pride 20:07 that you could control your baser instincts, 20:09 and submit them to logic. 20:11 But in the middle of the 20th century, 20:13 we kind of turned that thinking on its head, 20:15 and it led to some advice that's still being doled out 20:18 by some, some well-meaning psychologists to this day. 20:23 Many years ago, I met this guy who told me he was struggling 20:26 with an addiction to pornography. 20:28 So he went to a counselor who told him 20:30 that his marriage was obviously not meeting his needs, 20:33 and what he needed to do was go out and cheat on his wife. 20:36 I mean, imagine that, that is horrible advice, 20:40 but that's exactly what Mr. Reich was teaching. 20:43 And while it makes for a tantalizing soap opera, 20:46 it is not made for a better society. 20:49 Dr. Reich suggested that if we only provided outlets 20:51 for everybody's urges, 20:53 if we remove the silly moral boundaries, 20:56 then people could be free to pursue whatever they want. 20:59 And because their needs were now being met, 21:01 he said they would voluntarily refrain from terrible crimes. 21:04 Just indulge your urges 21:06 and you'll become a well-adjusted person. 21:08 You can practice morality 21:10 from a completely rational perspective, 21:13 but my goodness, what a mess. 21:15 He completely underestimated 21:17 the power of a misguided human urge. 21:20 He built his theory on the idea 21:21 that all of our urges are good, 21:23 and in the process he ignored something 21:25 that most of us have known for a really long time. 21:28 There is something flawed in our human nature 21:31 that continues to produce a lot of suffering in this world. 21:34 Not every instinct we have is good, not even close. 21:38 For countless generations, we've been struggling 21:40 with the realization that we harbor good 21:42 and evil in our hearts the way the Bible describes. 21:47 This idea that just indulging your appetite is gonna satiate 21:50 it and stop your craving, it's preposterous. 21:52 I mean, just think about our destructive tendencies 21:55 toward addiction. 21:56 It turns out that it's not just drugs or alcohol 21:59 that create a counterfeit sense of wellbeing, 22:02 inappropriate sexual activity can do the same thing 22:05 in the very short run, but in the end, 22:07 I promise it's going to destroy you. 22:12 I'm reminded of a passage from the book of Proverbs 22:14 that describes things that are never satisfied. 22:17 This is Proverbs 30:15. 22:19 It says, "The leech has two daughters, Give and give. 22:23 There are three things that are never satisfied, 22:25 four never say enough. 22:27 The grave, the barren womb, the earth that is not satisfied 22:30 with water and the fire never says enough." 22:35 What it's describing is a bottomless appetite. 22:37 A fire will burn as long as you feed it, 22:39 and the more you feed it, the hotter it gets. 22:42 Likewise, you can backfill a grave after somebody dies, 22:45 but that's not the end of death by a long stretch. 22:48 You and I will go on digging graves 22:50 until we need one ourselves. 22:52 And the same thing holds true for fallen passion. 22:55 The drive for sex was entirely natural in the beginning 22:58 until you and I became sinful and selfish. 23:01 Fallen humanity tends to think of other people 23:04 as a means to an end, a way to gratify our personal desires. 23:08 We think of other people as a path to self-fulfillment. 23:12 Even one of the best known lines 23:13 from the most popular rom-coms underlines it, 23:16 you complete me. 23:20 Our fallen nature means that almost everything 23:22 is now centered on self, including sexual drive. 23:25 God's original design has been corrupted by us 23:29 and as it turns out, a corrupt sexual appetite 23:31 can never be appeased. 23:33 The more fuel you put on that fire, the hotter it burns 23:37 and the sexual drive is a very hot fire 23:39 that demands your attention. 23:41 That's why the apostle Paul acknowledged it, 23:44 and provided a legitimate solution to the church in Corinth, 23:48 the city that was known for promiscuity. 23:51 "But if they cannot exercise self-control," he wrote, 23:54 "Let them marry. 23:55 For it is better to marry than to burn with passion." 23:59 Why is marriage a better solution than promiscuity? 24:02 Because it involves commitment. 24:04 It's not really about self. 24:06 If we do this the way that God designed, 24:08 it respects and honors the other person, 24:10 and it refuses to use that individual 24:12 for your gratification. 24:15 Alright, I've gotta take one last break. 24:17 So now's a great time to go and get a snack, 24:19 or check your mailbox and I'll be right back after this. 24:26 - [Narrator] Life can throw a lot at us. 24:28 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 24:32 but that's where the Bible comes in. 24:34 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 24:37 Here at The Voice of Prophecy, 24:39 we've created the Discover Bible guides 24:41 to be your guide to the Bible. 24:42 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 24:45 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 24:48 and they're absolutely free. 24:50 So jump online now or give us a call, 24:52 and start your journey of discovery. 24:55 - Years ago, I found myself volunteering at a men's prison 24:58 where I visited about once a month and made myself available 25:01 to just listen to the inmates. 25:03 The institution housed a lot of serious criminals, 25:06 most of whom were there for either first degree murder, 25:09 or sexual assault, 25:10 which meant they had a lot of sexual offenders. 25:13 And this might come as a surprise to you 25:15 and I think we can thank the likes of Wilhelm Reich, 25:19 but they were piping dirty movies into the prison rec room 25:22 so the prisoners could watch them, 25:23 and the thinking seemed to go like this, 25:26 give the men a so-called outlet 25:28 and it will keep their criminal tendencies under control. 25:31 Then on top of that, unbelievably they appointed 25:34 a female chaplain who had to spend a lot of time alone 25:37 with these guys, and I'm sure you can guess 25:39 what happened next. 25:41 It was only a matter of time 25:42 until that poor chaplain got assaulted. 25:46 As it turns out, feeding a twisted instinct 25:48 is the wrong idea because some of our instincts 25:51 are just plain wrong. 25:53 The original design for human sexuality has been corrupted 25:56 to the point where I believe it has become 25:59 one of the biggest sources of pain in this world, 26:01 and it's not getting any better. 26:04 If Mr. Reich was correct, then abandoning moral boundaries 26:07 should have made us happier and healthier. 26:11 But let me ask you this, 26:12 has that proven to be even remotely true? 26:16 The nightmare of sexual assault continues to this day. 26:20 Infidelity continues to rip at the fabric of families, 26:23 which takes an unbelievable toll on children. 26:28 Wilhelm Reich believed that liberalization would lead 26:31 to fewer problems, but it turns out nothing could be further 26:36 from the truth. 26:38 Look, again, just to be perfectly clear, I am not suggesting 26:42 that the morals of the church should be the law of the land 26:45 because I am not in favor of coerced morality, 26:49 or mandatory religion. 26:51 I think the medieval church with its torture chambers 26:54 and its public executions proved beyond all reasonable doubt 26:58 that the marriage of church and state was a horrible idea. 27:03 I'm not in favor of it, but at the same time, 27:07 I'm asking you to consider the claims of this book 27:11 because they're not at all what some people have told you. 27:13 This is not some kind of manual for repression, 27:15 or oppression and it's certainly not a book for prudence. 27:19 This is a book that presents a very healthy, 27:22 very rewarding picture of human sexuality and it's one 27:25 that will help you avoid an awful lot of unnecessary pain. 27:30 Marriage and sexuality after all were God's idea, 27:33 a gift to the human race. 27:35 And I would like to suggest that maybe God knows 27:38 what He's talking about. 27:40 "What God has joined together, 27:42 we should never try to separate" 27:44 and maybe just maybe you and I are more than animals 27:47 made in the image of God. 27:50 That's all the time I've got for this week. 27:51 Thanks for joining me, I'm Shawn Boonstra, 27:54 and this has been another episode of Authentic. 27:58 [bright music] |
Revised 2024-05-06