Spiritual Maturity

In my years of ministry, I have consistently called for unconditional brotherly love to become the cornerstone of society.  The reader will note that I state brotherly love as the context that I call for unconditional love, this context being within a religious realm.  I add “brotherly” to the unconditional love formula simply because some people cannot grasp the simple concept of the need to separate the spiritual from the carnal forms of love, especially when exploring these two greatly different concepts in church or study of  religious formula.  Simply put, carnal desires, while acceptable outside of a Christian Church, are not desirable inside.  And I have made this distinction very plain in my sermons and editorials, so that the reader who might be spiritually immature is not confused.

• For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other………. Galatians 5:17

Obviously the words of the Apostle Paul bespeak of the necessity to refrain from the sinful nature and turn to the sprit.  While other religious paths may mix carnal intimacy and liturgy, Christianity simply does not, and while most ministers and lay people realize this and question the reason or necessity to make such a distinction, there are those that seize any doctrine or precept as a means to justify their carnal desires, sinful nature, and spiritual immaturity.

To state that we should embrace love regardless of the manner in which love manifests itself is absolutely a noble contention, however we must be aware of those that are so spiritually immature as to seize upon this noble virtue to justify their own sinful nature, that nature of lust and fornication, even adultery when they are in fact bound by the sacrament of holy matrimony.  Those of us that wear the collar denoting our calling as shepherds of God’s people, must set exemplary standards for ourselves, remaining faithful to God and our partner if married, ever monogamous in our relationship.

Adultery and polygamous affairs must never be a part of the minister’s lifestyle, else wise we betray the confidence our flocks have in us, not to see their wives, husbands, sons or daughters as objects of our carnal lusts.  We must never advocate or use the noble concepts of unconditional love or embracing love regardless of how love manifests itself as a tool to surreptitiously lure innocents into our flocks for the purpose of soliciting or establishing polyamourous affairs or relationships.

Some in my community have taken exception at my outspokenness against polygamy, reminding me that scripture “appears” to justify multiple wives.  Those who contend that the Bible never negatively treats polygamy are wrong. Consider the warning given to prospective and actual kings of Israel:

• “But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold” (Deut. 16&17).

Notice the three “shall nots,” multiply horses, multiply wives, multiply silver and gold. Solomon is often sited as proof for the practice of polygamy being right, but Solomon was wrong in all three areas. Solomon had a vast number of horses; he had riches unparalleled; and seven hundred wives (I Kgs. 4: 26; Eccl. 1-10; I Kgs. 11: 3). Hence, to use the example of Solomon and his seven hundred wives to argue for polygamy is an example of how simplistically a subject can be approached and dialectically presented. [1]

Some say that polygamy is a victimless crime, spouses that participate in so called open marriages doing so with their partner’s implied consent.  But studies indicate that in most such cases, resentment and pain, broken hearts, and divorce eventually occur when one spouse realizes that his or her partner is using them, his or her partner taking advantage of them so as to satisfy illicit carnal desires.  With most plural marriages being that of one man and multiple women, the male demanding fidelity from the females but the male never considering how his infidelity hurts the women, the women wind up being the victims of mind controlling spousal abuse.

In these troubled times I am fairly confident the reader has perused newspaper or, television reports of ministers or even entire churches that have abused the confidence reposed in them.  In this region, an hour or so away, an atrocity gained national media coverage last year when it came to light that parents in a so called church were trading or swapping their own children to other adults in the church for the purpose of pedophilia.  I humbly ask is this a form of love that we as Christians should embrace?  Is this what Christ meant when he said to love thy neighbor as you love yourself?  I think not.  I ask should not we advocate the concept of embracing Love regardless of how it manifests itself, but within certain limits?

Some ask, “Preacher!  Where is your Christian compassion for those clerics that misuse their office?”  To them I humbly ask, where is your compassion for the victims of these infractions of social morality and core Christian doctrine?  Why do people cry out for compassion for the fallen cleric while being oblivious to the pain of the wives, husbands, and children caught up in these sordid affairs?  Where is the outcry for compassion for the congregations destroyed when they discover their shepherd has allowed his or her carnal lusts to betray the confidence of the flock?

• A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;  1 Timothy 3:2

In this day and age, it is hard enough for those of us who wear the collar, to be without any sin, but if we are bound by the sacrament of holy Matrimony, the least we can do is to remain monogamous.  If we are spiritually mature we can at least avoid the lure of lust and avoid the sin outlined in the seventh commandment “You shall not commit adultery.”

In conclusion, let us extend unconditional brotherly love to those who are so spiritually immature, so psychologically immature that they confuse carnal love with spiritual love. But let us also be advocates for the victims of their infractions.  Let us extend unconditional brotherly love to our fallen clerics but in the same respect recognize secular as well as sectarian laws that call for just recompense in these cases.  Let us be spiritually mature enough to see through the facades — that these who use God’s name in vain — who hide behind facades and lies so as to perpetuate their insatiable lusts and out of control libidos.  Let us be as Christ admonished his disciples, “Be ye wise as serpents and innocent as doves” in our associations with these fallen prophets, innocent as doves in our ministrations, intentions and dealings but wise as the serpents who have the uncanny ability to protect themselves from attack,  for surely those clerics that remain unrepentant are not just spiritually immature, but spiritually possessed by demonic forces and apt to try to take as many innocents with them as possible as they journey to the darkness of Satan’s dominions, let us not allow ourselves to accompany them to the darkness so far removed from the light of God’s grace.

[1]http://www.bibletruths.net/Archives/BTAR324.htm