When I mentally combine the words “Christian” and “Sex” -- if I'm being perfectly honest -- my gut-reaction, first-instinct, word-association comes back with just one word:  "Puritans."

Seriously.  And quite literally as well.  I think of people wearing all-black clothing with large square brass belt buckles and funny 17th Century hats, speaking King James English and viewing sexuality with disdain and disgust.  In my mind, I envision a conversation between a "Christian" husband and wife in which the man says something like, "Good wife, I know full well that it is a crude and vile business -- but dost thou not think it necessary for the well-being of our colony and for the fulfillment of our duty before the Almighty Lord that we participate in our reproductive responsibilities?  Let us then make all haste hither toward yonder chamber to dispense with the practice of our marital obligations -- so that we may complete the temporal transaction at hand and press forward in all good faith onto the most excellent duties of church and society with which we have been entrusted..."

It's a little bit overblown, I know, but don't you see where I'm coming from?  As much as I may realize the other (more positive) aspects of "Christian Sex" on the intellectual level, my natural emotionally- and socially-conditioned response is to think words like Prude... Joy-kill… Backwards... Outdated… Judgmental... Cold... Accusatory... Hypocritical... Scandalous... And I don't think I'm reaching too far here to suggest that the majority of Western culture would be quick to make these associations as well.

And at any rate, I think it would be pretty safe to say that the above kind of word-association exercise would not typically result in thoughts like:  Hot... Passionate... Meaningful... Romantic... Mind-blowing... Sensual... and so on -- though these words would most readily be supplied to any normal word-association for the word "Sex"... just as long as you drop the "Christian" modifier.

However, I believe that this phenomenon -- this cultural separation between sexuality and spirituality -- is not right.  And after considering the subject for months and months, recently, I've decided to tackle the subject in a series of blog posts.  And rather than simply spouting Christian rhetoric or resorting to pithy pastoral phraseology -- I want to try approach the interaction between sexuality and spirituality with a sense of candor, honesty, and directness.  I want to really engage with the tough questions, invite controversy, and welcome the submission of differing opinions (feel free to comment as often as you'd like).  And still, I want to come away with a solid, Biblical sense of understanding about the issues surrounding the combination of sexuality and spirituality.  In particular, I want to deal with questions such as:

How exactly has the idea developed that Christians are asexual zombies and/or sexually-repressed whackos?

Are the cultural battles about sexuality and spirituality really worth fighting?

What does God really think about sex outside of marriage? (including follow-up questions such as, "But isn’t it just a cultural thing?" and "What is marriage anyway?  Shouldn’t it be more about the heart than about the legal certificates?  Who married Adam and Eve?  Why is it so important to have an actual ceremony to say what’s in your heart?")

What does God really think about homosexuality?

Don't we need to update our 21st Century understanding for sexuality and spirituality (that is to say, "Didn’t people also previously use the Bible to defend racism and slavery and oppression of women?")

So if these questions and this topic sound interesting to you, please keep checking back in for updates and follow-up dialogue.  As I said, I've been thinking about this for quite some time -- so I'm really looking forward to an outlet for refining my thoughts!  The Puritans may not have approved of such a frank discussion of such a subject... but I think I'm ready to move past the Puritans anyway.