Urgent Correction

For my first post, I decided not to publish an introduction describing the blog, but to instead share an urgent rebuke (one that I fear might be too late and I only hope the author has since then done a spiritual about-face; it was published in 2005) of a web contributor to the web site http://atheism.about.com/ by the name of Austin Cline. Below you will discover the subject matter, which is unfortunately not spoken of enough due to its apparently suggestive theme. I ask that you all have maturity and wisdom in Christ, realizing that even Scripture talks about it in detail, therefore there is no reason we should avoid it.

While studying the Bible using the Internet, I came across an article written by Cline that was more than shocking enough to catch my eye. It is an article titled Anal Sex - God's Way!. I was highly perturbed to see such a thing and could not allow its contents to go uncorrected, for the Bible tells us:

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 Thessalonians 5:21, and the Bible also tell us that people will be led astray:

"1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron." 1 Timothy 4:1-2

There is a comments section in which people can post their opinions on this particular article, which can be found here. If the link for whatever reason does not work for you, it is quoted below in the following paragraph. Note that Cline uses information from a highly misguided web page that is teaching falsities on what the Bible says about sexuality and does not investigate the matter himself:

"You might assume that God frowns upon anal sex, but perhaps not. Condemnations of "sodomy" may only apply to homosexual activity; therefore, anal sex between heterosexuals would be just fine. Sex in Christ explains: “I thought the Bible said anal sex was a sin.”This is a common misconception. Anal sex is confusing to many Christians because of the attention paid to the Bible’s condemnation of homosexual acts. However, it’s important to realize that these often quoted scriptures refer only to sexual acts between two men. Nowhere does the Bible forbid anal sex between a male and female.In fact, many Biblical passages allude to the act of anal sex between men and women. Lamentations 2:10 describes how “The virgins of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground,” indicating how a virginal maidens should position themselves to receive anal sex. Another suggestive scripture tells of a woman’s pride in her “valley” (referring to her buttocks and the cleft between them) and entices her lover to ejaculate against her backside: "How boastful you are about the valleys! O backsliding daughter who trusts in her treasures, {saying,} ' Who will come against me?' (Jeremiah 49:4) And in the Song of Songs, the lover urges his mate to allow him to enter her from behind: “Draw me after you, let us make haste.” (Song of Solomon, 1:4)Well, I'm certainly convinced! If God approves, then it must be OK..." (Cline, Austin. Anal Sex - God's Way!. About.com, 11 March 2005. Web. http://atheism.about.com/b/2005/03/11/anal-sex-gods-way.htm)

I proceeded to write a lengthy breakdown of the article so it would put Cline in his place so that he might learn something valuable, as well as I hoped others would read it and not be misled. Sadly, my comments did not post on the web page, so I am going to post them here. I wrote:

(This is somewhat long, but if you cherish truth and intellectualism at all, you'll take a few moments to read it entirely): First and foremost, I would like to apologize on the behalf of any of my Christian brothers and sisters that have answered you with hateful or demeaning remarks. According to the Bible we as Christians are supposed to pray for and treat all with love and respect no matter who they are.

Notwithstanding our biblical obligations of love, I see that you have a made a mistake that many make, unfortunately including some believers; a mistake that I also have the duty to correct.
You have read the Bible and instead did not study the Bible as one should (1 John 2:5), leaving out context and paraphrasing in order to intentionally mislead. Allow me to elaborate:

When reading a Bible printed in English, it can be easy to misinterpret the message without considering its context (the 'who-to', 'who-from', when, why, 'what-about', etc.) and also without consulting the original Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) lexica. If you are interested in the studying the Bible for any reason at all, I recommend Strong's Concordance in addition to the Holy Bible. Certain words from Hebrew and Greek often represent several different meanings and their specific usages are reliant upon context. As these words are translated into English they maintain their similarity in orthography, but potentially lose their pragmatic properties. This is because in English we use adjectives and adverbs to sometimes define or describe context (i.e. love: romantic, brotherly/platonic, motherly/fatherly, etc.). Knowing this fact is spiritually important to understanding Biblical passages for Christians and Jews, and may I be so bold as to say that it creates doubt that atheists and agnostics such as yourself are really as enlightened and intellectually fortuitous as they claim.

Now about your post on anal sex and the verses that you misquoted:

You paraphrased Lamentations 2:10 by writing "The virgins of Jerusalem bowed their heads to the ground." This is not the entire verse, which is this: "The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground." Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah and is a reflection on the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in the 6th century B.C. There is nothing sexual about this passage,
but instead it describes how the priests in Jerusalem are mournful and regret the sin of the city's past which brought on its righteous destruction, as well as how the innocent of Jerusalem also are mournful. The "daughter of Zion", also referenced elsewhere in Scripture as "daughter of Jerusalem", is not a 'who', but instead a 'what'. It is precisely the church of God, God's elect, the people that truly follow Him and keep His commands. A great example of this is: "Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: That I may show forth all Thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in Thy salvation." -Psalm 9:13-14. Reference the following URL for a comprehensive biblical description of Zion: http://www.gotquestions.org/Zion.html

Your article also went on to incorrectly quote Jeremiah 49:4, which correctly reads "Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?" Jeremiah 49:1-6 pertained to the Ammonites -or the
people of the kingdom of Ammon, which in modern times is known as the nation of Jordan- and their sin of idolatry (they worshipped false gods known as Molech and Milcom). Jeremiah 49:4 is literally describing how God mocked the Ammonites for being boastful, proud, and arrogant; subsequently following were verses telling of God's intent of wrath against Ammon. Nothing about this verse indicates sexual subject matter.

Song of Solomon is a book that celebrates the union of marriage between husband and wife (and also the courting period), attributing it as God's design for humanity as first done for Adam and Eve. It also simultaneously serves as symbolism to describe how God draws us near to Him and how the return of Jesus Christ will be our spiritual "marrige" to God and His kingdom (Revelation 19:7-9).
Song of Solomon 1:4 reads:
"Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee." This is not a woman requesting a sex act from her mate, but instead it is a woman expressing her desire to marry him and to be taken into his bed chambers to consummate the marriage as per Jewish
tradition. Again, some passages within the book of Song of Solomon describe the physical union between a husband and his wife, as well as simultaneously alluding to God's spiritual union with the people of His church (followers of Jesus Christ).

Between Song of Solomon 1:1 and 1:4, the Bible reads:
"2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better
than wine. 3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as
ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee." These verses tell of how much more the man's kisses bring her joy than drinking wine, as well as how happy she is that he loves her more than others. The other women (virgins) know how passionate and sincere of a lover the man is, indicating that he is well-known and sought after by single women and that he could most likely have any one of them he wanted without even making an effort. Therefore, the woman takes joy in the fact that he chose her over the other women. This can also be interpreted as the love Jesus Christ has for mankind, which is so strong that He died to pay for our deliverance from sin (John 3:16).

That was all that I wrote. Sadly, I do not believe the author will see this, nor do I believe he would care. Only prayer could be the solution to that type of resistance. As for those of you who have that lingering question "Well, is anal sex a sin or not?" As a 22 year-old (very soon to turn 23; yes, I am that young) unmarried and repentant man, I can't personally speak on the matters of sex, nor do I believe it is appropriate for me to do so. But, as a follower of Christ and someone that studies His word, I can speak on the matters of sex as referenced in the Bible. I'll post a separate article on this matter shortly. Thanks for reading and may God bless!