Natural Law

Sexual and Gender Confusion Part 2: Natural Law

24 October 2021

Bear Swamp Baptist Church

How Do We Discern the Truth?

Some things that do NOT determine truth.

Our feelings

People lose their livelihood going to Vegas on a feeling.

People get married on a feeling.

Experts

Flat earth

Bloodletting

People we know who are “good people”

BTK Killer was a “good person”

Culture

Cannibalism

Transition: We have access to some tried and true ways to discern the truth.

The clarity of natural law.

Natural law refers to the law written on the heart of every man (Romans 1:21; 2:15 ).

Natural Law is built on the idea that God is the Creator, the Great Designer. As the Designer, He has designed everything to achieve a purpose.

This idea includes our bodies and, as our series assumes, sex and gender.

Definition: What is natural law? Simply put, “the rule...which God has prescribed for our conduct, is found in our nature itself. Those actions which conform with its tendencies, lead to our destined end, and are thereby constituted right and morally good; those at variance with our nature are wrong and immoral” (The Catholic Encyclopedia).

A parable:  a typical family Thanksgiving, where the whole family has gathered at grandma and grandpa’s house. They’ve just finished a memorable feast of turkey, with all the fixings, followed, naturally, by pie. Everyone is stuffed to the gills. And yet, fifteen minutes after dinner, and to the surprise of everyone, their grandmother offers everyone a second meal. “We couldn’t eat another bite!” some say, yet in response, their grandfather, with a glint in his eye, grabs a bucket, sticks a feather down his throat, and proceeds to vomit out his dinner, horrifying the family. With a swish of mouthwash, and a quick wipe of his face, he sets the bucket on the table, looks around at his stunned family and says, “Alright, who’s next?”, then grabs another plate of food and sits down in front of the TV, acting as if he had just done the most natural thing in the world.

Purging is unnatural because, no matter how much pleasure eating brings, the main purpose of eating is to provide nutrition.

The ought we derive from the is.

Examples

Nourishing our bodies is right and good; gluttony is immoral and wrong.

Self-preservation is moral and good; cowardice is immoral and wrong.

Eyesight is good and using your eyes to get around is right; using your eyes to devour immoral images is wrong and wicked.

The lungs. “Suppose a young man is more interested in using his lungs to get high by sniffing glue. What would you think of me if I said, ‘That’s interesting--I guess the purpose of my lungs is to oxygenate my blood, but the purpose of his lungs is to get high?’ You’d think me a fool, and rightly so. The purpose of the lungs is built into the design of the lungs. He doesn’t change that purpose by sniffing glue; he only violates it” (J. Judziszewski, “The Natural Laws of Sex, https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=18-06-022-f).

So how do the principles of ought/is help us in the realm of sex and gender?

Are our bodies sexual features designed? And if they do have design, what is the purpose of that design? What is the “is?”

Our gender and sexual organs do have a design function: procreation.

Objection: “Pleasure is the design function! Therefore, whatever brings me pleasure fulfills the design.”

Answer: Pleasure is a secondary design function that motivates us to fulfill the primary design.

Illustrative reminders

Eating for sustenance/nutrition vs for taste.

Breathing for oxygenation vs for smelling.

Reproduction is the primary purpose of sex and marriage (Genesis 1:26, Creation Mandate)

Implications

Implication #1: Don’t have sex until you’re ready to have children.

Pleasure is a secondary purpose which should motivate us to pursue sex within the God-designed boundary (marriage).

God gave us marriage as a way to bring children into a loving, stable environment while enjoying the pleasures of sexuality.

When we prioritize the secondary design (pleasure), then we begin to distort sex into something it was never designed to accomplish.

Here’s what I mean: for many people, sex is what gives them not only pleasure but purpose. Chasing a relationship, “needing a man/woman,” etc.

This is why homosexuality and gender confusion can never honor God. There is no procreative possibility in a male/male union or female/female union. This sexual expression dishonors God by idolizing the secondary, pleasure function over the primary, procreative function.

Implication #2: God’s rules surrounding sex are to keep us directed towards the primary design.

God knows that we are prone to idolize pleasure, so He gives us commands.

The commands also come with consequences.

This doesn’t make God a big meanie. He wants His creation to fulfill the mandate He gave them -- “be fruitful and multiply” in a way that is good for you and society.

By the way, this is true for all of God’s commands. They all lead back to God’s good design for us.

Conclusion/Invitation

Believe the Gospel

Objections

Design is in the eye of the beholder

Is does not imply ought