There has been a lot said over the years about “accountability partners.” Perhaps one of the most common questions asked by married men about this relationship is, “Should my wife be my accountability partner?” To answer the question regarding who should be your accountability partner, let’s start by going over a few general words of caution and direction.
Psalm 51:10
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
The American Church has gotten the issue of sexual purity backwards. The idea is presented to youth groups across the country that it is utterly crucial for them to “remain pure.” When they are virgins, they have their purity. If they have premarital sex, however, they will lose their purity.
True Sexual Purity Is Given By Jesus Christ Alone
While there are certainly worse things you could tell a teenager, this logic simply does not translate to our spiritual reality explained in the Bible. We most certainly should teach abstinence, but the motivation behind abstinence is often neglected.
Does the Bible say being gay is a choice? All sin is a choice. Therefore, one way to answer “Does the Bible say being gay is a choice?” is to decide if being gay is a sin according to the Bible.
Key Bible Verses Proving Masturbation Is a Sin According to Scripture:
5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. . . 8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. – 1 Corinthians 7:5, 8-9
Well this is awkward . . . but thousands of Christians are asking questions about masturbation. So here is a blunt, specific, and direct article about how the Bible addresses issues like masturbation. Here we go!
But women will be saved through childbearing–if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.-1 Timothy 2:15
The meaning of 1 Timothy 2:15, particularly the phrase, “women will be saved through childbearing” is a notoriously difficult passage to interpret. Therefore this post is more technical and a bit longer, for as C.S. Lewis said about Christian reality, “So let us leave behind all these boys’ philosophies–these overly simple answers. The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either.”
When you read the above passage, it feels at first that women should all resemble Mennonites or Amish women if they want to remain true to Scripture. No jeans, makeup, nice clothes, attention to your hairstyle.
No normal women (or man!) likes this idea. Women don’t want to be “plain Jane” and men don’t want women to look like they just rolled out of bed. Internally, when passages are read like the one above, Christians either pass it off as “one of those outdated parts of Scripture” and go on wearing what they want, or they just ignore 1 Timothy 2:9-10 and feel guilty about it.
Perhaps there’s a better way.
What is the greatest temptation and danger for an unmarried Christian? And how do single Christians avoid this danger?
In a day and age where we are told as children that we can be whatever we want if we just try our hardest, to be told God has ordained men to be the spiritual leaders, not women, in the home and church is seen as a crime.
Regardless, the Bible makes clear that Christian men and women are equal and yet are to play different roles in their homes and churches, which is theologically described as complementarianism.
Most Christians believe it is sin to have premarital sex, but what about living with someone of the opposite sex before marriage? Many people are strapped financially, so it just makes life easier if they can split the bills with the person they are dating or engaged to. And if they know they are going to get married anyway, what’s the harm in cohabitation before marriage, especially if they are not having sex?
