What Is Chastity?
Chastity is the form of love that fulfills the seventh commandment. On one hand, chaste people restrain, deny, and mortify the impure passions of their soul and the lustful impulses of indwelling sin. On the other hand, as Christ gave Himself for His people, chaste people give themselves fully, freely, and undividedly to the other. In worship, that is to God; in marriage, that is to their spouse; in other relationships, that is to their brother or sister or neighbor, according to what is proper to each relationship.
In a recent music review, NPR’s Ann Powers gushed over a female artist’s decadent and unrestrained sensuality that apparently runs throughout her latest album. It is not surprising that the recent release was the opposite of chaste, or that Powers celebrated its “utopian eroticism” as a great virtue. Chastity, the virtue of self-control in things sexual and sensual, is supposedly a relic of a puritanical past.
But it’s not that simple, is it? Most of my neighbors still want and expect their spouses to be faithful. They teach their children, with varying degrees of success, not to become sexually active, view pornography, or use vulgar language. So maybe chastity is not as much a relic as pop culture and social media may suggest.
Then again, when was the last time you read a piece by a contemporary author commending the virtue of chastity, or even heard the word used in a positive, non-fetishized way? The loss of chastity—and of commending it as a common virtue—is more tragic than any of us probably realize. That much of the church seems to be silent is sobering too.
Chastity is an exquisitely beautiful form of love. It is love that is genuine, true, undivided in its devotion, and fulfills its vows (see Ps. 51:10; Rom. 12:9; 2 Cor. 11:2; Phil. 1:10). Love that “issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5). Paul writes that this type of love is, “the aim of our charge” and the mark of “sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God” (1 Tim. 1:5, 10–11). It is Christlike love.
The virtue of chastity shines a spotlight on the purity of love. As God is pure, so also are His words, wisdom, and deeds (Pss. 12:6; 19:7–11; Hab. 1:13; James 3:17). Those who represent God in church office, therefore, are to faithfully embody the purity of His love. The evidence of a candidate’s purity of heart and mind is found, among other places, in his faithful and undivided devotion to his wife (1 Tim. 3:2, 12).
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California, LA County to Pay $800k In Settlement With John Macarthur’s Church Over Covid Lockdown Orders
“California has no such power to determine whether churches are ‘essential,’ as the federal and state constitutions have already done so,” argued the lawsuit, in part. “Grace Community Church provides a spiritual service to the Los Angeles community that its congregation and its members rightly believe is essential, and the California State Constitution specifically protects their fundamental rights in this context.”
The state of California and Los Angeles have agreed to pay $800,000 in legal fees to settle their lawsuit with John MacArthur’s church over COVID-19 lockdown rules.
MacArthur’s Grace Community Church of Sun Valley had been involved in months of legal battles with state and local officials over his refusal to adhere to ongoing lockdown restrictions.
Jenna Ellis of the Thomas More Society, who helped to represent the church, posted a statement on Twitter Tuesday celebrating the $800,000 settlement.
“We are very pleased to see Pastor MacArthur and Grace Community Church’s First Amendment protections fully vindicated in this case,” read the statement.
“It has been a hard-fought battle to preserve religious liberty and we hope that this result will encourage Californians, and all Americans, to continue to stand firm that church is essential.”
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to the settlement (its amount being $400,000) due in part to recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that overturned various public health measures in response to COVID-19 that specifically targeted houses of worship.
“After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that some public health safety measures could not apply to houses of worship, resolving this litigation is the responsible and appropriate thing to do,” stated the county’s counsel, as quoted by the Los Angeles Daily News.
“From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Los Angeles County has been committed to protecting the health and safety of its residents. We are grateful to the county’s faith organizations for their continued partnership to keep their congregants and the entire community safe and protected from COVID-19.”
Last August, MacArthur and his church sued California over its ongoing ban on indoor worship services in response to the coronavirus.
Although Grace Community Church had initially adhered to the state lockdown rules, they returned to in-person worships in defiance of the state’s ongoing public health orders.
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When the Walk Becomes a Crawl
We like steady and predictable. It seems to vindicate our efforts at making the Christian life work in a businesslike manner. But, in fact, there’s no formula, no secret, no technique, no program, no schedule, and no truth that guarantees the speed, distance, or time frame. On the day you die, you’ll still be somewhere in the middle. But you will be further along.
I miss the late David Powlison (1949–2019).
I was recently reminded of the section below adapted from his 2017 book, Making All Things New: Restoring Joy to the Sexually Broken. It has stayed with me and encouraged me and instructed me.
The key to getting a long view of sanctification is to understand direction.What matters most is not the distance you’ve covered.It’s not the speed you’re going.It’s not how long you’ve been a Christian.It’s the direction you’re heading…
Some people, during a season of life, leap like gazelles.
Let’s say you’ve been living in flagrant sexual sins. You turn from sin to Christ, and the open sins disappear.
No more fornication: you stop sleeping with your girlfriend or boyfriend.No more exhibitionism: you stop wearing that particularly revealing blouse.No more pornography: you stop surfing the net or reading the latest salacious romances.No more adultery or homosexual encounters: you break it off once and for all. Never again.It sometimes happens like that. Not always, of course, but a gazelle season is a joy to all.
For other people (or the same people at another season of life) sanctification is a steady, measured walk.
You learn truth.You face your fears and step out toward God and people.You learn to serve others constructively.You build new disciplines.You learn basic life wisdom.You learn who God is, who you are, how life works.You learn to worship, to pray, to give time, money, and care.And you grow steadily—wonder of wonders!
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The Consequences of Plagues and Pandemics (Part 2)
Contributing to the rise of unlimited government as a result of the pandemic were the above bailouts. For the first time, the government gave vast amounts of money directly to its citizens, extending the social safety net not just to the disadvantaged but to everyone. Again, maybe this was necessary and a good policy, a compensation to businesses for being shut down and to the public for not being allowed to go to work. I’m just saying that this largesse, justified or not, greatly expanded the role of government, as well as the willingness of citizens to accept that expanded role.
Yesterday we discussed how the Black Plague of the 14th century contributed to the rise of economic and political freedom. Today I want to discuss how the COVID pandemic is contributing to the loss of economic and political freedom.
Again, the Black Death led to a massive labor shortage, which drove up the economic power of individual workers, and to the decimation of the feudal elite, which led to the decentralization of power, with peasants and city-dwellers electing their own leaders.
COVID, which is far less fatal, has also led to a labor shortage and to the consequent rise of wages. But notice the difference. The labor shortage this time is caused not by the death of millions but by people leaving the workforce, either voluntarily or because of government-imposed lockdowns. We now face the additional prospect of the labor shortage getting even worse because of vaccine mandates, either from governments or from private companies, as large numbers of workers in key sectors are vowing to quit their jobs rather than get vaccinated.
But the wage gains from the labor shortage are being cancelled by the surge of inflation. According to the Econ 101 textbook explanation, inflation comes from too much money chasing too few goods. Productivity is down because of the world-wide lockdowns, as well as the labor shortage. But the government has been pouring money into the economy, beginning with $4 trillion-dollar bailouts and continuing with the recently-passed trillion dollar infrastructure bill, with an additional $2 + trillion social infrastructure bill waiting in the wings.Incredibly, President Biden is describing his infrastructure bills as inflation fighters because they will put more money in people’s hands.
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