The Generational Gap
The problems [we face today are not] confined to the world “out there.” Often, they manifest themselves most acutely and most painfully within families. Parents teaching their family traditional views of sex find themselves met with incomprehension by their children who have absorbed far different views from the culture around them…The generation gap today is reflected not simply in fashion and music but in attitudes and beliefs about some of the most basic aspects of human existence. (20)
1. Where have you encountered generational conflict in the matter of sex and sexuality?
2. How have you addressed these issues?
3. What underlies them?
The Self and Expressive Individualism
The modern self assumes the authority of inner feelings and sees authenticity as defined by the ability to give social expression to the same. The modern self also assumes that society at large will recognize and affirm this behavior. Such a self is defined by what is called expressive individualism… In short, the modern self is one where authenticity is achieved by acting outwardly in accordance with one’s inward feelings. (22-23)
4. What evidences of expressive individualism do you see in your world today?
5. Are there any movies, television programs, books, or videos that you’ve seen that encourage people to act only in accordance with their feelings?
Study Genesis 1:27 and Colossians 1:16
6. According to these biblical passages, who are we, and why do we exist?
7. What would these verses mean for expressive individualism?
The Sexual Revolution and Sexual Fulfillment
The sexual revolution does not simply represent a growth in the routine transgression of traditional sexual codes or even a modest expansion of the boundaries of what is and is not acceptable sexual behavior. Not at all. Rather, it is the repudiation of the very idea of such codes in their entirety. More than that, it has come in certain areas, such as that of homosexuality and transgenderism, to require the positive repudiation of traditional sexual mores to the point where belief in, or maintenance of, such traditional views has come to be seen as ridiculous and even a sign of serious mental or moral deficiency. And to understand this, we need to see the sexual revolution as a particularly sharp manifestation of the characteristics of expressive individualism. If the individual’s inner identity is defined by sexual desire, then he or she must be allowed to act out on that desire in order to be an authentic person. (25)
8. Where do we see the idea that personal fulfillment necessarily involves sexual fulfillment being promoted or even assumed today?
9. What language or terminology is used by society to discredit those who dissent from the sexual revolution?
Study Genesis 2 and Ephesians 5:22-33
10. According to Scripture, where does our sexuality come from?
11. What is the relationship between a husband and a wife ultimately a picture of?
12. What kind of purpose does this picture give to sexual expression, and how would this purpose be different from what contemporary culture tells us about sex?
Why We Think the Way We Do
Human beings do not typically think about themselves and the world they inhabit in consistently self-conscious terms. Rather, we imagine it to be in certain ways—physically and indeed morally… The way we think about the world is not primarily by way of rational arguments based on first principles. It is much more intuitive than that. And that means that the story of the modern self is not simply the story of big ideas thought by profound thinkers. It is the story of how the way we intuit or imagine the world has come to be. And that involves far more than books and arguments. (27-28)
13. Think of some of your most cherished convictions. Were you persuaded to hold them by argument or by something else?
14. How does your peer group shape the way you think about morality?
Study Proverbs 30:15-19 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
15. How do these Bible passages point to the ways in which human beings think about the world?