You can't handle the truth!

The truth is we are all sinners. That is what most people can't handle. There was a time when that was an accepted fact, nobody questioned it, and laws and standards were set up based on that doctrine. Somewhere along the line, somebody decided that we as a people had attained a higher level and were better than our ancestors, no longer needing to classify ourselves as sinners. It was harmful to our psyche and damaging to our spirits. The struggles that bound our predecessors had no hold on us, we could control our flesh and desires and passions without restrictions because we are basically good; if someone does wrong, well, they are the exception not the rule. Christians, beware. Yes, we have been saved from sin, but we can still suffer its consequences; if we play with fire we will still get burned - if we play around with sin, it will leave its scars.
Having said all that, how does it apply to this week's question? The church at Corinth had written to Paul, requesting some counsel in the area of relationships between men and women in the church. What was his response? As Pastor Burke previously quoted, It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Why? Continue on to verse two of the same chapter:

"Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband."

That's a pretty good reason. He had just finished the previous chapter with an argument that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, that we are not our own, that we were bought with a price. This was written to the adult members of the congregation; it is safe to draw a logical conclusion that it applied to the young people as well. It is hard to glorify God in our bodies and spirits when we have given them over to the lusts and desires of our flesh. It goes back to the simple principle given earlier by Pastor Burke of learning to say no. Our modern society does not like that. A young lady from our church who works at a local daycare recently told me that, as an employee in that daycare, they were not allowed to use negative terms, like no, with the children. I'm all for being positive and encouraging, but without negative positive doesn't exist. I want to be as encouraging as I can, but we must also discourage bad or destructive behavior. In God's Word we find this practice over and over. He gives us both positive and negative alternatives. What is truth? We are sinners and left to ourselves, we will self-destruct. But thank God for Jesus Christ who can deliver us from this body of sin and death. Romans 7:24-25.