Sensuality and Spirituality It seems odd that sensuality and spirituality are often confused, since they are opposites. However, if Satan can disguise himself as angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), it is not really too much to think that sensuality could masquerade as spirituality. So, how does this mistake happen? First, sensuality in the form of sexuality was a common religious expression in the pagan world. Indeed, it was one of the great attractions of idolatry that it encouraged or accommodated sexual immorality. In the episode of Judah unknowingly impregnating his daughter-in-law, the words for “harlot” ( zanah ) and “temple prostitute” ( qadesh ) are used interchangeably (Gen. 38:15,21). Also, Israel’s idolatry is often described as “playing the harlot.” This has a two-fold meaning. Not only is it a metaphorical reference to Jehovah as a husband against whom his wife, Israel, commits adultery by worshipping false gods (cf. Hos. 1:2), but doing so literally involved the Israelites sexually with the devotees of these false gods (Num. 25:1-9; 1 Cor. 10:8). Immorality was often used to serve pagan religion. The Bible made immorality truly immoral. Yet, pagan religion had an even more broadly sensual appeal. For instance, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, the Israelites were worshipping a golden calf (Ex. 32). It is a measure of the sensual appeal of idolatry that the text says “… the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (vs. 6). Idolatry often involved the satisfaction of the fleshly appetite (cf. Num. 25:2; 1 Cor. 8:10). In short, idolatry was fun! Idolatry stimulated the physical senses. It gave its worshippers an object of worship which they could see and feel, in contrast to the Israelite worship of an invisible God. Thus, Jehovah had to warn the Israelites not to be so frustrated by the fact that they saw no “form” at Mount Sinai that they were tempted to make images (Deut. 4:15,16). Pagan worship could be a revelrous affair, with raucous singing, instrumental music, dancing, and drinking. It says much about the sensual nature of idol-worship that, when Joshua said the noise coming from Israel’s camp was “the sound of war,” Moses identified it as the “sound of singing” (Ex. 32:17,18). They found the Israelites dancing and “out of control” (Ex. 32:17-19,25). Elijah’s simple, sedate prayer on Mount Carmel contrasts starkly with the crying, leaping, and raving of Baal and the Asherah’s false prophets about their altar (1 Kgs. 18:25-29). Worship under the Law of Moses permitted no carnality like that found in pagan worship, but it did allow more physicality (cf. Heb. 9:10). It had feast days, and animal sacrifices were eaten by worshippers (Deut. 12:27). It also had dancing and instrumental music (Psa. 150:4). Perhaps such worship never got more physical than it did when David brought up the ark with shouting, trumpets, and himself “dancing before the Lord with all his might” (2 Sam. 6:12-23). Yet, New Testament worship is dramatically different. It is the kind of simple, decent, and orderly worship which allows for the cultivation of the spirit (1 Cor. 14:40). In it there is nothing which fosters, and caters to, sensuality. There are no eating (1 Cor. 11:34), instrumental music (Eph. 5:18,19), dancing, or sexual expressions designed to satisfy the flesh. The carnal-minded find it boring and seek sensual stimulations which pass themselves off as heightened spiritual experiences. They are simply recapitulating the ancient carnal approaches they should reject for truly spiritual worship in Christ. They foolishly deceive themselves by misidentifying artificially-induced and momentary feelings of sensuality as “spirituality,” though they are nothing more than poor, delusional mimicry and mockery of it.
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Jn. 4:23,24, NASB)
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Sensuality and Spirituality It seems odd that sensuality and spirituality are often confused, since they are opposites. However, if Satan can disguise himself as angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), it is not really too much to think that sensuality could masquerade as spirituality. So, how does this mistake happen? First, sensuality in the form of sexuality was a common religious expression in the pagan world. Indeed, it was one of the great attractions of idolatry that it encouraged or accommodated sexual immorality. In the episode of Judah unknowingly impregnating his daughter-in-law, the words for “harlot” ( zanah ) and “temple prostitute” ( qadesh ) are used interchangeably (Gen. 38:15,21). Also, Israel’s idolatry is often described as “playing the harlot.” This has a two-fold meaning. Not only is it a metaphorical reference to Jehovah as a husband against whom his wife, Israel, commits adultery by worshipping false gods (cf. Hos. 1:2), but doing so literally involved the Israelites sexually with the devotees of these false gods (Num. 25:1-9; 1 Cor. 10:8). Immorality was often used to serve pagan religion. The Bible made immorality truly immoral. Yet, pagan religion had an even more broadly sensual appeal. For instance, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, the Israelites were worshipping a golden calf (Ex. 32). It is a measure of the sensual appeal of idolatry that the text says “… the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (vs. 6). Idolatry often involved the satisfaction of the fleshly appetite (cf. Num. 25:2; 1 Cor. 8:10). In short, idolatry was fun! Idolatry stimulated the physical senses. It gave its worshippers an object of worship which they could see and feel, in contrast to the Israelite worship of an invisible God. Thus, Jehovah had to warn the Israelites not to be so frustrated by the fact that they saw no “form” at Mount Sinai that they were tempted to make images (Deut. 4:15,16). Pagan worship could be a revelrous affair, with raucous singing, instrumental music, dancing, and drinking. It says much about the sensual nature of idol-worship that, when Joshua said the noise coming from Israel’s camp was “the sound of war,” Moses identified it as the “sound of singing” (Ex. 32:17,18). They found the Israelites dancing and “out of control” (Ex. 32:17-19,25). Elijah’s simple, sedate prayer on Mount Carmel contrasts starkly with the crying, leaping, and raving of Baal and the Asherah’s false prophets about their altar (1 Kgs. 18:25-29). Worship under the Law of Moses permitted no carnality like that found in pagan worship, but it did allow more physicality (cf. Heb. 9:10). It had feast days, and animal sacrifices were eaten by worshippers (Deut. 12:27). It also had dancing and instrumental music (Psa. 150:4). Perhaps such worship never got more physical than it did when David brought up the ark with shouting, trumpets, and himself “dancing before the Lord with all his might” (2 Sam. 6:12-23). Yet, New Testament worship is dramatically different. It is the kind of simple, decent, and orderly worship which allows for the cultivation of the spirit (1 Cor. 14:40). In it there is nothing which fosters, and caters to, sensuality. There are no eating (1 Cor. 11:34), instrumental music (Eph. 5:18,19), dancing, or sexual expressions designed to satisfy the flesh. The carnal-minded find it boring and seek sensual stimulations which pass themselves off as heightened spiritual experiences. They are simply recapitulating the ancient carnal approaches they should reject for truly spiritual worship in Christ. They foolishly deceive themselves by misidentifying artificially-induced and momentary feelings of sensuality as “spirituality,” though they are nothing more than poor, delusional mimicry and mockery of it.
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Jn. 4:23,24, NASB)
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