Sex and Baptism

I was blessed to have attended the Pepperdine Bible Lectures this year for the first time. For those who have not been to Malibu the picture above will give you a a glimpse of the campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It truly is an awe inspiring location for a university campus. We were doubly blessed to attend the lecture by my daughter, Rachel Pleasant, her husband, Klint Pleasant and Dr. Randy Harris, who is a theologian from Abilene Christian University. Klint and Rachel shared their experience over the past 9 months concerning Rachel's brain surgeries. Their talk was entitled "What to do when your wife has only 30 minutes to live?" Mike Cope wrote about their class on his May 5 blog at: http://www.preachermike.com/

Mike's class was entitled "Sex and Baptism" and was held at the Smothers Theater. I am not sure what the exact seating capacity was (3-400?) but if one did not get there early, people were turned away at the door by the fire marshal. Aside from the catchy title, Mike set forth the clearest explanation of the gospel and how one is to live in the incarnational community that I have ever heard. He started in Genesis and affirmed that God made us as sexual beings and that it was good! But, because of the Fall concessions were made to mankind due to the dehumanization of created beings that haunts us to this day. God's plan from the beginning was for abstinance before marriage and fidelity in marriage. Only when the church lives in deep, open community with one another do these ideals make sense. While external controls are not the answer, they are essential. Community, and God's spirit within us, compels us in love to seek intimacy with the God who made us. I cannot do justice to the lecture; but, the message was powerful and revealing. Even Jesus, as a son, had to learn in his humanity through suffering.