How God Deals With Sexual Sin

I got out of my car surrounded by the lights glowing from multiple Asian restaurants, bakeries, and teahouses. Houston has a few Asian items Idaho lacks. A few minutes later my friend Karen showed up. We had gone to high school together and were meeting up with my wife and I.

She pulled into the blank parking space next to us and got out of her sedan. Karen donned her grey scrubs, her photo ID still hanging from her shirt pocket.

“I thought you got off early and had time to go home,” I asked.

“Well, I had to submit a paper and just carried away. Before you know it I had to meet up with you guys.”

Karen and I became friends in high school. Voted, Most Likely to Succeed, we all knew the trajectory of her life would take her in an ambitious direction. We weren’t wrong. She got a free ride to the college of her choice. Later she went to New York University where she completed an MD/PhD program. In her spare time she ran marathons, completed an IRONMAN and learned to fly a plane. She now was doing a residency program in Houston interested in going into aerospace medicine.

After devouring durian shaved ice, we walked around looking for a restaurant still open. It was already passed 9:00 PM and Karen hadn’t eaten dinner yet. We stopped at a Korean restaurant with solid wooden chairs and glass tabletops. Just a few customers were left. The tired looks on their faces signaled closing time was soon. Yet they welcomed us in and we sat down. The menu offered a dizzying array of options. I’m not a big fan of Kimche, but Karen tells me the Kimche pancake should be good.

After ordering I ask Karen what’s the next big thing she’s been working on.

“I’m writing a book on consent and sexuality for the church.”

Karen doesn’t have any children. She’s not married. I’m not even sure if she’s dating anyone. It’s not the subject I’d guess her to be working on.

“You’ve got an angle that?”

“I do, actually.”

Karen dives in. She has this blend of intensity and brilliance. It reminded me of our high school days. Back then we talked as if we were theologians and philosophers. We would talk at length about abstract ideas of God and faith. Seventeen years later we were picking up where we left off.

She dives into the story of Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Eli was a high priest in Israel. Unfortunately he had two sons up to no good. In fact they were sleeping with multiple women at the church (1 Samuel 2:22-24). Karen takes this further and says that it was actually rape because in a consensual affair both the man and woman were judged (Deuteronomy 22:22-27). The Bible only mentions judgment against the two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

While the story of Samuel is dressed up as a nice story for children to respond to the call of God or parents, it was the failure of Eli to deal with the sexual sins of his sons for why the priesthood went from Eli to Samuel. Eli failed to appropriately administer to justice.

 

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹¹ And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. ¹² At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. ¹³ For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’” (1 Samuel 3)

 

The judgment of God was brought upon Eli because of his failure to deal with sexual sin. I hadn’t seen it before. But apparently this theme comes up on more than one occasion.

• The rape of Dinah – Jacob fails to address this leading to slaughter of all males of a Canaanite tribe
• The rape of Tamar by half-brother Amnon – David’s failure to address this leading to Absalom’s overthrow of David’s kingdom.
• The rape of Bethsheba by David ultimately leading to the dead of his firstborn with Bathsheba.

I asked Karen for why she needed to write a book like this for the church.

“The studies have shown that these types of problems are on par or even higher compared to national statistics,” she responded. https://www.adventistreview.org/2007-1528-8

We said our goodbyes and before I knew it I was back in my office. A patient of mine told me – almost casually – that she was molested at 11 years old. My mind was brought back to my conversation with Karen a few weeks prior.

“I’m curious. Was this in a church setting?”

She paused for a second before answering firmly, “Yes.” My heart sank. Her step father was a deacon in the church and had done a horrible deed. The Pastor of the church, whom she adored, came to her house. She had looked into her eyes and said, “You’re Father is very sorry for what he did.” My patient nodded her 11 year old head. “And now you must be careful never to tell anyone this ever happened.”

Because of her admiration for this pastor she never told anyone for years. She blamed herself for what happened. She continued to be molested. When her step father and mother separated he went on to molest another young girl. Upon learning about this the second time, the pastor took actions against the man removing him from his church position and disfellowshipping him from the church (I’m uncertain whether or not he was turned into the authorities).

The story doesn’t end there. About 30 years later, my patient learns this pastor is in the area. Using her connections she contacts the pastor through an intermediary. At first he doesn’t remember her. She tells the intermediary, “Tell him his son eloped with my step-sister.” Now he remembers her and agrees to meet.

Upon meeting, the Pastor tells her “God must have arranged this to happen. I have been pleading for God to forgive me of my sins. I am so sorry for telling you not to tell anyone about what happened.”

I’m thankful for my patient who had a closure with the Pastor. I’m also thankful for my friend, Karen, and am hoping she follows through on writing a book that will address an issue not often discussed in our church.