Why have a seminar about sex?

We have dealt with a lot of cases at IBCD that involve sexual issues.  Some couples who have been married for decades gave up sex years ago.  Wives can be disgusted by their husbands.  Husbands can feel no attraction to their wives.  Newly married couples can have difficulty dealing with their sexual past, and marital intimacy can become a point of intense conflict.  The frequency of sex is a common complaint in marriage counseling.  Pornography is rampant, and in most marriages one or both spouses will have to learn what it means to help their partner in this struggle.  Homosexuality is a temptation that is becoming more and more prevalent in all sorts of situations.  Teenagers are bombarded with these topics.  Singles are battling to stay pure.  The marriage bed is assaulted at every turn.

At IBCD we want to equip Christians to be able to enter into one another’s lives with biblical counsel and gospel encouragement.  Many Christians, however, are not equipped to deal with these difficult issues.  It can be devastating when a person finally opens up and shares that she has a sexual struggle, only to be met with a blank stare and fumbling platitudes.  How many people in our churches secretly battle these issues because they are convinced that no one would understand what they are struggling with?  Our experience at IBCD says that there are a lot of them.  We want believers to be prepared and able to lovingly and wisely help one another – especially with such a delicate and personal topic.

Why have another seminar about sex?

It’s true – there is information about sex nearly everywhere.  Part of the reason we decided to dedicate a seminar to this topic is because we want to do it in a way that fits with our approach to biblical counseling. 

Many Christians are unaware of how much the Bible has to say about the great blessing of sex, the role of sex, and the distortions of sex.  Their view of sex is based far more on what they’ve seen and heard from the media than it is on anything they’ve gleaned from the Scriptures. We want to present what the Bible has to say about sex and sexual issues. 

But we don’t just want to quote a bunch of verses about sex.  We want to explore this topic through the lens of the gospel.  Christ’s life, death and resurrection have radical implications on how we view our past sexual sins and our present struggles.  The narrative of creation, fall, and redemption helps us think through the ways in which this blessing has become an idol, and how God has worked in us to experience sex as the blessing he intended.   The life-changing forgiveness and grace poured out on us in the gospel helps us not only deal with the guilt over past failures and struggles, but also provides us with an ability to see our sexuality as a way in which we can demonstrate grace and love to our spouse, as well as receive it.  We want to explore how drinking deeply of the satisfying love of Christ enables true change to occur in even the most personal of sins.

We also want to present all of this in a way that is appropriate for all audiences.  A seminar on sexual issues demands  great sensitivity. Our goal is to present topics in a way that is clear, accurate, and helpful, but does not cause people to struggle more than they already do or lead to temptation with impure thoughts.  The biblical record is very clear, but it is also very selective on details – it instructs us on what we need to know, but it does not glorify or entice with its imagery.  We hope to model the same approach in this seminar.  

Interested?

Are you interested in attending the Spring Seminar?  Do you want to promote it at your church?  Click here for all of the information.