In 2012, Christopher Ash presented at a CCL Open Night on the topic of God, sex and marriage.
His biblical understanding and wisdom, combined with his clarity and winsome manner, ensure that this talk continues to be relevant and informative four years on. Ash provides us with an astute articulation of how Christians are viewed in the current marriage debate and highlights that this is an extraordinary change from society’s opinion on Christian sexual ethics in the middle of the 20th century. The lecture aims to help us understand, as ordinary Christians, how we should participate in and respond to the current marriage conversation by addressing the following seven suggestions:
1. Christian people ought to expect to be marginalised
2. Christian people need to be realistic about prejudice
3. Marriage is a creation ordinance
4. Men & women have consciences, even without Bibles
5. The purpose of marriage
6. The definition of marriage
7. As Christians, we want always to leave room for the grace of God.
Ash speaks on this topic with pastoral gentleness, yet remains unwavering in his conviction that God’s ways are best for all people. He encourages us to commend God’s definition and purpose for marriage as good for our society (as experience shows) rather than ‘shrilly’ defending it, as if society’s attempt to redefine marriage can actually destroy it.
Here is a brief taste of this lecture, but we hope that you’ll listen to the full version concerning this contemporary ethical conversation.
