–Originally published on FWB21 August 1, 2011–
Someone was recently telling her friends about a website to which I introduced her that deals with sex-related topics from a Christian perspective. The conversation went something like this:

“It has lots of great information on how to have great Christian… marriages.”

Laughter.

“What?”

“I thought you were going to say great Christian sex.”

More laughter.

I’m sorry, but I still don’t see why this is funny.

Why can’t the terms “Christian” and “great sex” be used together? After all, shouldn’t sex within the bounds God designed be the best sex there is?

Think about it: two people, wholly committed, completely unashamed, selflessly giving of themselves for the pleasure of each other with no guilt, games, or strings attached. Doesn’t that sound great? If we’re walking by the Spirit in our marriages, that’s exactly what we get.

I greatly appreciate ministries like The Marriage Bed and blogs like Hot, Holy, and Humorous. (Follow them on Twitter or Facebook for great marriage-building posts and retweets.) Their posts are edifying and biblical, and they lead to great conversations and great Christian sex. Don’t laugh.

In a culture where sexual awareness comes at an incredibly early age and ungodly ideas about sex are impressed upon the minds of children and teens (and even adults!) through every media form available, I think we would do well to talk more about how great sex is–sex the way God designed it to be. Godly sex can still have the “wow” factor and be just as fun and exciting, but without all the baggage. Where’s the shame in that?

As a little aside, in my chronological Bible reading plan I had to read the whole Song of Songs in one day. Talk about some explicit reading material! It is my understanding that if the original Hebrew were fully spelled out in plain English, it could not be read aloud over the radio in the U.S. for its graphic imagery. The Song celebrates the God-designed pleasures of sexual intimacy!

So why aren’t we Christians more open about how great sex really is and what a gift from God it is for our marriages? Sex by God’s design should be more appealing than what the world has to offer–the holiness of our marriages and the purity of those coming behind us depend on it.