Pastor Marc Bertrand

"Is it wrong for a Christian to have a sexual fantasy?" A fantasy is an act or event created in the imagination; in most cases the imagined act is impossible or improbable. A sexual fantasy creates a sexual act or event in the imagination. Depending upon the nature of the fantasy and the imagined players in it, a sexual fantasy can be a sin. Any imagined scenario that is inappropriate for moral, ethical, or spiritual reasons is sinful. Imagination is a gift from God, and fantasy is part of the human psyche. We fantasize often without even realizing it. Fantasies can range from imagining that we hit all green lights on the way to work and arrived early, to conjuring up vile and physically impossible acts. Fantasies are usually spawned from our personal reality and are attempts to create a reality we prefer rather than the one that exists. Some people become so wrapped up in their fantasy life that they disconnect from reality and real relationships. Some int...

How young Christians Should Talk About Sex. I'm starting to feel like an old man. I shook my head at a lot of the MTV Music Awards and at Beyonce's performance for the 2013 Super Bowl halftime show. I went out for a walk with friends on my birthday, and we talked for an hour about how to protect our sons and daughters from our pernicious sexual culture. And then I read a report in Rolling Stone about the sexual norms among "young people" in America, and my eyes nearly popped out. Maybe you're like me—old enough to feel some combination of bewilderment, shock, and sadness about the state of sex in America. The Rolling Stone piece, "Tales from the Millennials' Sexual Revolution," begins like this: "By the end of their dinner at a small Italian restaurant in New York's West Village, Leah is getting antsy to part ways with her boyfriend Ryan, so that she can go meet up with her boyfriend Jim." Wait, what? Yes—you got it, ...

1 Corinthians 6:16-18 (NIRV) 16 When you join yourself to a prostitute, you become one with her in body. Don’t you know this? Scripture says, “The two will become one.” (Genesis 2:24) 17 But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one with him in spirit. 18 Keep far away from sexual sins. All the other sins a person commits are outside the body. But sexual sins are sins against their own body.

"Why is 'You shall not commit adultery' in the Ten Commandments?" Before we can answer this question, we need to be clear on the definition of adultery. The dictionary defines “adultery” as “voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse.” The Bible would concur with this definition. In Leviticus 18:20, God told Moses, “Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her,” and in Deuteronomy 22:22, we find a similar definition: “If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die.” It is clear from these definitions that adultery refers to a consensual sexual union. What is not explicitly clear is whether or not both partners in this illicit sexual union are married. The biblical commands prohibit a man from taking another man’s wife, but do not indicate whether or not the man is also married. Be that as it may, it is ...

The power of sexual temptation. The sight of a beautiful woman has special power to hold men captive. The atmosphere changes when a lady enters a room full of men. This will always be the case and it’s not entirely wrong. God designed a natural attraction between the sexes. It exists among all humans and is arguably essential to our survival. Yet what is natural easily becomes perverted in the hearts and minds of fallen people. Attraction becomes lust and people get hurt. Exhibit one – Enter one of the saddest moments in Israel’s history. “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her” (II Samuel 11:2-3a). There are many temptations in the world but few hold as much sway over a man’s heart as the sight of a beautiful woman. All the enemies of Israel could not combine to control David’s life like what he s...

The Real Root of Sexual Sin. The most powerful weapon against sexual impurity is humility. Patterns of sinful thought and behavior are fruits of a deeper root. If we want to stop bearing bad fruit, we must aim our primary attack against the root. And the root of sexual sin is not our sex drive; it’s pride. We live in an age dominated by Darwinian explanations of biology and psychology. So we easily absorb certain naturalistic assumptions. One such assumption is that our sexual drives and impulses are remnants of our primordial, bestial ancestors, and therefore we deal with them with cages of external personal and social restraints. This is a very conflicted perspective. It views us as both victims and monsters. On one hand, we’re victims of our ancient past, and on the other hand, we’re sexual monsters if we express our primal impulses in ways not sanctioned by the prevailing level of social tolerance. It’s also a wholly inadequate explanation in view ...