For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly. – Proverbs 5:23

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 29, 2013): Proverbs 5

The book “God and Boobs” was released earlier this month by Angie Schuller Wyatt, the granddaughter of Robert Schuller - the founder of the Crystal Cathedral. The book explores the collision between faith and sexuality and it is already drawing criticism. Christian book publishers passed on the book despite the Christian nature of the book, the pedigree behind the name and the best sellers that have already been written by various family members – resulting in Schuller Wyatt being forced to publish the book herself. Christian book distributors are even hesitant in selling the book. Even some of the family members are struggling with the decision. CNBC reports that Schuller Wyatt had been scheduled to speak on the Hour of Power, the family’s trademark religious program, but she was cancelled through an email from an unnamed church executive with absolutely no explanation for the reaction. Her father, however, is in full support of the book. He is quoted as saying, "Angie has tackled a subject that is taboo in Christian circles. She answers the question, 'how do women balance faith and sexuality in a real and authentic manner.’ I am disappointed that the religious establishment is not embracing her message."

In the book, Schuller Wyatt refers to a conversation that she had had with her brother over the subject of what women wear. In her opinion the church has too often relied on the “cleavage police” to curb inappropriate sexual activity. She remembers her brother commenting that “if a man is going to lust, he’s going to lust. You could put a girl in a potato sack and he’d still become aroused. It’s our own conscience that must resolve the questions of sexual expression and attire.” It seems that the author of Proverbs would agree. Proverbs 5 is the advice of a father to a son against the evils of adultery. But in the closing verse father puts the blame where it belongs. The NIV’s gender neutral language is a little unfortunate here. Clearly the rendering in the whole passage is advice to the son about a man’s responsibility in relationships. And in the closing verse as the father is speaking of a lack of discipline, it is the man and not the woman about whom he is speaking. The message that the father wants his son to understand is that he is responsible for his own sexual discipline, and the folly that he may fall into is only of his own making.

Schuller Wyatt’s book writes against the religious bullying that seems to want to make adultery the fault of the woman. It is something that the Bible never attempts to do. Each of us has always been responsible for our own sexual purity. It is a responsibility from which we have never been excused.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 6