Contaminating Christianity
with Pagan Asceticism

Jesus performed His first public miracle at a wedding feast. Why a wedding of all things? In order to answer that question we may have to step out of our comfort zone and challenge some deeply held assumptions that we have been culturally conditioned with. Let’s challenge our hard-set mental bias that separates the obvious from the obscure, the visible from the invisible. Let’s pull back the curtain separating the carnal from the spiritual. Let’s try to see things from God’s perspective.

Picture the scene. Jesus was the Creator of the universe coming down to this planet in open rebellion against the societal structure He had originally designed. He wanted to show lusting, hurting, confused humanity the way of true satisfaction and happiness. He wanted to express how much He values us, how much He loves us, so the all-wise providential hand of God arranged for Him to bless a marriage celebration as His first public demonstration of miracle working power. He said,

“I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”“The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. . . . I and [my] Father are one.”(John 8:28b-29; 10:25b, 30)

Clearly, the providential hand of the Father guided Jesus to bless a wedding between one man and one woman as a public demonstration of the structure He approves for the human family. It was a thoughtful display of tender care for His estranged children during our trouble-filled sojourn in this twisted upside-down world.

This was no attempt to establish dictatorial dominance of man over woman. It was an act designed to bless them both and unite them in a deep mystery of intimate union with only one other specially matched human being. He magnetized the opposite sexes toward one another. The two attract like powerful magnets when properly oriented toward one another.

Have you been conditioned to believe that God has a problem with human sexuality expressed tenderly and exclusively within the confines of marriage between one man and one woman? Think again — He dreamed up the whole concept and then made it a reality! God invented sex!

God inspired sizzling-hot descriptions of emotional, sensual lovemaking and had it placed it in the Bible so that you can know for sure what His true attitude is on this absorbing enchanting subject. You are about to be wrapped up with the passionate honey-dripping words that passed back and forth between two married lovers as they expressed their rapturously intoxicating feelings of love to one another nearly 3,000 years ago. Their ecstatic experience is not relegated to the distant past, it is timeless. Read it as present reality. The lovers are absolutely enchanted and enthralled with one another. Everything else is completely obscured from their thoughts and feelings. They are mesmerized with one another.

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. . . . A bundle of myrrh [is] my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.”

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me [was] love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I [am] [overwhelmed with powerful feelings]of love. His left hand [is] under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. . . . My beloved [is] mine, and I [am] his: he feedeth among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.”

“By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth:”

“Behold, thou [art] fair, my love; behold, thou [art] fair; thou [hast] doves' eyes within thy locks. . . . Thy lips [are] like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech [is] comely: thy temples [are] like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks. Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

“Thou [art] all fair, my love; [there is] no spot in thee. How fair is thy love, my sister, [my] spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Thy lips, O [my] spouse, drop [as] the honeycomb: honey and milk [are] under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments [is] like the smell of Lebanon.

“A garden enclosed [is] my sister, [my] spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants [are] an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, [that] the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.”

“My beloved put in his hand by the hole [of the door], and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped [with] myrrh, and my fingers [with] sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved. . . . His cheeks [are] as a bed of spices, [as] sweet flowers: his lips [like] lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands [are as] gold rings set with the beryl: his belly [is as] bright ivory overlaid [with] sapphires. His legs [are as] pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance [is] as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth [is] most sweet: yea, he [is] altogether lovely. This [is] my beloved, and this [is] my friend”

“I [am] my beloved's, and my beloved [is] mine: he feedeth among the lilies. “Thou [art] beautiful, O my love”

“Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes [that are] twins. . . . How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! . . .” “I [am] my beloved's, and his desire [is] toward me.”

“His left hand [should be] under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. . . . Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love [is] strong as death; jealousy [is] cruel as the grave: the coals thereof [are] coals of fire, [which hath a] most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if [a] man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. . . . I [am] a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. . . . Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.”(Song of Songs 1:2a, 13; 2:4-6, 16-17; 3:1a; 4:1a, 3a, 5-7, 10-16; 5:4-6, 13-16; 6:3-4a; 7:3, 6, 10; 8:3, 6-7, 10, 14; Unbold Bracketed text added)

The thrilling dialogue-dance you have just swayed to and bathed yourself in is also, in a certain sense, a description of the non-sexual relationship God wants with you. I said NON-SEXUAL! This sexual description of human love between husband and wife allegorizes the powerful attraction that God has for the humans He made in His own image. And it is a vivid symbol of the kind of powerful feelings that you are capable of developing for God as your relationship with Him grows and matures into a full-blown passion of the deepest magnitude.

In fact, the only way the powerful love between husband and wife can be kept pure and in proper position is if the relationship with God is kept preeminent, even more valued than the marital pleasures. The first commandment of the Decalogue establishes this most foundational of all principles. Sadly, I must confess that it took me many, many years and many, many tears to learn and accept this most basic of all life principles. But gladly, I now freely confess that I wouldn’t have it any other way! If I never experience sensual love again for all eternity, I’m sure that God is fully capable of making it up to me in His own limitless ability to satisfy the deepest longings and needs of my whole being. Do you know God?

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32)

When Jesus blessed the marriage feast in the little town of Cana 2,000 years ago, He inaugurated His effort to bring us back in line with His way of thinking. Jesus began His re-education of the human family right where He began the original education.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . . So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion. . . . And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good.”(Genesis 1:26a-28a, 31a)

“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”(Genesis 2:21-25)

This was no new idea for Jesus. He, in His pre-incarnate existence, as one with the Father was the visible hands-on agent at the original creation. It was His artistic hands that ingeniously molded the magnificent muscular man and the gorgeous curvaceous woman in Eden. He bent lovingly over the dormant biological bodies He had fashioned and His life-giving mouth descended toward theirs as He joyfully breathed vitality and individual personality into them.

“And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. . . . He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”(John 1:1-3, 11a, 13

The following is an Old Testament allegorical description of the ecstatic bond and closeness that the Father and Son enjoyed together during the act of creating this world and the human family. The Incarnate Christ is symbolized as Wisdom personified.

“The Lordpossessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When [there were] no depths I was brought forth, When [there were] no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was brought forth; While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, Or the primeval dust of the world. 

“When He prepared the heavens, I [was] there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, When He established the clouds above, When He strengthened the fountains of the deep, When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him [as] a master craftsman; And I was daily [His] delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight [was] with the sons of men. 

“Now therefore, listen to me, [my] children, For blessed [are those who] keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain [it.]  Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord; But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; All those who hate me love death." (Proverbs 8:22-36 NKJV)

What a tender and joyful relationship the Father and Son have shared from all eternity past. They earnestly desire to share a wonderful simile of that closeness with you as though you were the only other person in the entire universe. Your every act, every word, every thought, is as distinctly marked by God as though you were only one person in the whole world, and all His attention were centered upon you.

So Jesus performed the first marriage at creation; then blessed the marriage between the honored but nameless man and woman in that little town of Cana 2,000 years ago. He was saying to the human race that He blesses and honors marriage when it is entered into on His original terms. Marriage is one of the sacred twin institutions to come out of Eden. He made that wedding in Cana an extra-special joyous event for the bride and groom.

Not only did Jesus honor the marriage institution but He also created the best-unfermented wine anyone had ever tasted. We know that the wine was unfermented because Jesus knew that if He corrupted it with fermentation the alcohol would make some of the feast goers tipsy and some no-doubt would end up getting drunk, losing a degree of their God-given reason and moral rectitude. God tempts no person to sin and would not place temptation to sin in anyone’s path. He is our example.

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”(James 1:13)

“And they gave him[Jesus, suffering on the cross] to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received [it] not.”(Mark 15:23 Bracketed text added)

The Bible is very clear that God disapproves of drinking alcoholic beverages except as a “battlefield” medicine or painkiller in extreme situations. And even then, it’s not forcefully commanded, but permitted. Those who fail to follow this principle often end up breaking the sacred vows of holy matrimony in a moment of inebriation and moral weakness brought on by the mind-numbing effects of the alcohol. One drink leads to another and before long the tipsy person ends up performing a shameful act, they would never have considered had they carefully guarded their brain from anything that would lesson its ability to make wise moral choices. Hearts are broken and families ruined. Jesus would never place such a temptation in any man or woman’s path.

“Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” (Proverbs 20:1)

“For a whore [is] a deep ditch; and a strange woman [is] a narrow pit. She also lieth in wait as [for] a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, [when] it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, [shalt thou say, and] I was not sick; they have beaten me, [and] I felt [it] not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.”(Proverbs 23:27-35)

“Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, [and] lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.”(Genesis 19:32-36)

If these principles are a shock to you or if you find yourself somewhat incredulous at what you are reading I submit unapologetically that you are far from understanding the mind of God in this matter. You are in desperate need of the message contained in this Bible guide. I write to you as a friend.

“Open rebuke [is] better than secret love. Faithful [are] the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy [are] deceitful.”(Proverbs 27:5-6)

“Get wisdom, get understanding: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let [her] not go: keep her; for she [is] thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil [men]. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.”(Proverbs 4:5-15)

“How much better [is it] to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!”(Proverbs 16:16)

“But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble [in] judgment.”(Isaiah 28:7)

“He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both [are] abomination to the LORD. Wherefore [is there] a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing [he hath] no heart [to it]?”(Proverbs 17:15-16)

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”(James 4:10)

In Scripture God presents alcoholic beverage as a symbol of moral compromise and corruption especially in religious matters. Some of the strongest language in the Bible is found in the book of Revelation describing the apostasy of God’s professed people in the last days. He uses fermented wine as the primary symbol of the corruption in the churches.

“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”(Revelation 17:1-5)

“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”(Revelation 18:1-5)

I don’t know the history of your life. Maybe you are not a drinker — I mean literally NOT A DRINKER. Many people have the idea that drinking in so-called moderation means that they are not a drinker. Well, sorry, but if you drink alcohol at all, you are a drinker.

Maybe you have perfect self-control and have never had more than a half cigarette and half a glass of wine every evening as a daily ritual. I had a German stepmother who took great pride in her ability to be just that controlled and “temperate.” But the very existence and social acceptability of the wine places temptation in the path of many others not so rigidly controlled. It takes all kinds of people to make a world and God does not tailor make different laws for different personality types — His Moral Law is universal.

If you are of a more sensual nature, perhaps you have fallen into some of he grosser sins that might still be looked upon with some disdain even in this age of in-your-face gross immorality and debauchery. If that is the case, do not despair. There is a way out for you. You can hope in God and find full and free forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ. You can be completely freed from the shackles of alcohol, tobacco, inordinate sexual addiction and any other vice. You can be washed and made clean and pure once again in the eyes of our very holy God and Father. You can be reunited with Him in prefect love and acceptance.

“His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” (Proverbs 22-23)

“He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”(1^stCorinthians 6:9-11)

“Be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”(2^ndCorinthians 6:17b-18)

Okay, now let’s turn the corner, shift gears and drive down another equally important road of truth. Let’s discuss the subject of asceticism. Asceticism is the practice of disdaining or denying natural bodily appetites and emotions. Asceticism often denies and even denigrates the sacred institution of marriage. This unbiblical philosophy is pervasive in the teachings of confused theologians ranging from Athenagorus in the late second-century through Augustine in the fourth-century.

People practicing asceticism might even at times deny themselves the innocent and healthful enjoyment of something as simple and basic as fresh unfermented wine (grape juice) all in the name of personal purification and purging sin out of the flesh. How absurd, and how completely hostile to the message of Scripture.

“Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that [is] thy portion in [this] life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do [it] with thy might; for [there is] no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”(Ecclesiastes 9:7-10)

“They shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.”(Amos 9:14)

“Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.”(1^stTimothy 5:23)

The healthful ingredients in fermented wine are already in the fresh wine (grape juice) before it is corrupted with fermentation. So the notion that it is necessary to drink fermented wine for health purposes is spurious. Fresh grape juice will accomplish the same good without adding harm. Wine is vino — juice from the fruit of the vine!

Please note that the Bible teaching of temperance (reasonable moderation) is not to be confused with asceticism (extreme deprivation). Asceticism is a fanatical denial of normal, God-given, sensual pleasures and often goes so far as to deny oneself of necessary bodily care. It is an affront to God’s institution of marriage and therefore destructive to the family. Asceticism is not taught anywhere in either the Old or New Testament, but is wholly a creation of Pagan philosophy. Therefore, it has no place in reality-based Christian teachings and lifestyle.

The Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and many other religious subcultures within the professed Christian community endorse ascetic lifestyle practices to one degree or another. In this, they link themselves with some Muslim practices and with Buddhism and many other pagan religions. Asceticism did not originate from the teachings of God but rather from superstitious pagans.

According to the Greek philosopher Socrates, “No one may join the company of the gods who . . . is not completely pure when he departs from life.”¹ Socrates claimed that the body is an impure, mortal prison for a pure, immortal soul. According to him, the immortal soul is freed from the senses and pleasures of the body at death. This distortion of reality demands that we disdain “our bodies and everything that they produce in us: sensations, imagination, appetites, and emotions.”²

Many ancient Greek philosophers practiced asceticism as a means of supposedly purifying their souls from the contamination of the body. They rejected marital relations, and refused pleasant tasting foods and many other normal bodily comforts. Many of them lived bare and Spartan lives to the point of severe physical and emotional deprivation. Therefore, asceticism is an extreme, fanatical pursuit of self-denial in lifestyle that leads a tragically misguided person (perhaps conscientiously) to abstain from reasonable pleasures and comforts. It is destructive to both physical and mental health and to the most basic human feelings and relationships. The Apostle Paul foretold the rise of pagan-influenced ascetics within the ranks of Christian leadership.

“Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer.” (1^stTimothy 4:1, 3-5 HCSB)

Of course Paul’s statement that “everything created by God is good, and nothing should be rejected” is not a command to eat anything and everything. God certainly does not “sanctify” parasite-infested vultures and filthy vermin such as cockroaches for our daily dining pleasures!

Paul’s statement is a sharp rebuke of asceticism which rejects the vast array of delicious, wholesome and nutritional foods that God has prepared for us to enjoy. These are the foods that are “sanctified by the word of God.” The Bible is very clear about what kinds of food are sanctified as fit for us to eat for optimum health. The Bible presents both God’s original dietary plan in Eden and the temporary modifications permitted after the flood because of sin. (See Genesis 1:29-30; 6:5-7:4, 9:3-5; Leviticus 11:1-47; Deuteronomy 14:3-21a)

God’s word does not teach that we are free to obey any sensual impulse that might strike us. God does not sanctify adultery, fornication, and homosexual practice but He does sanctify sweet and tender sexual relations between one man and one woman in the bonds of marriage.

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

God’s word never sanctions enforced celibacy. Certainly, any Christian man or woman is free in the Lord, to remain celibate and devote all energies to ministry. The Lord honors that. But to enforce celibacy upon the pastoral ministers of the church is not a biblical plan.

In this chapter, we present documented proof that the very men who introduced and established the twin heresies of soul immortality and eternal torment into the church also introduced and established asceticism. Shouldn’t Professing Christians seriously examine this?

In the second century A.D., Athenagorus adapted pagan, ascetic notions about the human soul into Christian thought. This was the birth of asceticism in “mainstream” Christian lifestyle practice. The Bible does promote occasional brief fasting in which a participant might drink only juice for a day or perhaps a few days while cleansing and detoxifying the body and devoting special time to prayer and Bible study. (See 2^nd Samuel 12:21-23; 2^nd Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Psalm 35:13; Daniel 9:3; Mark 9:29)

Husband and wife might agree not to enjoy conjugal relations for a few days while fasting and praying. (See 1^st Corinthians 7:5) But the Bible promotes these as the occasional exception and not the rule of life. Generally, the Bible teaches self-control and temperance in all things, but not the denial of natural, God-given appetites, passions, and affections. Nevertheless, as a result of warped views of the human soul, Athenagorus taught the denial of sensual love within the God-blessed parameters of marriage. Here is what he said:

We despise the things of this life, even to the pleasures of the soul, each of us reckoning her his wife whom he has married according to the laws laid down by us, and that only for the purpose of having children. For as the husbandman throwing the seed into the ground awaits the harvest, not sowing more upon it, so to us the procreation of children is the measure of our indulgence in appetite.³

This twisted ascetic notion that Athenagorus introduced is destructive to one of the most tender human feelings and relationships. Does Athenagorus suppose that God created human beings to be as impersonal and unfeeling as the ground?

The Bible teaches that if you are happy unmarried, that is okay with God, but husband and wife should never “defraud” one another by denying “due benevolence” in the intimate embrace of marriage. (See 1^st Corinthians 7:3-5) Tertullian and Origen in the third century followed by Chrysostom and Augustine in the fourth and fifth centuries all taught asceticism. This heresy had its roots in false pagan notions about the human soul.

As men like Tertullian began dichotomizing the human soul in their teaching, they elevated the things of the spirit and denigrated the things of the flesh. The resulting asceticism brought coldness, guilt, and emotional suffering into the marriage chamber. Tertullian accused women of being the destroyer of man.

You are the devil’s gateway: you are the unsealer of that (forbidden) tree: you are the first deserter of the divine law: you are she who persuaded him [Adam] whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. . . . God bids you “be veiled.” I believe (He does so) for fear the heads of some should be seen!⁴

Certainly, a Christian woman should model virtue and modesty, but Tertullian’s attitude seems more in line with that of fanatical Muslims than that of chaste Christians. Tertullian takes the simple brief injunctions of Scripture against ostentatious adornment and expands them into long vicious tirades and harangues. Tertullian seems to have been extreme by nature as a fundamental aspect of his character. That tendency toward extremity led him eventually into Montanism, a heretical ascetic “Christian” cult begun in the mid second century. (The Montanists or Cataphrygians, as they were originally known, also practiced an ecstatic form of prophesying.) Even the Montanists were not extreme enough for Tertullian, so he eventually started his own ascetic cult. Frankly, no thinking woman or caring man should follow any of Athenagorus and Tertullian’s teachings; they were mean-spirited bigots!

Tertullian’s theological influence on Augustine was immense. Augustine modified and entrenched many ascetic ideas that Athenagorus and Tertullian had introduced into the western branch of the church. For example, Augustine considered married men to be weaker and lesser men than those who lived an ascetic, unmarried lifestyle. He refers to married Christian men as “the weaker brethren who enjoy married life, and have children (or desire to have them), and own houses and establishments.”⁵ He then glorifies asceticism for Christians by referring to ascetics as “those also who live at a higher level, who are not entangled in the meshes of married life, but use meager food and raiment.”⁶ These non-Biblical teachings have brought untold sadness, misery, and needless feelings of guilt to countless Christians.

A Biblical understanding of how God designed the human soul and why He designed us the way He did helps us to value the God-blessed joys and pleasures of life. Do you want true enlightenment and lasting pleasures? The Bible, uncorrupted by pagan ascetic ideas, presents God’s message to you about your human soul. Our Creator desires that His children enjoy the wholesome pleasures of this temporal life.

“[There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.”(Proverbs 2:24)

The Creator designed the human soul to experience sensual pleasure within the parameters of faithful marital love: “Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. . . . Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.” (Proverbs 5:18b, 19b)

Roman Catholicism adapted various forms of pagan asceticism into the lifestyle of monks. By forbidding priests and nuns the joy of marriage and family life, the Catholic hierarchy continues to bring elements of pagan asceticism into the heart of the Roman Church. Roman Catholicism holds these pagan ascetic restrictions in common with Buddhism, which also has celibate monks and nuns. Jesus never taught that pastors must remain unmarried; nevertheless, pastoral celibacy became an official requirement of the Catholic Church in AD 1079.

Pope Gregory VII wanted to make over the entire clergy of the Catholic Church into the monastic model of asceticism especially with its requirement for sexual abstinence. Of course, the Bible does not contain any commandment forbidding church pastors to marry. Nothing in the Old or New Testaments even remotely suggests such a law. Nevertheless, in A.D. 1079 Gregory ordered that all priests must immediately begin practicing a celibate lifestyle. Thousands of priests all over Europe were married men with children. Married couples were suddenly told that they were living in mortal sin if they continued to live as husband and wife, and the priests were ordered to repudiate their wives. The priests were told that their spouses were concubines or whores and were not respectable wives. Thousands of these husbands and wives experienced extreme emotional and mental torment as they attempted to live together without conjugal relations. The heartache and suffering that resulted from Gregory’s outrageous command is almost beyond comprehension. Thousands of wives were cast out of their homes like rubbish. Only God knows what happened to those destitute, emotionally shattered women. Gregory’s perverted alteration of the pastoral ministry actually became the official creed of the Roman Catholic Church and inexcusably remains so today. No pope since has ever publicly repudiated what Gregory did! Why haven’t they?

Today we see news reports of thousands of sex-pervert priests and wonder why it has come to be like this. Isn’t an abnormal system of enforced celibacy likely to attract men with serious demons? Thousands of gross 20^th Century abuses were exposed in recent decades, especially in America and in Ireland where thousands of children in orphanages have been emotionally scarred for life by sexually abusing nuns and priests. Is this heartrending legacy the direct result of enforced celibacy? The evidence is, shall we say, unflattering and overwhelming.

Actually, the Catholic Church does promote marriage and very large families. This increases the influence and power of the Church hierarchy. But marriage is only for lay-people (who do not have a right, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, to interpret Scripture for themselves!)

Rather than lift the unreasonable requirement of celibacy, the papacy is beginning a more stringent attempt to detect sexual deviants before admitting them to the priesthood. Realistic observers might wonder however, if this will not lead to a more fanatical, out-of-touch-with-reality clergy than the church has seen in centuries.

I do not mean to imply that all Catholic clergy are bad people. Some are truly honest-hearted men with a genuine desire to minister. But that in no way justifies enforced pastoral celibacy. The corrupting influence of such an unnatural system continues to do severe harm to the cause of Christ.

It seems quite ironic that the Apostle Peter, the so-called “first pope” had a mother-in-law. In other words, he was a married man. “And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.” (Acts 12:14)

Of course, Peter was never a pope. He never held any kind of hierarchical position. He was one of the original twelve Apostles but was never granted any sort of magisterial authority to make new biblically unfounded laws and regulations for the church. He most certainly refused to receive even the slightest hint of worship from other men. He proved this when the Roman Centurion Cornelius attempted to worship him.

“And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped [him]. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.”(Acts 10:25-26)

Peter unequivocally denied by his reprimand of Cornelius that he is the rock upon which the church is built. That rock is Jesus Christ!

“And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”(1^stCorinthians 10:4)

“Laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord [is] gracious. To whom coming, [as unto] a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, [and] precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe [he is] precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, [even to them] which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light”(1^stPeter 2:1-9)

If you are a Christian, you are just a much a priest as Peter was. Since Peter refused worship, why do the popes demand it? Peter was an unstable rolling stone, a small pebble. In Acts 4:8-12, Peter unmistakably points to Jesus Christ as the foundational Rock upon which the church is built.

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, [even] by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

Now that we have exposed the complete lack of God-given authority for pompous presuming popes to institute asceticism on anyone as a religious requirement let me share a few brief observations about the mixed-up misguiding men who first inserted this dead stinking fly into the pure Gospel ointment.

We learned in chapter 15, that both Origen and John Chrysostom practiced and taught extreme asceticism. Chrysostom became such a fanatical ascetic that by mid-life he had permanently damaged his health as a result of practicing severe bodily deprivation. These men exposed their unfitness as Christian teachers concerning the nature and destiny of the human soul and Christian lifestyle practice.

I have shared this brief report on the ascetic practices of the men who introduced and cemented false notions about the human soul into Christian theology because it reveals something disturbing about their judgment. It also shows some of the fanatical and aberrant behaviors to which false beliefs about the soul can lead. Frankly, based on the evidence, I don’t trust the judgment of these men.

The Senses Are an Avenue to the Soul

Before launching His ministry, Jesus went alone into the wilderness to fast, and to pray for spiritual strength. He spent forty days in that dreary, lonely place without any food. Near the end of that forty days Satan saw an opportunity to try to deceive and defeat Him. He could see that Jesus was severely weakened and was experiencing the gnawing pains of starvation after nearly six weeks without any food.

Jesus’ fast was not an example for us to practice asceticism. That long fast was necessary in order to weaken Christ’s human nature so that He would be able to sympathize with the power of temptation that even the most degraded and addicted sinner might experience. He set us an example of resistance to temptation even in the most trying circumstances that we might find ourselves. Through reliance on His word and power, any sinner, no matter how weak and controlled by habit, can resist and victoriously overcome. (See John 16:33; 1^st John 2:12-17; 5:1-5; Revelation 2:7-11; 3:5-22; 21:7-8) Even the weakest willed person can overcome. Is your will too weak to resist powerful temptations? The struggle may be very painful, but if you are “willing to be made willing,” Jesus will strengthen your will. (See 1^st Corinthians 10:13)

When Jesus was at His weakest (almost starved to death), Satan came and offered Him three deceptive temptations. But Satan did not come in the appearance of some hideous and hateful demon. Instead, he disguised himself as an angel from the courts of God. In his first two temptations, he pretended to be Jesus’ benefactor, encouraging Jesus to take it easy and not suffer any longer. Those first two temptations were based in trickery, but his final temptation in which he requested that Jesus Christ (his Creator) bow down and worship him (a mere creature) was so insolent and blasphemous that he cast off all disguise of his true identity. (See Matthew 4:1-11) This same deceiver comes to people today in the most attractive manner, as an angel of light. He appeals to human reason by presenting intellectual and inspirational themes, he delights human fancy with enrapturing scenes, and he seduces human affections by his eloquent portrayals of love and charity. He tempts us to relax in a false state of carnal security. If that doesn’t work, he often tempts people to try to earn salvation by ascetic lifestyle practices.

Though Satan disguised himself as an angel of light in his first two attempts to trick Jesus in the wilderness, how did Jesus identify who he really was? It was by his words, not by his appearance, that Jesus recognized the enemy. Satan played fast and loose with the Scriptures, tempting Jesus with passages taken out of context or leaving out important parts of verses in a subtle attempt to trick and deceive Jesus into presumptuous sin. Jesus repeatedly met Satan’s temptations with the rebuttal, “It is written.” That, or variations of it, was one of Jesus’ most often repeated phrases. That is exactly how you and I are to meet deception. “What is written in the Scriptures?”

Just as Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he and his demonic host present temptations today in a manner to lead astray the senses of all who are not under the special protection of God. In fact, they are working relentlessly “to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24b HCSB) This is one of the reasons that Christians should shun all inordinate indulgences of appetite and passion. Sin piggybacks on the good pleasures that God originally created and blessed.

God created us to experience exquisite pleasures through our appetites and passions. Yet when we addict our bodies to inordinate sensual indulgences, we also numb ourselves spiritually, our judgment becomes hazy and confused, and we are more easily deceived.

You, as a living soul, are a wholistic being. Your mind cannot function clearly apart from a healthy brain. Satan well knows this; therefore, part of his original lie to Eve involved temptation to indulge inordinate appetite, which partly stupefies the brain. (See Genesis 3:1-7) He enslaves people with numerous forms of drug, alcohol, sexual, food, and amusement addictions in order to benumb the spiritual judgment of our minds and bring about the destruction of the image of God in the human soul.

The stomach affects the brain, the brain affects the mind, and the mind affects spiritual decisions. The mind resides within an organic brain and functions within the constraints of the laws of that physical organ. We derange or deaden our spiritual perception when we confuse our brain function by drugs or alcohol. God has generously provided a wonderful variety of satisfying replacements for these harmful indulgences.

If we expect God to protect us against deceptive teachings, we need to establish some kind of reasonable plan for progressively bringing our lifestyle habits into line with the principles of brain-health that He has established. This involves a step-by-step replacing of harmful indulgences with wholesome and health-giving lifestyle practices. God is patient and very merciful; He will work with us if we will make a practical plan and begin the process of needed change. If we refuse to cooperate with God, we are presumptuous to expect Him to protect us against subtly deceptive teachings.

Even now in this sinful world, we can aim for the best and often achieve optimum health. This pleases God. Those privileged to dwell eternally in heaven and the new earth will practice the diet and lifestyle that God has built into His health laws. In that glorious society, there will be no more sickness, disease and death.

“And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”(Revelation 21:4b)

“And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein [shall be] forgiven [their] iniquity.” (Isaiah 33:24)

Appendix

Ten God-given Laws of Health

1. Trust, obey, pray to and express thankfulness to our loving God. This includes seeking God’s wisdom through intensive focused daily Bible study. This is good for mental health.

2. Breathe deeply of fresh clean outdoor air every day.

3. Get daily aerobic exercise. Get the heart, lungs and muscles working and sweat.

4. Get a daily dose of sunshine on the face and hands (At Least 15-30 Minutes Daily). Sunlight kills germs. A few minutes of sunshine on bed linens, mattresses and pillows daily is a good health safety measure.

5. Get proper daily rest. A short nap in the middle of the day can help type-A people.

6. Drink lots of clean alkaline water daily. 1 oz for every 2 lbs of body weight — more if you are doing a lot of sweating.

7. Bathe or shower once or twice daily. Preferably in non-chlorinated water.

8. Live and eat temperately. Don’t overdo anything.

9. Provide your body with proper nutrition. The ideal is a well-rounded plant based diet with lots of color variety. Begin each meal with a serving of something fresh. Fresh foods stimulate digestive enzymes for proper digestion.

10. Live a life of service to others, cultivating sociability and friendliness but with wise boundaries. This brings true happiness.

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