If you look up the meaning of the word 'corruption' online, you find something along the lines of "Corruption (noun), illegal, bad or dishonest behaviour, especially by people in positions of power". Which is interesting, because the Bible defines corruption rather differently – as indeed did society as a whole until fairly recently.
For the Bible, corruption has more to do with depravity and immorality, and it provokes God's wrath. This indeed is why God decided to wipe mankind from the face of the earth in Genesis 6, by sending the flood, and why He later rained down burning sulphur onto Sodom and Gomorrah.
Today, however, in our more enlightened times, we dismiss the notion of sexual immorality. Men and women are sexual animals from birth, we say. There's no such thing as 'immorality'. We have a right to have sex whenever, wherever and with whomsoever we choose. Provided everyone consents, it's fine – whatever turns you on!
And then not infrequently, the diehard secularists and feminists maintain that all that stuff about monogamy, faithfulness and commitment is just a hangover from more repressive times, when women were forced by a patriarchal society into subservience and dependency. The fact women gave birth and had to raise the children, while the men wanted to ensure they weren't looking after someone else's offspring, made them slaves to a system of land-holding and succession!
And then as often as not, our emancipated free-thinkers give a beaming smile and add 'that's all over now'. Women have been set free by contraception and abortion, so all of us can enjoy our right to have sex without having to worry about any unplanned or unlooked for consequences. Sorted!
So what, you may say, has this got to do with anything? Especially at Christmas!
Well, according to a recent article in The Sunday Times, the pandemic has aroused an unprecedented wave of sexual exploration, with people energetically exploring "open relationships, throuples, and ten-in-a-bed romps in a Knightsbridge mansion". This, we are informed in no uncertain terms is a good thing, demonstrating how far society has moved on and just how sexually liberated we are.
Laura Pullman, the writer of the article, enthuses euphorically about the mind-blowing benefits of polyamory, which she sees as a defiant celebration of life in the face of the trauma of Covid. But the kindest thing that can be said about what she labels 'carefree bacchanalian bonking' is that it is seriously deluded.
No doubt the inhabitants of Sodom likewise paraded their sexual liberation and sophistication before incurring severe judgement, because the truth is that every society that exults immorality, places itself inexorably on the path to annihilation. In the Bible, this is clearly seen as judgement, but all societies that become morally corrupt and decadent become the architects of their own destruction, a lesson repeated throughout history.
It is, or should be, self-evident that, as the West has lost faith, it has become morally corrupt and weak. Britain too has become morally corrupt and weak. The pressures of lockdown over the last two years have undoubtedly presented a challenge for all of us, but the answer is not industrial amounts of sex, fuelled by latex-wrapped 'kink'.
If nothing else, the last two years should have alerted us to the fact we are a world under judgment. God has seen our depravity and debauchery from heaven, and He has withdrawn His protection. The answer then is not to rape angels as attempted by the men of Sodom, but to return to the Lord on bended knee, prostrating ourselves before the babe in the manger and crying out for forgiveness ... and then becoming once again obedient to His word.
