“Free love!” (or free sex) was the exciting new motto of many people in the West in the middle of the last century. It was called a “sexual revolution,” liberating open-minded people from old-fashioned traditions. Ever since, people have been discovering that “free love” is neither free nor love. They have learned why free sex comes at a high price.

Sexual Freedom is Never Absolute

“Freedom!” cries  fish as it leaps from its prison of a fishbowl. But, of course, it soon learns that fish do not have absolute freedom. Absolute freedom is enticing to people too, but sexual freedom is never absolute.

Sexual freedom is not absolute either. When people practice “free love and sex” they will — no doubt — enjoy themselves for a time. But, they will soon discover that it is destructive at best and deathly at worst.

Sexual Freedom is Never Free

Many want absolute sexual freedom, but don’t seem to consider the price they — and others they “love” — may have to pay. It can bring many devastating consequences — ruined relationships, unwanted pregnancies, and life-long, or life-threatening diseases.

Sex is much like fire. When fire is kept inside a fireplace, it is beautiful and warm. if that same fire is taken out of the fireplace and scattered around the room it becomes very destructive, very quickly.

Free sex is not new! Long ago, Solomon, the Wise King and Sage, told the story of a “young man who lacked sense.” He stumbled past the home of a “promiscuous woman,” she “approached him, seductively dressed” and you can quickly guess what happened. Solomon summed it up well: “He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life”! Whether from disease or a jealous husband, the bedroom of a “free love” woman “is the den of death,” according to Solomon.[1]

We can look at Western society to see the torrid repercussions of “free love.” Nearly half of the babies born today will be born to unmarried mothers who will struggle to keep those children out of poverty. More than 50 million babies per year are unwanted — they’ll be killed before they exit their mothers’ wombs. And pornography — including child pornography — has become an epidemic worldwide. “Free love” comes with a high price tag, especially for women and children.

“It was truly a revolution (in the US),” someone said, speaking of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, “and like all revolutions, there was lot of blood in the streets.” To find our way out of the mess brought on by this “revolution,” we must go to the One who designed human sexuality in the first place.

Sexual Looseness is Not God’s Intent

Sexuality is a good gift from our Creator God. But “sexual freedom” was not what He wanted for us. His intent was that it be enjoyed within healthy parameters — between one man and one woman in a marriage relationship built on love, trust and respect. Inside those parameters the “fire” is contained and it becomes a warm and beautiful experience. When marriage relationships are built on God’s original intent, they will thrive and become a thing of beauty apart from disease and heartbreak.

Reject the false promises of so-called “free love” and discover God’s “free love” (real love) demonstrated by the Lord Jesus who made a way for us know God and be in right relationship with Him. Then honor God by honoring marriage and marital love, trusting His plan for your sexuality.

[1]Book of Proverbs, Chapter 7