News this week of the high-profile resignations of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) is quintessential “tabloid fodder” — scandalous and sensational stories that make headlines and simultaneously intrigue and disgust.
While both situations are somewhat unique, their luridness is not — powerful politicians betraying the public trust on numerous levels. In recent history, you may recall the names of other representatives such as Anthony Weiner, Katie Hill, Tim Murphy, and Mark Foley. It was in 2018 when Senator Al Franken resigned following accusations of sexual harassment. All of them departed Washington under clouds of suspicion and in disgrace.
Rep. Swalwell announced his resignation and suspended his campaign for governor of California following multiple allegations of sexual abuse.
Rep. Gonzales admitted to an extra-marital affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
Sexual sin is not limited to Washington, D.C., of course, nor is it a recent phenomenon in history. The Bible warns about sexual sin numerous times, both directly and indirectly. From warnings in the Old Testament to not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14) to the Apostle Paul urging believers to “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Cor. 6:18), it’s obvious that sexual temptation is ever present.
In recent decades, Christian social conservatives have often been mocked for promoting and defending a biblical sexual ethic. In the past, entire social media platforms have even labeled Christians who opposed same-sex marriage as regressive bigots. Shows like Saturday Night Live have portrayed Christians who adhere to a strict sexual code of conduct as intolerant and out of touch. For decades, virgins have been lampooned.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has long been criticized for his practice of not eating or meeting alone in a room with a woman without another person present. After he discussed his prayer life and said that the Lord talks with him, “The View’s” Joy Behar derided and ridiculed him.
“It’s one thing to talk to Jesus,” she said. “It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you. That’s called mental illness, if I’m not correct — hearing voices. My question is, can he talk to Mary Magdalene without his wife in the room?”
She later apologized, but only after being heavily criticized. In essence, Behar was labeling those who take God’s Word and promises seriously as being mentally ill.
It’s one thing to disobey God’s laws and commandments regarding human sexuality, but to openly and enthusiastically criticize them belies a fundamental and foundational fact:
They work.
Not to reduce God’s laws and guidance to a prescription or a simple formula to follow, they’re nevertheless deeply practical and wildly effective. God doesn’t forbid extramarital sex to be a killjoy, but in part because He knows it will ultimately kill and destroy those who embrace it.
The late Dr. Vernon Grounds, who served as president of Denver Seminary, once rightly observed, “A source of the intensest pleasure earthlings can experience, sex has also been a source of vexatious trouble for the human family since the beginning of history.”
Representatives Swalwell and Gonzales reflect this reality, but the lessons about the liberation that comes from fleeing from sexual sin are available to anyone and everyone long before it’s too late to do something about it.
Fleeing from sexual sin won’t necessarily make you a successful congressman, but it will protect your marriage and allow you to live free of guilt and shame.
Because of a fallen humanity, Washington, D.C. will never be a perfect environment. But if our representatives would all adhere to a biblical sexual ethic, it would certainly be a lot less dysfunctional than it currently is.
Wrote the psalmist, “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul” (19:7). The Swamp is in desperate need of Christian revival.
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