Are We Following The Path of The Roman Empire’s Decline? Part 4: An Obsession with Sex
A Decline in Traditional Values
In the first three parts, I explained historian Edward Gibbon’s first four reasons why the Roman Empire fell. The first was a decline in art, which revealed the deeper issue of an immoral society that no longer valued the richness of true beauty. The second involved a focus on entertainment and luxury that revealed a superficial society that neglected what was truly important. The third focused on the Roman Empire’s economic decline, which led to an increasing number of citizens becoming dependent upon the State. We will now look at Gibbon’s fifth reason for the Roman Empire’s decline and eventual fall: an obsession with Sex.
During the fall of the Roman Empire, one author wrote that, “Gibbon noted a decline in traditional values and a growing preoccupation with sexual gratification.” As we have seen, the height of the Roman Empire was the Pax Romana, which was dated from 27 BC to 180 A.D. It was a time of great peace and prosperity. The absence of war, economic prosperity, infrastructure expansion, and a rejuvenation of art, literature, and architecture marked this period. This period was far from perfect, as it was led by pagan emperors, several of them very evil, but the empire benefited from putting forth common-sense actions that agreed with God’s ordering of the world. Any time people do things God’s way, even pagans, they will see some benefit from it, as the Roman Empire did.
Later, when Christianity took over the Roman Empire under Constantine, the ethic was no longer common sense-based on natural law alone; they actually used the Bible as their guide as Christianity became the religion of the land. But over time, the good traditions of the Pax Romana and the Christian tradition that followed were abandoned. What we have already seen in Part I is that as tradition was abandoned, so was good art; as true art was replaced with false art masquerading as quality aesthetics.
We have also seen the desire for luxury and lavish living. The ordinary things were no longer good enough, so there needed to be lavishness. The focus became on spectacle and entertainment rather than work ethic and contentment in living. What happens is this emphasis on extravagance, easy living, and entertainment eventually weakened the empire. The tradition built on God’s principles through natural law and later, the Bible, became diminished and almost forgotten. What accompanies lavishness, easy living, and entertainment is an obsession with sex as traditional values are abandoned.
God’s Good Design in Sex
Obviously, in a society, whether the Roman Empire or America, sexual sin is always a problem, as it has been since the fall. God’s design for marriage is between one man and one woman, as Genesis 2:24 says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” One of the blessings of marriage is physical intimacy between man and wife. What comes from physical intimacy are children, as Genesis 1:28 says, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Through physical intimacy comes the blessing of children. As Psalm 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” But that is not the only reason for physical intimacy in marriage.
But God’s gift of sex is not limited to the production of children. It is also intended as a gift from God for enjoyment between husband and wife as 1 Timothy 4:1-5 says, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” Food is intended to be enjoyed. God could have just given us a bunch of pills to give us the nutrients we need, but He did not do that. We have food that satisfies our stomachs, and we have taste buds that make the food taste good. It is the same with physical intimacy. He did not need to make it enjoyable, but he did, and what the passage above tells us is that these gifts from God, like food and physical intimacy, are to be enjoyed. This enjoyment can only happen in one scenario in life: a marriage between husband and wife. This covenant is made for life (Mark 10:9).
The World’s Twisting of Sex
But the Devil, the world, and the flesh (Ephesians 2:1-3) take God’s gifts and twist them. Satan and sinful humanity make ugly the gifts that God made beautiful. They take God’s good gift of sex and make it for everyone, which is only intended for husband and wife in marriage. So even though fornication and adultery have happened at every point in history, the decline of a society is shown when sexual sin becomes public and celebrated by the mainstream (Romans 1:32). This happened in the Roman Empire, and this has happened in America. The sin that was once kept hidden is now out in the open. All of this only leads to an increase in sexual immorality.
The sexual revolution started in America in the 1960s. This brought this sin out into the open. American society has only declined since then. What followed the sexual revolution was the homosexual revolution, which started in 1969 with the Stonewall Riots, increased over the years, and blossomed into the mainstream about fifteen years ago, when came the hard push by progressive states to legalize same-sex marriage.
In 2012, in my home state of Minnesota, the Republicans saw that the Democrats were preparing to push forth a same-sex marriage bill in the future, so they responded by introducing a marriage amendment that affirmed marriage between one man and one woman, but it was voted down. Three years later, it went from the states to the national level in the Obergefell Vs. Hodges decision. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that nationwide, men could marry men and women could marry women. What started with a public acceptance of sex outside of marriage eventually led to more disordering of God’s good design as society embraced the idea that people could marry the same gender. What happens when physical intimacy is not held up to God’s standard between one man and one woman in marriage? Chaos.
The sexual revolution is a Satanic assault on the family. When physical intimacy is kept within the bounds of marriage, families are strong. When there is chaos in this area, there is dysfunction at every level. It is God’s design that children are raised by godly parents, husband and wife, and then when they grow up, they have a godly marriage and raise their children to follow the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-3). The society that does this will be blessed, as “righteousness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34a). But the dysfunction leads people away from the Lord, pursuing their own sinful desires. The society departs from morality and responsibility to pursue hedonism. Hedonism is a life that is focused on the wrong pursuit of pleasure. As we pursue God, we experience pleasure as King David wrote, “In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
A society that is focused on pleasure and departs from morality and responsibility will plunge itself into destruction (Proverbs 14:34b). This happened to the Roman Empire, and this is happening right before our eyes in America. Sadly, even the Republican Party, which over the years has been greatly influenced by the Bible, has largely abandoned the standard given by Scripture on marriage.
Will America Experience the Same End?
What we see in America is a nation that has moved further and further away from the Lord. The only hope for us to be great again is a return to God’s design in marriage. Physical intimacy is a beautiful gift given by the Lord to be enjoyed by husband and wife, but when it’s twisted as Satan and sinful humanity have done, it’s ugly and destroys society. This, along with the first four reasons, eventually led to the Roman Empire’s fall, and we seem to be on the same trajectory. One author noted the conclusion of this eighteenth-century historian: “Gibbon believed that these internal flaws, combined with external pressures like barbarian invasions, ultimately contributed to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.”
America needs to take warning. The same thing that happened to that mighty Empire may very well happen to the nation that we love. As historians say, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” Right now, even though we can see some good in our Land, America is well on its way to falling in the future.
The question is, will enough noble Americans and Christians rise to change its course? Christ’s return is on the horizon. The question remains: will America thrive again before his return or be a faint reflection of its glorious past?
