If you judge our culture by its billboards and algorithms, you would think we are the most sexually fulfilled generation in history. Yet, sociologists are tracking a historic "sex recession," where young adults are reporting higher levels of loneliness and anxiety than ever before. We were promised a banquet of freedom, but we seem to be starving at the table.

In this episode of The Faithful Citizen, we continue our "Redeemed" series by tackling the most volatile subject of the Culture War: Sex. We explore why the "Sexual Revolution" left us exhausted and why the "Purity Culture" of the 90s left many traumatized. We argue that both sides are idolatrous because they both agree on one fundamental lie: that sex is the most important thing about you.

Join us as we smash the idols of the Revolution and the Rules to discover the "Theology of the Icon"—the idea that sex is neither a god nor a demon, but a sacred window pointing to a greater reality.

Key Takeaways:

The Sex Recession: Why a culture of "hookups" and "consent" has paradoxically led to less sex and more isolation.

The Idol of the Revolution: How "Expressive Individualism" turned sex into an identity and made "consent" the only moral metric, reducing intimacy to a transaction.

The Idol of the Rules: Deconstructing the three lies of Purity Culture: the myth of "damaged goods," the weaponization of "do not deprive" in marriage, and the transactional prosperity gospel of sex.

The Theology of the Icon: Understanding Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 5 that marriage and sex are the illustration, but Christ and the Church are the blueprint.

The Anti-Icon: How pornography functions as a rival liturgy that teaches "this is your body, taken for me" rather than the Gospel's "this is my body, broken for you".

Redeeming Identity: A look at how the Gospel speaks to same-sex attraction, affirming that while our desires are real, they are not our identity.

Memorable Quotes:

"The secular world worships sex as a god of identity; the religious world fears sex as a demon of destruction. Both make it the center of the universe."

"You do not worship the icon of Christ; you look through it to see the Saviour."

"We have smashed the icon, and now we are cutting ourselves on the shards, trying desperately to find meaning in the fragments."

"If sex is the Icon, Pornography is the Anti-Icon."

"We need a Church that is not afraid of the body."

Resources Mentioned:

Full Essay: "The Broken Icon: Redeeming Sex from the Revolution and the Rules" on Substack.

Previous Episodes in this Series:

The Good Portion (Redeeming Womanhood).

The Covenantal Garden (Redeeming Marriage).

The Great Household (Redeeming Singleness).

Call to Action: If this episode helped you see the "Icon" more clearly, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps others find this community. To read the full essay and join the discussion, subscribe to our Substack (link below).

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