'Sex Week' at Yale Leaves Students Guessing
Sexual experimentation seems to be all the rave at Yale these days. Just as students are preparing for another round of "Sex Week" in February, one of their department heads has announced his one-year suspension for having an intimate relationship with another professor….who also happens to be one of his former students. What is a Yalie to make of all this? Is there a divine plan for sexuality, or not? Should lines ever be drawn when it comes to sexual behavior, or should it be left entirely up to the whims and desires of the individual?
Nathan Harden recently wrote a book entitled, Sex and God at Yale. Nathan is a 2009 graduate of Yale, and editor of The College Fix, a higher education news website. He states, "There is clearly a radical sexual agenda at work at Yale today. Professors and administrators are busily indoctrinating students into a culture of promiscuity. In fact, Yale pioneered the hosting of a campus 'Sex Week' - a festival of sleaze, porn, and debauchery."
Many people would be stunned to learn about some past events of Sex Week which are documented in his book....and Nathan states that university officials have defended these activities in the name of "academic freedom." But just how much sexual "freedom" is promoted at Yale, and on what basis is a person or a university able to set any boundary for sexual behavior?
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According to the Yale University Faculty Handbook, professors must avoid sexual relationships with students over whom they have "direct pedagogical or supervisory responsibilities." This leaves students guessing as to the appropriateness of sexual relationships with Yale professors from other departments. Who gets to decide what is appropriate, and what isn't? Sounds like a recipe for sexual confusion among both students and professors, with students left guessing about how far is too far.
Since Sex Week began at Yale in 2002, it has spread to other schools such as Harvard. It is ironic when school administrators at any school support sleaze in the name of freedom. If pornography could truly liberate and free the soul, then why is it so addictive and so detrimental to experiencing a healthy relationship in marriage? Pornography fuels lust and anger in the heart and mind of the user….and not healthy respect for sex and marriage.
Fornication, adultery, and homosexual activity are other behaviors which, while appealing to the flesh, also fuel lust and anger….but they do not help a man and woman love each other within the divine institution of marriage. While Yalies are encouraged by their administrators during Sex Week to discuss and view all sorts of sexual fantasies, this approach produces the kind of results they now see with the department head who announced his suspension. That's what happens when you flaunt the myth that sex outside of God's plan is something to celebrate and explore….rather than something to flee.
Within the nature of each of us is the capacity to pursue sexual activity which goes beyond God's boundary. And of course that pursuit often provides a momentary measure of pleasure. Why else would anyone give into it? The problem we run into is that rather than producing freedom, this forbidden behavior actually enslaves. You become bound to that desire which you hoped would produce freedom. And boy does it leave you with baggage. (See Wendy Plump's article in the New York Times.)
Sexual sin is of course very tempting....and can be extremely difficult to resist even for the strongest among us. (Remember a guy by the name of King David?) But for all of its empty promises, it never delivers the goods. Restlessness, anger and raging lust are the byproducts….and not one of us is immune to this result if we decide to throw sexual caution to the wind.
God's design for sex is within marriage between a man and a woman. Who better to set the boundary than the One who invented sex in the first place? God put the pleasure in sex when He designed it for marriage. Leaders at Yale understood this fact when the school was chartered by pastors in 1745. The Word of God was preeminent during Yale's early years. These are two of the regulations for Yale students in those early years:
(1) "All scholars shall live religious, godly, and blameless lives according to the rules of God's Word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, the fountain of light and truth; and constantly attend upon all the duties of religion, both in public and secret.
(2) If any scholar shall deny the Holy Scriptures or any part of them to be the Word of God, or be guilty of heresy or any error directly tending to subvert the fundamentals of Christianity, and continuing obstinate therein after the first and second admonition, he shall be expelled."
We see today how far the apple has fallen from the tree. I guess Yalies in the 60's never received this memo from Yale's earliest leaders. Instead, they personally explored what they assumed would be a liberating approach to sex. The problem with a sexual revolution is that it takes people to a place they didn't envision. It takes people to a place where they are not only confused by sex….but also consumed by it.
One of the workshops last year during Sex Week was entitled, "Fornication 101 with Oh Megan!" Compare that celebration of sin at Yale today with the celebration of God's Word when Yale was founded....and notice how one approach shines forth from spiritual light....and the other is birthed in spiritual darkness. The contrast could not be greater.
Adam and Eve had a "revolution" of sorts when they rebelled in the Garden of Eden. Their revolution did not give them what they expected. The same is true with Sex Week at Yale. It is a lot of hype, but it cannot deliver the satisfaction which man's soul longs to experience. It is a big tease, and it only fuels sexual desires which lead a person to experiment with sexual behavior which God says is "off limits." Man's natural response is, "But that is just so prudish and old-fashioned." You likely have even felt that way yourself at times about God's boundary for sexual intimacy. It's so natural for us to buy into that faulty line of reasoning.
But if we ignore God's boundary line and pretend that it does not exist....or tell God that we don't care about His plan for sex....then who are we really hurting the most? Ourselves....by drinking the cultural kool-aid and allowing it to shape our thinking when it comes to sex. "If it feels good, do it."
God's response to our misguided opinion is that He created sex and He made it feel good in both the bodies and souls of a married couple. There is no shame in sexual expression between a husband and wife....but there is shame (whether it is felt or not) in having sexual relations outside of marriage. Our feelings and desires can deceive us....but God never deceives us.
Administrators at Yale seem to believe there must be a boundary for professors when it comes to sex with their own students. One would think they would realize that students also need a boundary. Who is going to set it? The school? The students themselves? This presents a dilemma. Either there is a universal boundary, or there isn't. Either the founders of Yale were right about God and Christianity and the Bible, or they were wrong. Examine the results of both approaches and make a determination for yourself. We all get to choose our own path.
Whichever path you choose for yourself, watch the fruit in your life that grows from your behavior. I am guessing you would rather not live a life filled with anger at God and anger at others. God's love and peace flow in the heart of one who trusts Jesus as Savior, and then commits his or her body to the One who created it. God forgives anyone who repents of his sin and turns to Christ to receive forgiveness.
On the other end of the spectrum, sexual sin disrupts the heart, the mind, the soul and the body of anyone who toys with it. We simply were not created to chase desires that run contrary to God's will for us. That's why it always turns out bad....unless we come to our senses....by listening to what our Creator has to say not only about "Sex Week," but about our entire "Sex Life."
The sexual propaganda at Yale is all over the board and will continue to leave students guessing….except when it comes to sex with one of their professors. For some reason, that line has been drawn in the sand by the administration…and they consider their opinion on the matter to be as good as gold. In the end, I guess "he who owns the school makes the rules." Or so they tell us.
Just because they make the rules doesn't mean they will be there to help you clean up the bad fruit after it falls from the tree right into your lap. They won't have a clue how to help you find healing from the physical, spiritual, and emotional consequences of "free sex." Oh....they never told you about the cost of sexual experimentation? And here you thought the only debt a student incurs while attending college these days is financial.
In the midst of all the sexual confusion and raging lust in America today, we are reminded of the good 'ol days....back when "academic freedom" referred to the pursuit of truth....rather than a justification for any and every desire of the flesh. Oh what a tangled web we weave....and how desperately we need the Savior to forgive us and then guide us in how to use our bodies and minds to His glory.
The purpose for which Yale was founded is just as noble today as it was 300 years ago. So are we more enlightened today about sex, or were they? The answer to that question would be anybody's guess....that is, if God had not already answered the question before we even asked it.
