Sexual Immorality: Then and Now

This Sunday's reading from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 hearkens back to Exodus and the Old Testament failings of the ancient Hebrews,

"I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it."

The Apostle warns the Corinthians to "not indulge in sexual immorality", and we know that one of the things the Corinthians were indulging in was  tolerating a brother who was having a sexual relationship with his father’s wife (his stepmother).

I have to wonder what modern revisionist or "progressive" ears hear when they listen to Paul's words. After all, many things that were considered immoral by first century Christians are tolerated and even celebrated today. I guess they probably consider a man whose 2000 year old letter to a defunct church has nothing to say to us (except for where he wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind).

I don't think Paul would have held back if he was questioned about the behavior of the late Michael Jackson. He certainly would not respond like Barbara Streisand who, when asked about the abusive behavior alleged in a recent documentary, said,

"His sexual needs were his sexual needs, coming from whatever childhood he has or whatever DNA he has."

The "He was born that way" defense sure sounds lame when applied to pedophilia, but it is a natural progression from the widespread use of the same defense in "normalizing" same sex intercourse.

Should we enlightened 21st century men and women follow Paul's advice as he intended the Corinthians to, or should we bury his letter and live into the present with our new and better understanding of human sexuality?

I think we should try to follow Jesus, and that means we should heed His Apostle's words of wisdom.