The Bible sets the scene for us: \u2018\u201cYou\u2019re the one I was looking for! I came out to find you, and here you are! My bed is spread with\u2026 coloured sheets of Egyptian linen\u2026 Come, let\u2019s drink our fill of love until morning. Let\u2019s enjoy each other\u2019s caresses, for my husband is not home. He\u2019s away on a long trip\u2026 and won\u2019t return until later this month\u201d\u2026 He followed her at once, like an ox going to the slaughter\u2026 like a stag caught in a trap, awaiting the arrow that would pierce its heart\u2026 like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life.\u2019<\/i> (Proverbs 7:15\u201323 NLT) <\/p>\n
Let\u2019s modernise the setting. The bed could be a poolside spa or the back seat of a car. The linens could be plush carpet in front of a fireplace. The spices could be beer and pizza accompanied by soft background music. Today we call such liaisons \u2018friends with benefits\u2019. It means each person has all the benefits of sexual intimacy without a shred of commitment or concern for the other person\u2019s well-being. And experts can document a growing mountain of evidence that it always ends the same way: with guilt, depression, and devastated lives. <\/p>\n
Solomon pleads: \u2018Listen to me\u2026 pay attention to my words. Don\u2019t let your hearts stray away towards her. Don\u2019t wander down her wayward path. For she has been the ruin of many; many men have been her victims. Her house is the road to the grave. Her bedroom is the den of death.\u2019<\/i> (Proverbs 7:24\u201327 NLT) <\/p>\n
In other words: remove yourself from harm\u2019s way before you get in over your head!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Bible sets the scene for us: \u2018\u201cYou\u2019re the one I was looking for! I came out to find you, and here you are! My bed is spread with\u2026 coloured sheets of Egyptian linen\u2026 Come, let\u2019s drink our fill of love until morning. Let\u2019s enjoy each other\u2019s caresses, for my husband is not home. He\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1343"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}