I was surprised that you accused a person of lying and why are sexual issues talked about so much?

Question:

Hi brother Hamilton,

I was on your website earlier and I was kind of shocked at a response. For the date of 7/8, you answered/addressed one question about spilling seed. You accused the author of lying in your response which I didn't understand. Maybe you were having a bad day. It just seemed out of character for you (and we all fall short). The author may have been referring to Genesis 38:9 and may have really been looking for an answer. People make mistakes and misquote from things they've only heard a few times even if they use the phrase "constantly heard."

I visited your site daily in the past five years. But I know in recent months to a year I haven't visited the site much at all. I would come mainly for the Questions and Answers section or questions by topic. I would ask a few questions here and there, but mostly just see what others were asking for self-study topics. But the questions became redundant. Every 1 of 3 is about sexual immorality, and it seems to continue that way. Don't get me wrong, there isn't anything wrong with that either and those questions are of a serious matter. It seems though your demographics is 15 to early 20 somethings. I guess as a growing Christian, I am looking for more mature topics. This is just feedback on one section of your site, nothing personal.

Have a great weekend.

Answer:

Thank you for taking the time to write to express your concern. As I pointed out to the writer of the note, he stated twice that he read a statement in the Bible. It wasn't a misquote of a verse, such as Genesis 38:9, which says, "Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother's wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother." If it was a misremembrance, I would expect him to have given it in his own words. Instead, he gives a nearly accurate quote of a Middle Eastern proverb. This particular statement has been floating around for decades, if not longer. You will find it commonly listed among quotes people think are from the Bible, but are not. The proverb is quoted by people wanting to justify prostitution. Claiming that it comes from the Bible is trying to lend credence to a clearly false statement.

Now the author did not say he thought he heard or thought he read this quote was in the Bible. He stated it was "something I read in the Bible ... I don't remember the exact book, chapter, or verse, but the Bible does say ..." The author did not say he has constantly heard this quote. He said he constantly thought of this quote while reading my answer to another question (something I originally misunderstood from the way he worded it). What he stated is false. To give a false statement is to tell a lie. It might have been an unintentional lie, but the correct term for it is "lie." As I stated in the note, I was curious why he gave that quote and wanted to attribute it to the Bible when the quote was promoting prostitution.

I do agree that sexual topics are being asked a lot. You actually are only seeing a portion of what I answer daily. Answering questions on a particular topic makes it more likely that other people with similar questions will find the website. Most of the time I can refer a person to a previous answer, but it seems that for many people their situation is not quite the same as the other person's. Currently about 1/3 of the questions posted deal with fornication, adultery, homosexuality, or pornography. For many of those, while a sexual sin is involved, the actual question revolves around an issue that the sexual sin had caused. Then also, the sexual issues tend to be ones that can't be put off. Thus, I get flooded and the ones that get posted tend to reflect that. I will take it into consideration to try and answer more questions on other topics.