Over the weekend I had occasion to dig out my copy of J. B. Phillips’ “Your God Is Too Small”.

This was published in 1952, but even after half a century many of his thoughts are very relevant.

Under “Managing Director” in the first part (“Destructive”) in the book one paragraph reads:

All `lofty’ concepts of the greatness of God need to be carefully watched lest they turn out ot be mere magnifications of certain human characteristics. We may, for instance, admire the ascetic ultra-spiritual type which appears to have `a mind above’ food, sexual attraction, and material comfort, for example. But if in forming a picture of the Holiness of God we are simply enlarging this spirituality and ascetism to the `nth’ degree we are forced to some peculiar conclusions. Thus we may find ourselves readily able to imagine God’s interest in babies, (for are they not `little bits of heaven’?), yet unable to imagine His approval, let alone design, of the acts which led to their conception!

For the 1950s this is a startlingly frank bit of writing. And despite the plethora of books aimed at providing Christians with some advice about how to approach “the marriage bed” as I heard one person describe it. there are still a lot of hang-ups about sex.

Salaam

Ken Smith