If you go on holiday with a person of the opposite sex ,would you sleep in the same room ?
Sleeping in the same room to someone you are attracted to is one thing and wouldn't see a problem, if it stays at that.
The crux of it is, it boils down to temptation and theres this sudden leap of illogic that if a person sleeps in a room with someone of the opposite sex they are going to be at it like Rabbits and tallying up a Sin list greater than the walls of Jericho.
I feel really bad in that I feel like I am preaching but really I am not. Just because an Alcholic walks into a Off license doesn't mean they are going to drink the place dry. Just kind of explaining the point that its down to limits and sticking to it, though I know your question was about sleeping in the same room.
There is the difference between sleeping in a room with someone and sleeping in their bed...alternaively just use Barbwire or pray they are a Eunoch.
"Can we take fire into our breasts and not get burned?" It seems as if people are constantly looking for how far we can safely push the boundaries before we end up mired in sexual immorality. I don't think this is a wise approach, being a weak sinner myself. In addition, we are admonished not even to give the impression of immorality, so never mind that we are sleeping chastely in our own beds, what does the maid think? What does the hotel receptionist think? What do our neighbours think? What do our Christian friends and family think? How may we stumble our Christian brothers and sisters who think that it is OK to sleep with their boyfriends/ girlfriends because they think that it must be OK because they've seen it modelled by other Christians who they respect?
Think about the problem of putting a stumbling block in the way of other Christians.
Back in the 1980's I stayed in an Israeli bomb shelter for 10 days with dozens of others while PLO Kartyucha rockets fell on the Kibbutz from Southern Lebanon. The shelters were made up with boards 10/12ft wide upon which we all slept; there were some bunk beds too but very little privacy and no separate areas for men and women. (Good ole' Yasser Arafat; Great holiday!)
Christians can often make all sorts of wise decisions not just on bed-time behaviour by asking themselves if Jesus or other Christians would be comfortable being with them.
Given the current news, perhaps we be asking the question "if you go on the campaign trail with someone of the same sex, should you stay in the same room?"
Yes Richard, but what is your answer to the question. This seems like just another get out clause for saying what is wise. Going on holiday, is not usually entering a war zone, but this is an extreme circumstance you describe. I am a midwife. I could ask, "Should women who need caesarean sections have these done under hand-held torch light?". Then I could come up with an anecdote about how an emergency caesarean section had to be conducted in a bombed out building to save the life of the mother and baby. However, I could not then derive principles for everyday practice from this unusual situation!
Lol @ Amanda. This is a tricky one. I think I need to go and consider it for a wee while. Oh I do like to be provoked!!
I would not go for a holiday with one woman alone who has not committed herself to me. However, if it is not for the grace of God I can get into mess with anyone.
Sally, I'm pleased you had a good time but how could you now explain to a 20 year old Christian girlfriend who wants to take a holiday with her good male friend from Uni, with the same arrangements? So, it worked for you? Will it work for them? Which of your non-Christian friends, colleagues and family might you have trouble convincing that the relationship was entirely platonic? It is not even necessarily sinful to share a room with someone of the opposite sex as a private matter, but the idea that you could be putting a stumbling block in front of other Christians should make you question the rightness of the action. What if your action leads someone else into sin (even though it did not do so for you?).
The thing is non-Christians already think that Christians don't live lives that are any different from them. I remember having a working relationship with a couple of Muslim women in their twenties (when I was in my early twenties) and they simply assumed that because I was a Westerner=Christian=immoral, that I was sleeping with my boyfriend. I didn't even have a boyfriend at the time! Imagine how difficult it would be to defend my virtue if I was shacking up with a man!
I think we all know what's safe for us. We are all individuals and each of us have our own weaknesses and when there's an intense attraction it's probably not wise to sleep in the same room......I know i'd have a problem if i was attracted to someone, but if i wasn't there wouldn't be a problem, however it's all down to what you're comfortable with. It's an individual decision.
I think the only other caveat I'm adding to that Tracey is our Christian responsibility towards others, in terms of what we are encouraging them to think and what we are encouraging them to do. That's all. I'm not saying that self-control between a man and a woman is impossible. I'm sure there are many men with whom I could practically share a room without pouncing on them, however, even if there was not the remotest shred of mutual attraction, I have a responsibility to other people for what effect my actions may be having on them.
would you feel comfortable at sleeping in the same room ? especailly if you knew you were attracted to the person ?