Ah, love should be guarded, should be controlled by reason and convention, perhaps, certainly by wisdom, purity, and righteousness. But love is not wrong! Men and women were made to learn to love each other and to want each other and to give themselves to each other. - John R. Rice [Genesis, pg. 111]
That unrest of sex instinct, that rising of desire, that sense of physical need in sex matters that men feel, is not wrong! It is holy and good, so holy that it ought to be guarded with manhood's character and faithfulness and spiritual devotion. Sex natures of a man and woman are meant for holy uses, and so the perversion of sex is all the more wicked, all the more certain to bring heartbreak, all the more certain for punishment from God. - John R. Rice [Genesis, pg. 111]
It is not wrong that the human body should grow hungry and long for food, but it is wrong for people to take or plan to take somebody else's food. It is not wrong that noble, good men as well as others not so good, should feel some compelling hunger for love and mating, but it is wicked that any man should defile what does not belong to him and so make mockery of God's blessing and make bitter God's cup of sweetness. - John R. Rice [Genesis, pg. 111]
The charming story of Hannah and how she prayed with such holy concern and devotion for a boy to serve the Lord is told in 1 Samuel, chapter 1. The child was conceived and born in prayer and after she had loved him and trained him and taught him for a season, then she took him to the Temple, and said, "As long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." Oh, we would have more Samuels if we had more Hannahs! - John R. Rice [Genesis, pg. 131]
Oh, among a sinful race of people all authority may seem hateful. The prodigal son hates the rule of his good father, and goes into the far country. The workman hates his boss, and defies his authority. The citizen hates the speed laws, and tries to avoid the income tax. I say, in a world of sinful people, authority becomes hard and bitter. - John R. Rice [Genesis, pg. 140]
Even when the authority is wholly right and good, the rebellious hearts of sinful men and women find authority unhappy. That is why men everywhere want to find some other explanation of the universe instead of direct creation by a God to whom they must give an account. That is why infidels want to find flaws in the Bible. Consciously or subconsciously they do not want to be accountable to the law of God and to meet in judgment the God of vengeance and the Christ they will not love and trust. - John R. Rice [Genesis, pg. 140]
I do not mean that God cursed the ground because he hated man. I am saying that God cursed the ground because man needs to work. Now that man is by nature wicked and sinful, only a shortened life and the burden of toil can keep man from orgies of sin. - John R. Rice [Genesis, pg. 141]
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