Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth for the Colson Center on John Stone Street. Years ago, before Epstein, before the MeToo movement, even before same-sex marriage, talk show host and Jewish theologian Dennis Prager wrote a fascinating article entitled, Judaism's Sexual Revolution. In it, he described how the pagan world was a sexual free-for-all that debased women and children in the service of male lust. Nearly every aspect of life was sexualized. The pagan gods engaged in no holds-barred sex, and so did the people.
As philosopher Martha Neussbaum, who was quoted by Preger, wrote, children and women were, quote, very often treated interchangeably as simple objects of male desire, end quote. The very same awful treatment of God's image bearers is on display again in the revelations emerging from the Epstein files. An incredible number of victims were trafficked and abused. An incredible number of evildoers were involved. And a bunch of powerful people worked to keep it all hidden.
That so much evil could have continued for so long simply staggers the imagination.
However, a remarkable difference today is that, unlike pre-Christian pagan societies, such behavior is considered evil instead of normal. And that's because the claim that God created sex only for a man and a woman in marriage was so revolutionary. As Preger wrote, quote, this revolution forced the sexual genie into the marital bottle. It ensured that sex no longer dominated society. It heightened male-female love and sexuality and thereby almost alone created the possibility of love and eroticism within marriage.
And it began the arduous task of elevating the status of women, end quote. As Christianity, which shared that Genesis account of creation, grew and expanded in influence, it collided with Roman paganism, a paganism which also victimized women and children. With the exception of some in the elite class, Roman women were often treated worse than Roman cattle. Even upper-class women were little more than possessions, and when it came to sexuality, they were at their husband's beck and call and could be disposed of at will. Slave women, which were a full third of Rome's female population, could expect beatings and rape.
The so-called fortunate ones were the ones sold into prostitution. Unwanted girls were left to die of exposure. Into that world came Christianity, specifically the writings of St. Paul. As historian Sarah Rudin wrote in her 2010 book, Paul Among the Peoples, to call Paul an oppressor of women, like so many do, could hardly be more wrong.
She wrote, quote, it's profoundly ignorant to think of the Apostle Paul as a dour proto-Puritan descending upon happy-go-lucky pagan hippies, ordering them to stop having fun. Yeah. On the contrary, Paul's teachings on sexual purity and marriage were adopted as liberating in the pornographic, sexually exploitive Greco-Roman culture of the time. Christianity, in fact, worked a cultural revolution, Rudin wrote, restraining and channeling the male eros, elevating the status of both women of the human body, and infusing marriage and marital sexuality with love. In Rudin's words, Christian ideas about marriage were as different from anything before or since as the command to turn the other cheek.
End quote. No wonder, then, as Preger wrote, the improvement of the condition of women only occurred in Western civilization. And it is also no wonder that biblical sexual morality was so despised by ancient pagans, not because it robbed them of fun, but because those in power could no longer rationalize their predations.
Now, of course, modern pagans also despise Christian morality, but they're also forced to borrow from it, at least if they're going to condemn the kind of horrific treatment of women and children that's been revealed in the Epstein files. As Paul Anleitner posted on X, quote, an uncomfortable truth about the Epstein accusations is that we only find them morally reprehensible because of Christianity. Before the spread of Christianity, so-called civilized Greek and Roman elites openly flaunted underage sex slaves. This was normal. Emperor Hadrian built an entire city in honor of his favorite slave boy.
We've heard for decades that Christianity is a barrier to moral progress, but if you undercut the moral foundations of Christianity from the West, culture reverts back to pagan norms. End quote. This is why it is so tragic that so many Christians have abandoned the clear, life-giving vision of human sexuality that liberated the pagan world. And yet that's what so many have done. even thinking themselves loving and tolerant in the process.
But it's cruel. It's not loving to withhold the truth from broken people in a confused culture. And that's not our only betrayal to the Christian ethic. To protect churches, Christian institutions, and favored leaders, Christians have too often turned a blind eye or even pretended to not know about abuse, harassment, or even worse, happening within. That's a betrayal of the people that are made in the image of God, as well as a betrayal of the truth that can set them and us free.
In other words, the correct response to our failure to live up to the biblical vision of human dignity is not to pat ourselves on the back for that vision. It's to confess our own hypocrisy. It's to repent of our own sins. And no matter who's implicated in this particular horror, we should pray that as Jesus said, there's nothing hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. And we should also pray that this continued horrific Long-term effort to keep these files hidden will fail, and that God will bring justice, a justice that's long overdue.
And finally, we should, as Professor Paul DeHart posted on X, Thank God that pagan morality was overthrown. Because if it had not been, then there would be no movement to reveal this evil. There would be no movement to punish the evildoers, and there would be no movement to offer the victims justice. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. For more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org.
Educators, join us in Colorado Springs June 15th through the 17th for the 2026 Rooted Educators Worldview Summit. This year's theme is created and called Biblical Anthropology for Christian Education. We'll hear from John Stone Street, Sean McDowell, Megan Allman, Elizabeth Urbanowitz, and more. Save $50 when you register by March 31st with the code Rooted50. Register at colsoneducators.org slash rooted.
That's colsoneducators.org slash rooted.
