In another essay[1] I wrote, “This form of religious worship [idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices)] was still practiced openly in Corinth.” But I failed to footnote it. Though the idea was new to my conservative upbringing,[2] I thought I was dealing with a reputable Bible encyclopedia and that this statement was common knowledge to those in the know. I was beginning to suspect that limiting the practice to Corinth and Athens was possibly, or probably, underestimating the scope of the things they [the sons of disobedience (ἀπειθείας, a form of ἀπείθεια[3]] do in secret, things that are shameful even to mention.[4] Paul encouraged the believers in Ephesus not to participate in these unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose (ἐλέγχετε, a form of ἐλέγχω) them,[5] regardless how shameful they were to mention. But all things being exposed (ἐλεγχόμενα, another form of ἐλέγχω) by the light are made evident (φανεροῦται, a form of φανερόω).[6]
Now I can’t find the encyclopedia I was referencing online. All my Google search finds is an argument between various factions whether or not such practices continued into the Roman period. Part of the argument is technical, whether the men and women who practiced this form of worship should be called prostitutes. In “Sacred Prostitutes” Johanna H. Stuckey[7] wrote:[8]
“Tragically,” says one contemporary scholar, “scholarship suffered from scholars being unable to imagine any cultic role for women in antiquity that did not involve sexual intercourse” (Gruber 1986:138). However, recent scholars are fast setting the record straight. Even if ancient priestesses were involved in ritual sex, even if they received offerings for their temples, they were not prostitutes but devotees worshipping their deity.
Kimberly Suzann Latta in an essay, “Rough Day with Margaret leads to Ephesus and the Myth of Temple Prostitution and the Anxiety of Some Really Scary Christian Men (and Women),”[9] began with this technical argument but quickly expanded its context: “Wide-spread, bald rumors about temple prostitution at Ephesus (for which there is no evidence!) on [a] Christian talk-show are another totally obvious example of the rewriting–Pierre Bourdieu calls [it] ‘dehistoricization’–of history by men in order to make women look bad. Worse yet, it’s another example of the way that group that got control of the early Christian movement demonized members of different religious groups by denouncing them as debauched indulgers of carnal sex for money. You’ve heard this before:
They were so evil then, and we are so evil now, brothers and sisters. We have to remember that we are sinners, that we were born in sin and dwell in sin except that Christ our Lord save us and cleanse us. And once we humbly admit to our Lord and Master that we are humbly sorry for the sorry state of our souls, and begging for His help to correct ourselves, and overcome our weaknesses, then, and only then, and only with much continual scrutiny and soul-searching, and constant vigilance, we may be, MAYBE, saved.
This is the Protestant mindset. I know it intimately. I was born into it and I love it although I have spent my entire life trying to unwind myself from it.”
Ms. Latta’s final conclusion was, “We are not evil. If there is a God, and if that God is good, and that God created us, then we must also be good, like everything that would come from an all-good God. You could say that what has happened is not the fault of God–if you believed in one, and I don’t–but rather the fault of the human beings who invented these stories, these paradigms for understanding the world, and who have gotten trapped, like the limed thrush, in their own shit.”
In other words, no knowledge of God may be found in the Bible, only human “paradigms for understanding the world.” Below I’ve contrasted Ms. Latta’s paradigm to those of Paul, David, Isaiah and Jesus.
| Kimberly Suzann Latta | Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ | David the man after God’s own heart |
| We are not evil. | There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.
Romans 3:10-12 (NET) |
Fools say to themselves, “There is no God.” They sin and commit evil deeds; none of them does what is right. The Lord looks down from heaven at the human race, to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks God. Everyone rejects God; they are all morally corrupt. None of them does what is right, not even one!
Psalm 14:1-3 (NET) |
| If there is a God… | Their throats are open graves, they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips.
Romans 3:13 (NET) |
For they do not speak the truth, their stomachs are like the place of destruction, their throats like an open grave, their tongues like a steep slope leading into it [Table]. Condemn them, O God! May their own schemes be their downfall! Drive them away because of their many acts of insurrection, for they have rebelled against you.
Psalm 5:9, 10 (NET)[10] |
| …and if that God is good… | Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Romans 3:14 (NET) |
The wicked man is so arrogant he always thinks,“God won’t hold me accountable; he doesn’t care.” He is secure at all times. He has no regard for your commands; he disdains all his enemies. He says to himself, “I will never be upended, because I experience no calamity.” His mouth is full of curses and deceptive, harmful words; his tongue injures and destroys [Table].
Psalm 10:4-7 (NET) |
| Kimberly Suzann Latta | Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ | Isaiah the prophet |
| …and that God created us… (if you believed in one, and I don’t) | Their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and misery are in their paths, and the way of peace they have not known.
Romans 3:15-17 (NET) |
Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak to deliver you; his ear is not too deaf to hear you. But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God; your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. For your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with sin; your lips speak lies, your tongue utters malicious words. No one is concerned about justice; no one sets forth his case truthfully. They depend on false words and tell lies; they conceive of oppression and give birth to sin. They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, a poisonous snake is hatched. Their webs cannot be used for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are sinful; they commit violent crimes. They are eager to do evil, quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful; they crush and destroy [Table]. They are unfamiliar with peace; their deeds are unjust. They use deceitful methods, and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace [Table].
Isaiah 59:1-8 (NET) |
| Kimberly Suzann Latta | Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ | David the man after God’s own heart |
| …then we must also be good… | There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Romans 3:18 (NET) |
An evil man is rebellious to the core; he does not fear God [Table], for he is too proud to recognize and give up his sin. The words he speaks are sinful and deceitful; he does not care about doing what is wise and right. He plans ways to sin while he lies in bed; he is committed to a sinful lifestyle; he does not reject what is evil.
Psalm 36:1-4 (NET) |
| Kimberly Suzann Latta | Someone seeking eternal life | Jesus, the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God |
| …like everything that would come from an all-good God. | Now as Jesus was starting out on his way, someone ran up to him, fell on his knees, and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Mark 10:17 (NET) |
Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”
Mark 10:18 (NET) |
To bolster her argument Ms. Latta quoted “S. M. Baugh, associate professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary” (who was quoting Karel van der Toorn in the Anchor Bible Dictionary):
…the current view [of cult prostitution] rests on unwarranted assumptions, doubtful anthropological premises, and very little evidence.[11]
In Cult Prostitution In New Testament Ephesus: A Reappraisal Mr. Baugh began technically enough: “cult prostitution…can be defined narrowly as union with a prostitute (whether with a female or a male makes no difference) for exchange of money or goods, which was sanctioned by the wardens of a deity whether in temple precincts or elsewhere as a sacred act of worship….More generally, cult prostitution could simply refer to acts of prostitution where the money or goods received went to a temple and to its administrators. In this latter case, the prostitutes would be slaves owned by the temple.”
He was careful at first to limit his discussion to this technical definition:
Let it be underlined that we are not here discussing erotic symbolism or even possible sexual acts connected to mystery religions or fertility cults. “There is no doubt,” says Walter Burkert, “that sexuality was prominent in mysteries.” Burkert goes on to explain, however, that the rituals were probably only symbolic rather than actual sexual acts. And either way, this is not cult prostitution in either of the two senses defined above.
But after presenting his “more humble goal,” source evidence for one goddess in one city, he concluded more expansively: “Despite the received opinion to the contrary, I do not believe that cult prostitution was practiced in Greek (and Roman) regions of the NT era…. A priestess of Artemis compares better with a Rose Bowl queen or with Miss Teen America than with a cult prostitute. Indeed, there are some hints in the literature (e.g. Xenophon of Ephesus) that the girl-priestesses may have been chosen because they best resembled the chaste maiden-goddess.”
I will suggest that the most likely place to find the documentary evidence Mr. Baugh requires would have been in the books of magic burned in Ephesus (Acts 19:18-20 NET):
Many of those who had believed came forward, confessing and making their deeds known. Large numbers of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them up in the presence of everyone. When the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins. In this way the word of the Lord continued to grow in power and to prevail.
I don’t think I’m on shaky historical ground to suggest that when the Spirit of God did not move people to burn their own books of magic others stepped in to do it for them. But Mr. Baugh made the point of his argument crystal clear in his final paragraph:
Hopefully Ephesian cult prostitutes will soon disappear from our literature and from our pulpits, for these chimera exist only in the minds of people today, not in the past. This is particularly desirable, since the issue has moved beyond the realm of purely historical accuracy into that of ecclesiastical controversies over women’s ordination; indeed, the false notion of Ephesian cult prostitutes is a central prop for a radical reinterpretation of 1 Tim 2:9–15…
Mr. Baugh dismissed the idea that cult prostitutes practiced in Greek and Roman regions of the New Testament era in opposition to those who used that idea to promote women’s ordination. And now as I search the internet the primary supporters of “received opinion,” “widely held that cult prostitution in connection with fertility rites was commonly practiced throughout the NT world,”[12] are antinomians[13] or homosexuals.[14] This is why I don’t like arguments. I’m not interested in circling the wagons with the conservative straight men any more than I am interested in assaulting them with antinomians, gays and women. I have this naïve belief that Jesus intends for us who believe to be one as He and his Father are one (John 17:11 NET [Table]):
I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one.
I’m assuming this is not yet that oneness. But I don’t know any way to proceed apart from the path the Holy Spirit leads me. Perhaps I am an oversexed sinner[15] who sees sex in everything I read, and create chimera in my mind. But I’ll continue as if these chimera have some actual existence in the past as recorded in the Bible, possibly even in the New Testament era, while I am mindful of the possibility that I might just be a sinner attempting to justify myself with chimera.
Back to What is Sexual Immorality?
[1] What is Sexual Immorality?
[7] http://www.matrifocus.com/Bios/bio-johanna.htm
[8] http://www.matrifocus.com/SAM05/spotlight.htm
[9] http://lefthandofeminism.wordpress.com/category/ephesustemple-prostitution/
[10] See also Psalm 140
[11] http://lefthandofeminism.wordpress.com/category/ephesustemple-prostitution/
[12] http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_ephesus_baugh.html
[13] http://www.libchrist.com/bible/fornication.html Though I was familiar with “The Sacred Fire, the story of sex in religion” by B.Z. Goldberg since college, I hadn’t thought of it in terms of the New Testament until challenged by this website.
[14] http://www.gaychristian101.com/Shrine-Prostitutes.html
[15] Antichrist, Part 5