|
I'm Catholic and was raised that way - have gone to Catholic schools for 12 of 16 years. In gradeschool, I was taught that sex "is spiritually positive and valuable, but only within marriage." Now, in college, I have had the opportunity to explore Catholicism more deeply with various classes and discussions with Catholic theologians (who are, admittedly, on the more liberal end of the Catholic theological spectrum) and I hold a belief very similar to Suave's description of Buddhism's view. In my opinion, this stance is the real basis for most religious views regarding sex. The problem is, it's so much easier and less complicated to just say, "don't have sex before marriage" and beat it into people. The biggest failure of religion, I think, is that so many religious leaders and religious people fail to recognize that "rules" are derived from experience, and "rules" are irrelevent without being informed by experience. Sex in a loving, committed relationship most certainly has more capabilities for "goodness." But sex itself is not bad, it just IS. It can become a hindrence to "enlightenment" as the Buddhists call it, or "salvation" as some Christians may call it (I do believe that salvation and enlightenment are basically the same in essence, as opposed to the more fundementalist belief regarding what salvation is) if one becomes to attached to the physical world (think of it as a form of materialism if you will), but it can also just be sex. I don't think all sex outside of marriage is bad, nor do I think all sex within marriage is good. But I do think that sex at its best within marriage is MORE good than sex at its best outside of marriage.
__________________
Le temps détruit tout
"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling
|