Sex: Our New Religion?
Consent and Liberty. That's it. That's the only thing governing the masses of culture regarding sexual expression. The battle was won quickly. A small single weapon shaped like a pill single handily loosed the shackles of temperance and chastity. We are all the illegitimate children of parents who failed to safeguard the ethos of our being. Lust is just another thing to be consumed. We love consuming, it's in our nature. We consume the world and we consume each other, one orgasm away from attaining some definition of meaning that isn't there. We are a generation out of control.
I am not a saint. I live in the cognitive dissonance of the morality of my Creator. I battle the dark regions of the mind, winning and losing, hoping one day to be made whole.
Religion is always enduring. People have attempted to squash it out, but it always has a way of resurfacing. The religious way of thinking, talking and acting will always influence us. To be irreligious is a contradiction in nature. If the definition of god is "ultimate", than very few are atheists, and if there is anything that our generation worships (adoring reverence) it is sex, devoting themselves so strongly to it one can almost call it a religion.
Sex is beautiful and wonderful, it brings closeness and creates human life. People often are tempted to treat people like robots - flip a switch to turn on desire, while others treat people like animals - desire run amok knowing few boundaries. The Church, in all her wonderful wisdom, sometimes comes across like the former - we've minimized the truth that sexual desire is normal and good, we've made the discussion about sexuality obsessively into what it isn't, instead of what it is - awesome, powerful, terrifying and dangerous. We in the Church can never, under any circumstance, view sex casually. Our sexual understanding must constantly be basted in language of mystery. It must not become an idol. It must not be used to make the sojourner feel guilty. It must however, be respected as the means for how we are to create life, and find joy in marriage. When we do this, we find a coherence of the human experience that is truly wonderful.
On the other hand, those who unshackled themselves from the "confines" of traditional sexuality find themselves in a world of incoherence that is breathtakingly maundering - removing love, a love the sacrifices and gives up control from the equation, they wonder why they can find no answers. The perceived result of sexual liberty was to be empowerment, the actual result has been enslavement. People now find themselves bound to the axioms of their new religion resulting in the absurd. The true believers will stare into the face of a prostitute or a porn star, who literally has had her body maimed and tortured beyond comprehension liberally and consensually and approve of the heinous transaction. The only way to rectify such a terrifying ethical pitfall is to go back, but that isn't an option. "Progress" at all costs - human dignity be damned. Even if the power of biology, that million year old system of creation, gets in the way of liberty, then definitions of personhood will be changed and basic human rights violated.
That is one powerful religion.
Most people know that something is missing from the equation. Some have dulled their spiritual compass to the point of truly living like animals - but most of us feel like sex points us to something more. Consent is the bare minimum of sexual expression, but let it not end there. If we want to change culture for the better how about we once again use the concept of covenantal love as the prerequisite for sexual intimacy. There are animals in all of us, and some destroy others and themselves when the chains of chastity are removed. Something truly amazing happens when we reminds ourselves that we are not hostage to the desires of our bodies, but that our bodies were created for beautiful and intimate sex between two people who love each other. That is freedom, a type of freedom beyond words.
I recognize that not everyone shares the same faith as me, but don't you think it's time we move away from the notion that the most powerful experience we can know as human beings might have something more entailed to it than mere consent? Isn't faithfulness to one person, and one person alone a noble way of life that should be esteemed by all?
(If you enjoy reading The Invisible Image, please consider "liking" us on facebook in the top right hand corner.)
Sex is beautiful and wonderful, it brings closeness and creates human life. People often are tempted to treat people like robots - flip a switch to turn on desire, while others treat people like animals - desire run amok knowing few boundaries. The Church, in all her wonderful wisdom, sometimes comes across like the former - we've minimized the truth that sexual desire is normal and good, we've made the discussion about sexuality obsessively into what it isn't, instead of what it is - awesome, powerful, terrifying and dangerous. We in the Church can never, under any circumstance, view sex casually. Our sexual understanding must constantly be basted in language of mystery. It must not become an idol. It must not be used to make the sojourner feel guilty. It must however, be respected as the means for how we are to create life, and find joy in marriage. When we do this, we find a coherence of the human experience that is truly wonderful.
On the other hand, those who unshackled themselves from the "confines" of traditional sexuality find themselves in a world of incoherence that is breathtakingly maundering - removing love, a love the sacrifices and gives up control from the equation, they wonder why they can find no answers. The perceived result of sexual liberty was to be empowerment, the actual result has been enslavement. People now find themselves bound to the axioms of their new religion resulting in the absurd. The true believers will stare into the face of a prostitute or a porn star, who literally has had her body maimed and tortured beyond comprehension liberally and consensually and approve of the heinous transaction. The only way to rectify such a terrifying ethical pitfall is to go back, but that isn't an option. "Progress" at all costs - human dignity be damned. Even if the power of biology, that million year old system of creation, gets in the way of liberty, then definitions of personhood will be changed and basic human rights violated.
That is one powerful religion.
Most people know that something is missing from the equation. Some have dulled their spiritual compass to the point of truly living like animals - but most of us feel like sex points us to something more. Consent is the bare minimum of sexual expression, but let it not end there. If we want to change culture for the better how about we once again use the concept of covenantal love as the prerequisite for sexual intimacy. There are animals in all of us, and some destroy others and themselves when the chains of chastity are removed. Something truly amazing happens when we reminds ourselves that we are not hostage to the desires of our bodies, but that our bodies were created for beautiful and intimate sex between two people who love each other. That is freedom, a type of freedom beyond words.
I recognize that not everyone shares the same faith as me, but don't you think it's time we move away from the notion that the most powerful experience we can know as human beings might have something more entailed to it than mere consent? Isn't faithfulness to one person, and one person alone a noble way of life that should be esteemed by all?
(If you enjoy reading The Invisible Image, please consider "liking" us on facebook in the top right hand corner.)
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