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The value of outdated ideas on sex and marriage
This is the seventh in the series on Christianity — the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This defends the proposition:
It is better to believe in the sanctity of marriage and sex within marriage than to believe that sex has no meaning other than fulfillment of animal drives and to believe faithfulness in marriage is unimportant.
The Christian teaching on sex is considered by our overtly secular culture to be offensive and maybe even inhumane. There are variants of Christian belief on this important topic, but the traditional view is that God created male and female for intimate communion, that a man and woman should leave their homes and “cleave” to one another in faithful commitment, and that what God has joined together no one should separate. In short, in the Christian and theistic view, marriage is sacred. This is understood today as monogamous marriage, recognizing that the Old Testament, such as with Kings David and Solomon, allowed for polygamy. The New Testament writing makes clear that monogamy was the intended path of God. In any case, adultery is taken extremely seriously. David suffered dreadful consequences from the adultery and subsequent murder he committed because of his lust for Bathsheba. Even in Jesus’ time, those caught in adultery were subject to capital punishment. I am grateful that adulterers do not face stoning or…
