For the most part this is a blog about finding the sunshine in life and being strong enough to know that all people are good until proven otherwise; it is my philosophy that life was made for enjoyment and that we are here for no other reason than to love and be loved. It would be downright arrogant to say that bad days and melancholia are for other people, or that everything is always hunky-dory; but I'm true to my Leo colours and will be arrogant, just for today. As a rule, I go out of my way to look for the good, even if I'm down and out and have to eat dry cereal by candlelight in the dead of winter for lack of payday, which has happened in the past. If I am frank with life, I enjoy it because I have learned to appreciate that it's a beautiful place to be in, that personal struggles are a state of mind, and that no matter which way things turn, everything equates to choice.
In the light of my theories about the nature of love and the human need for it, I have reached a point where some things need to be reflected on, and said for the sake of saying. I don't consider myself to be a Christian; I do however try to follow the basic Christian principles and the general guidelines to living by the way of Christ. It's important for me to make this distinction because I often feel that the Bible, or in broader religious terms the book of the prophets, is taken too literally. By this I mean no disrespect to people who read it word for word, but in my understanding of religion books like the Bible are a combination of historical fact, translation, interpretation and a basic myth to teach morality to society.
I choose to follow the teachings of Christianity because they bare the closest resemblance to the way I like to live. According to my beliefs there have been prophets throughout history, one of which was the man who is now spoken of as Jesus. I don't believe that Jesus was holistically born of miracle to a virgin, or that he was the immortal son of God, and for these reasons I would consider it inappropriate of me to call myself a Christian. I do, however, believe that a prophet existed around about the time of the Biblical stories, and that he had what appeared to be "Godly" or miracle-making abilities. I choose not to comment on my belief in the miracles, perhaps some are historical fact, perhaps some are adaptations of historical faith. What is important is the message behind the scriptures - the Ten Commandments, and the teaching that we should love and be charitable towards each other. These are the foundations on which I have built my life.
It is unusual for me to speak of religion in terms of right and wrong, but a recent encounter with raw Christianity has led me to question the fundamentals of the faith, and as a result I have had to be more black and white about my standings. As with all things scientific, for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. This applies to everything, and brings about the presence of temptation, or the Devil. In a modern society the ways of the old find it increasingly difficult to survive, and here I speak directly of the relationships between men and women. It is no longer sufficient to say that sex out of wedlock is inappropriate; arranged marriages are a rarity in most contemporary cultures, and as men and women gain equal rites so sexuality has become acceptable to a point where sex is no longer just a means to procreate, but an expression of love. I would go so far as to call it an art form, and under the right circumstances a vital part of being human. Religious or not, we are after all, human.
The issue of temptation is what has led me to question my take on the morality of sex and the supposed temptation that it presents itself as. Sex is a matter of choice, but it is not the basis of all interpersonal relationships between men and women. The Bible teaches to love unconditionally. In black and white, that means love unconditionally, not love because you are married and can now have sex without feeling guilty about it, or love until the prospect of sex goes away. It means love unconditionally... there is no sex in unconditionally however you choose to spell it. In addition to the general belief among strict Christians that sexual temptation is the work of the Devil, there is also belief that the Devil tries to isolate people from their God. People are busy, find little time to be true to their faith, are faced with temptation and alcohol related social lives which all amount to the same thing; temptation, and a pull away from the purity of the Christian faith.
If a man turns his back on his oldest friend in the name of God, to protect his faith from the temptation of sex, however distant, does that not amount to isolation in the name of God? Is isolation not the exact tool of the Devil whose work he fears? In a faith that teaches unconditional, charitable love, is turning away from established love in the name of Christ and his teaching of love any different to self-sacrifice to the hands of faith, and if so, is self-sacrifice any different to flying a plane into the side of a building in the name of a God who asks it of his people, to protect his faith from the threat of evil?
Love is love... it asks nothing, requires nothing, takes nothing, all the rest of the world is the work of the mind and the fears it creates. I cannot stress it enough - the only requirement of God is to love.
2 comments:
In spite of residual male egotism, equality has been a Christian ideal since Christ removed all need for superficial distinctions (Gal. 3:28). The question of temptation concerns anything that threatens to compromise our freedom and threatens to damage loving relationships, including but not limited to lust. Sex without relationship is a tacit approval of immorality, i.e. care-lessness, because it separates (Christian) love from the act of love. That's why 1 Cor. 7 says: 'It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband."
You also mention unconditional love. That's the heart of the issue. Before someone has committed to you in a binding agreement, there is an unspoken condition: that they may still leave without consequences. "Marriage", on the other hand, is a binding social and spiritual contract of commitment, made before witnesses.
So I would say whether you have extramarital sex with someone comes down to whether you consider *sex* special enough... not whether you consider *them* special enough. It should be about personal values rather than modern pressures.
Great work.
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