Actually I don't like to hear the word "sex" or "sexy". Those terms are publicly bantered about so casually and easily for an act that, in my humble opinion, should be more sacred, private and intimate and therefore not made common.
However, maybe those are public words. Words used casually for casual acts often not of commitment to another but of satisfying one's own lust. More private terminology for devoted acts of marital consummation may be "making love," or even better..."expressing love".
In a marriage between one man and one woman, who claim to love, honor and cherish each other until death do them part, the engaging in intercourse would be the outpouring thereof--thus, "expressing love".
No doubt there are one hundred and one other good and necessary ways of expressing love in action too. All the many little ways accumulate to something big and beautiful and escalate into that having 'sex'.
So let's get down to the focus of this topic in regards to that couple: sex and religion. For the Buddhist, sex within marriage is fine but Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda, author of What Buddhists Believe, believes that even then there needs to be self-control. (Pages 313-316).
The whole idea in Buddhism is to control ones' desires in all areas, not just of the sexual nature, but this is the topic here. The best way for a Buddhist to...
"...develop their spiritual development for perfection" is "celibacy" (Page 313).
That's where a lot of rubber hits the road. Sri Dhammananda plows on to say,
"...it is not compulsory for each and every person to observe celibacy in order to practice Buddhism. The Buddha's advice is that observing celibacy is more congenial for a person who wants to cultivate his or her spiritual achievements. For ordinary Buddhist lay persons, the precept is to abstain from sexual misconduct. This means that a householder may indulge in legitimate sex" (Pages 313-314).
"The human sexual urge," continues Sri Dhammananda, "must be controlled properly otherwise people will behave worse than animals when they are intoxicated with lust" (Page 314).
Listen to the news or read the newspaper for just such examples.
What Sri Dhammananda is pointing out is self-control, and if an adherent to Buddhism wishes to attain the goal of Nirvana, he or she will do well to rein in their sexual impulses.
God's Word has a lot to say about immoral behavior in the line of sexual misconduct. Surprisingly, the bachelor apostle Paul said the bulk of it. Just read through the letters he wrote in the New Testament, to discover it. However, God's thoughts on this issue were revealed way back in the Old Testament where God gave Moses commands, rules and regulations for this human nature which often can become so degraded.
Take a look at Deuteronomy 22:13-30. This is about marriage violations and rape. Read Deuteronomy 23:17-18 in regards to "religious" prostitution (shrine prostitutes). Flip again to Deuteronomy 24:1-4 about those men who marry and then discover they don't like the woman they married after all. No doubt you can find further examples as you explore God's Word.
In the New Testament, sexually immoral brothers and sisters were excommunicated from the assembly of God's people. Case in point is the man we read about in 1 Corinthians 5. He had his father's wife! Praise the Lord, though, that man repented of his ways and Paul had to instruct the Corinthians in the second epistle of Corinthians, chapter 2:5-11, to reinstate the brother, to also...
"...forgive him, comfort him, reaffirm your love for him".
Reining in our sexual desires comes with help from the Holy Spirit of God. One of the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Every believer in Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit indwelling him or her. There are no excuses to say, "Oh, I'm only human". Yes, you are, but you are also a child of God who has the Holy Spirit. When we choose to follow the Holy Spirit's leading we can exercise self-control. The more a person is led by the Holy Spirit, the more he or she will have greater self-control over lust of any kind, including in the sexual arena; whether married or unmarried.
There is a Sunday School song that goes,
"Say, "N-O, N-O" to everything that's wrong; and "Y-E-S" to the Savior Jesus, All day long."
Ever vigilant. Employ self-control.
"Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12 DBT)
Now lets get back to the idea of celibacy. For the unmarried brother or sister-in-Christ, that is a given. Paul wished that all men would remain single as he was (1 Corinthians 7:7) yet realized each person had their own gift. However, Paul's main reason was so he (and anyone else who was single) could focus on serving the Lord without having to think of and spend time (rightly so) with...
"...the affairs of the world"(1 Corinthians 7:33)
...with divided interests.
The married man or woman has to be concerned with their spouse and children and family living. So Paul, a single chap, was free to make his main concern the Lord's affairs (1 Corinthians 7:32). Being celibate was part of the unmarried singleness and what he called, "a gift".
For the husband and wife who wanted to seek God in prayer, Paul wrote,
"Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control" (1 Corinthians 7:5).
For the husband and wife, the denial of that "expressing love" was to be for a specified time only. Why even have that "time-out"? It was for prayer. The spiritual needs must also be met. Seek God's will, then resume conjugal rights once more.
God in His wisdom knows the human heart well, so thank God for His Holy Spirit and self-control.
The Buddhist will deny himself in order to gain spiritual development towards earning his own salvation.
The single follower of Jesus Christ is celibate in order to concentrate on serving the Lord in spreading the message of Jesus and building up other Christians in their most holy faith. He does NOT gain salvation; rather, he or she does remain chaste in order to have time and focus to bring others to Christ, and to mature in their faith and sanctification.
The married Christian person controls his or her sexual urges so as not to commit adultery or other forms of sexual misconduct such as incest, engaging in intercourse only with his/her own spouse by mutual consent. The married person will deprive him/herself only to spend time in prayer and only for a specified time and only on consent of his/her spouse.
A married couple may also spread the message of Jesus, as the single child of God, yet will have more limited time to do so. Their 'audience' may well be their own children which they must take care to teach God's ways; this is of vital importance.
The injunction God gave to the Israelites so long ago, and that is still an essential endeavor for parents today, can be found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. The Israelites were to live out God's will and ways and teach them to their children every chance they got.
Read your Bible and pray every day in your own personal devotion time; read and pray with your family.
Then have private time expressing love with your own wife/husband.
Thus ends my oracle on sex and religion.
~ERC September 2018~
Thks for sharing
ReplyDeleteYou welcome. Hope it was helpful.
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