CHRISTIAN MEDITATION ON SEXUALITY
In the current society we live in, the different religions view sexuality in different ways. Taking Christianity, for example, they view sex as a source of evil in the world and are often in condemnation of most sexual beliefs in the world. One of the most condemned sexual beliefs is the American view of sexuality, where they believe that sexuality is a personal lifestyle choice. Well, the American culture is said to be gradually drifting from cultural conservatism. The Christians are in more condemnation of the gay marriages that have been legalized in the American culture. To the Christian religion, this is one of the most condemned sins in the Bible. Sex before marriage has been a topic that has been on heat at the spiritual level. Christians believe that for two people to engage in the significant acts of intimacy, they must have been bonded together and accepted in the eyes of God. This then raises the debate on cohabitation, which often leads to people in marriages without even getting legally married to each other. Most couples which are either married, divorced or have a family with any binding ceremony, have lived together at their early stages of courtship. This and gay marriages become a controversial issue within the Christian religion (Ash, 2009).
Christians base their morality on the requirement of the Bible and are always in comparison to their conducts with those of certain figures in the Bible. They believe that the earth, as it is, is built on certain moral pillars that are upheld by the creator. God always makes a balance in the world in terms of morality. As Hannah prays (Samuel 2;1-10), she asks God to separate the right from the wrong since the foundations of the earth are the lords. In this, she appeals to God to restore the order of her marriage, for it was the creator who could uphold the morals of the people he created. As the imagery given to the Christians from the biblical Old Testament, the world is created and controlled by the wisdom of the creator who is God. Through portraying his architectural understanding in creating the earth, then God gives the world an image of how it is supposed to exist. By trying to understand the creations of God, how it is believed the world was created and in the order, it was created, then Christians derive the right way that humans should behave and the morals they should uphold (Komjathy, 2015)—taking an example of the creation as per the Bible. God creates every animal on earth; each species that he made is created as both female and male (Smalley, 1952). When God creates man as per the Bible, he creates a wife for him as well. The two are told to go and fill the earth, the first marriage on earth, confirmed by the creator himself. It’s also believed that the woman was created by God to help the man in his endeavours, the beginning of patriarchy. Christians claim that the fact that God created each animal and also the first humans as male and female he had a purpose that the order of the world was to be that way as long as sexuality was involved (Ash, 2009). The bonding of the two first humans is an expression of how important marriage is.
In the new testament, as Jesus Christ speaks to Paul on marriage, he refers to the old testament genesis 2;24 where God defines marriage: “for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” (Smalley, 1952) In this, they want to verify that God would have chosen to create humankind in different ways, but instead, God created us as sexual beings in a permanent, sexual, and social union of a man and a woman in the presence of people and the creator. The union is what the modern world calla marriage. These principles are what the Christian society base their appeal and condemnation of the gay marriages on. God sees the union between a man and a woman in marriage as a covenant; Christians believe that God is the ultimate judge of human actions, is always on watch of our behaviour even in hiding. Deeds done in privacy such as sexual acts, are all seen by God and will be judged eventually. They try to condemn these actions for they believe that being a part of the society it is their responsibility to teach the principles of sexuality that God puts in position (Ash, 2009).
The society claims that the world and all its constituents are evolving. We are adapting different cultures or at times, modifying the existing cultures (Komjathy, 2015). In defence of the frequent condemnation of the current definitions of marriage from Christianity and other spiritual groups, society claims that marriage is evolving just as lifestyles are changing (Komjathy, 2015). The frequent debates on the freedom of individualism allow people to adopt different sexualities as per the choice of their lifestyle. Well, the custodians of biblical principles and beliefs claim that just as the creator eliminated the famous occupants of Sodom and Gomorrah as per the Bible for deviating from the usual way of life and failing to follow the principles put in place by the acts of wisdom from the creator, so will the modern society suffer the consequences of harbouring and accepting the existence of other sexualities (Ash, 2009). Christians believe that God, during his creation, he placed what we refer to as “nature” to ensure that the world followed the right way of life. Nature will always find a way of correcting the misdoings of God’s creation. Deviation from the sexual principles put in place by the creator places the humans in crossroads with the wrath nature is supposed to bestow.
As Christian believe that sexuality is a part of God’s order, what people tend to ask, is then what purpose sex serves in the order. As adult humans, we tend to have certain sexual drives and desires. These desires are, at times, quite strong and overwhelming to us. The fact that sex is fascinating to the human mind is the reason why most magazines seeking more sales will have the word “sex” on its cover page. The questions that linger in the human psyche go as far as asking why God had to create us with so many sexual desires while at the same time limiting us from fully exploring the gift he himself gas given to us. We want to believe that by giving us the gift of sex, God wants us to explore it to the maximum. If it wasn’t so, then God would have created us as asexual beings. We would then have no problem with ourselves. We would reproduce in a unique way without the need for complicating the principles put in place by God. When this question is asked christianly, the answer we get is based on the biblical view: the initial order and the position of sex in that order. The answers we obtain will be derived from the way sexuality was and was meant to be at the times of creation. We want to believe that sexuality should be a personal choice, explored in our privacy and where we aren’t altering anyone else’s happiness. But was this really what the creator had in mind about sex? Did he mean for it to be an instrument of pleasure between a man and a man or between a woman and another woman? Christianity will give a straightforward answer that will, at the time, silence any claim of sexual freedom we might be seeking (Ash, 2009).
Gods plan when creating us all humans and animals was to bring Glory to him. Our purpose on earth is to serve the creator and uphold hi will. For any Christian, the Glory and honour were given to God if by far much crucial than one’s personal satisfaction. The Glory of the creator should be at our priority rather than focusing on fulfilling our own personal desires and longings. In fact, our pride and joy should come from fulfilling the will of God by bringing Glory to him. The deepest form of satisfaction for any human being should be from rejoicing in the Glory of God. In this, Christians argue that our exploration of our sexuality should be a source of Glory to God and in respect to the principles, he put in place while creating the world. Respecting the position of sex in the created order should be our primary goal as Gods creation and custodians of his art of wisdom (Ash, 2009). Christianity invites everyone to marriages that are acceptable to God and blessed by him. Whatever our sexual desires are, Christianity promises us that if we are willing to put Gods Glory and upholding the order which he has put in place, then when the promised time comes all our desires will be met. There is a promise of eternal sexual fulfilment that will come with upholding Gods order of things when sexuality is in question.
References.
Smalley, B. (1952). The study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (p. 120). Oxford: Blackwell.
Ash, C. (2009). Christianity and sexuality.
Komjathy, L. (Ed.). (2015). Contemplative Literature: A comparative sourcebook on meditation and contemplative prayer. SUNY Press.