Do you believe in sexual morality?

Question

Hi. I'm doing a lesson at church on Sunday about the Law of Chastity (complete sexual abstinence before marriage and complete fidelity to spouse within marriage).

I want to know how many other religions (eg Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Islam, spiritual, etc) believe in practicing sexual morality.

Please include the name of your religion or belief system.

I am also interested in a brief description of why you believe in sexual morality. Please no cut and pastes that take up more than one screen.

Thank you for your help.

Well, my view is that sex is sacred, and has emotional, spiritual, social and physical repercussions when used wrongly.

I believe that, when sex is involved, it is hard to have a clear perspective, so it is better to remain chaste before marriage, just to be safe. I believe that there are degrees of "wrongness" related to the knowledge and convictions of the people involved, but that every individual will have to be responsible for the consequences of their own actions.

If we have caused harm through wrongful sex, we can obtain forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ, making restitution to those we have harmed, and refraining from making the same mistake again.

Like fasting, sexual self-discipline reaps spiritual fruits.

Anyways, my purpose in asking this question was to understand how many people support the same views on chastity/sexual morality as I do. Thank you all who have responded.

Answer 1

Buddhist. BMB, good answer. :-)

Hi Mum Of 4. Good Question. :-)

In the system of thought I espouse, there're two extremes that ought to be avoided.

One is, I think burying one's head in the sand, and making believe that these things don't exist.

The other is pursuing them relentlessly for their own sake.

The Middle Ground leaves a lot for an intelligent person to discern for themselves.

Yes, the Buddha did point out that right action involves abstinence before marriage / fidelity after.

But He did allow one the intellectual Freedom to learn from one's mistakes, and come to this realisation for oneself.

We cannot force people to believe what we believe; nor is it ultimately possible to do so.

Every one has their own journey to make.

Religion probably does have all the answers; but we each have to come to find them ourselves.

To 'reinvent the wheel'.

In the immortal words of Robbie Williams: "If I could do it all again, I'd be a nun...". :-)

Regards & Best Wishes,

Arjuna

Answer 2

Mumof4, I was raised a Christian, and I want to add something here. One of your last comments was that you wanted to see how many people actually confirmed or agreed with your own beliefs in the area of sexual morality. I want to tell you, I learned so much from the answers you received.
However, here are my thoughts on the matter. Chastity? I agree, and I believe many would also agree, that sex and sexual attraction can cloud important issues, but does refraining from sex clear things up? I don't think so because the couple is still working with extreme sexual tension that won't be resolved until the wedding night.
Long answer, but sex is like eating and sleeping and breathing. We have made it dirty and evil somewhere along the way. It's not.

I know this is not what you were looking for, but I just had to add my two cents. :) Peace

Answer 3

Atheist/humanist.

Total abstinence before marriage - pointless. We're sexual creatures. As long as both parties are consensual (also meaning they need to be old enough to give informed consent), and precautions are taken to avoid STDs and unwanted pregnancy, then people should go with what they're comfortable with.

Fidelity within marriage - I've been married over 20 years, and never cheated on my spouse. As best I can tell, neither has my spouse. It's up to the couple. If it's going to happen, it should happen with the knowledge and consent of the other spouse.

Answer 4

My name is my screen name, and I am agnostic (If you don't want to count that as religion thats fine, but it is a belief).

I support abstinence, believe it or not. I think it is an excellent Idea that should be encouraged. However, it is not something that can be forced one someone. It is the safest and most responcible path when dealing with safe sex, but it is also the most difficult. It is in our nature, our biological programing to breed; disobeying our biology is not impossible, but it is difficult. I also believe teenagers should be made away or condoms, birth control pills etc. just as a safe measure. Somebody has to pay for the babies that no one wants, and if no one wants to pay for them it is better that they didn't exist in the first place.

As for sexual morality, it's usually founded on a basis of mutual repect. On the basis of mutual, things like rape and pedofilia are out of the question; with rape, to put it another way, your stealing sex from someone; with pedofilia, the older of the two can take an unfair advantage towards the younger. Other than that, consinting adults can do whatever they want.

If you curious about buddhism (I just happen to know about this), Buddhist abstein from homosexual acts, not because of immorality, but because it isn't proper. It uses parts of the body it ways they were not meant to be used, and thus are not proper. That only counts towards homosexual sex, not feelings. Also, for Buddhist, Homosexual sex is only bad for those seeking enlightenment (i.e. - Buddhist). Although, in buddhist thought, Homosexual sex would produce bad karma, it is only looked down on from one practicing Buddhist to another.

Answer 5

Yes Krishna Consciousness (Bhakti Yoga) also has the same understanding as you do as far as sex. Sex is actually for procreation and if one uses it for any other purposes it causes bondage to the bodily conception of life and one can not understand things as they truly are on the spiritual platform. We take vows of chastity when we take our spiritual initiation. (Like a baptism) We vow no illicit sex, no intoxication including caffeine nor nicotine, no meat eating and no gambling. These are the 4 pillars of sin and should these sins should be avoided strictly if one wants to make any spiritual advancement and please God. We understand that Jesus also taught these principals, but not very often followed by the Christians, because of a lack of understanding of their own scriptures. The Christian Essenes follow these principles as far as I understand. sex outside of marriage causes misery as we can plainly see. Such as venereal diseases, (huge list) pregnancy and unwanted children, abortion which causes very bad repercussions spiritually and materially and even death (aids and other sexually transmitted diseases) Those who are truly seeking spiritual progress should give it up save and accept for to bear God conscious children. Other wise one will suffer so many difficulties. Just plain and simple facts. All true religions teach this so we should reject those who don't accept these higher truths, because they are to be considered man made ideas.

Answer 6

I am a Christian and I just have one small scripture to back up my statement. Ephesians 5:31 encourage "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." The closest a man and a woman can physically be is when they are making love. "If you are struggling with wanting to have sex, get married. Premarital sex isn't an option for dealing with lust. It's either marriage or you are in sexual sin".

Answer 7

Don't lie or cheat or use your partner. You can cause them tremendous pain. Don't use sex to boost your ego. Don't become obsessed by sex. Don't defame sex either.

Realize that every time you 'go a round' you could be starting a new life. Always be prepared to assume that responsibility.

Don't use sex as a substitute for other things that are missing in your life (hence, allow it to become an addiction).

Religon? Hmmmm, along the lines of Unity and new age sparitualism

Answer 8

I do believe in sexual morality, but my beliefs don't really have a religious basis, although I personally identify most with Wicca.

I do not believe that sexual acts before marriage are immoral, although I personally have chosen to wait until marriage or a commitment ceremony (I'm bisexual) to engage in sexual acts.

I DO believe that affairs are immoral- lies should not be part of a relationship. Polyamory (multiple partners with the express permission of all involved) is fine by me, although I choose to be monogamous.

Essentially, my beliefs towards sexuality are that all sexual orientations are valid and normal. Acting sexually on someone who cannot or has not given their consent is immoral (which includes molestation, rape, date rape, pedophliia, and active bestiality). Lying, having sex under false pretenses (i.e. making someone believe you care for them when in reality you want a one-night stand), and hurting others is all immoral in my eyes.

Hope that helps!

Answer 9

Sexual morality is a personal decision.

For me it means sex without feelings hurts a lot. One night stands left me feeling worse than If I had not had them.

I don't ever want to marry again but I do want to find a man who will be my lover and my friend for a long long time.

Abstinence is unrealistic. We desire the intimacy of sharing with someone we care about. I do anyway. I am extremely picky who gets in my bed now. Consequently it has been months since I had sex. That's OK, I can live without sex, I did it for years.

I am a normal human female.

Answer 10

I am a Gnostic. I believe God is love and that is without qualification. As long as a relationship is rooted in love and not lust then whether the people engaged in it are married or not is irrelevant. Sexual orientation is irrelevant. Marriage is a nice, but not a necessary gesture. And only the couple involved can know if their relationship is based in love or lust. And whether marriage will strengthen it or weaken it. Judge not other peoples relationships.