Week Two: Sexuality Flashcards
What was the sexual revolution a response to?
reaction to Victorian attitudes/stiffness around sexuality
Who/what does the Christian attitude around sexuality go back to?
Augustine.
Greek dichotomy of body and soul
The body is sensual and evil, the soul is what is saved
To get to heaven, you must suppress the physical/the flesh
Biblical positive attitude towards sex – three areas of the Bible (stories/books)
Creation/Eden; Song of Songs, 1 Cor. 7:3-5 (all examples of positive sex. used their sex organs and were naked and it was positive. These passages you hardly hear.)
Genesis 1 and 2 are ideal, ch 3 is because of sin.
Chapter two ends the story with “the man and his wife were bone of bone, flesh of flesh, one… they become one flesh”
And the man and his wife were naked, and they were not ashamed (last verse before sin)
nakedness is positive!
What is sex seen as in the Bible?
Sex is a sacrament of joy, a fulfilment of commitment
Not a bad thing!
What form of relationship is sex the ideal according to the Bible?
marriage relationship is portrayed as the ideal
Harlotry, adultery, sex with one who is engaged, rape = death penalty (Deut 22:13-27)
Sex with a woman not engaged requires marriage to her (Deut 22:28-29)
Corinthianize – 1 Cor 6:9 = Have sex wildly Temple had prostitutes, was part of worship
Body is a temple, no prostitutes – but have sex regularly, even when you’re praying! Quite a different view
1 Cor 5:1,2 – incest in the church
For Paul it is better to marry than to burn 7:8,9
Therefore, sex in the Bible is limited to a marriage relationship.
Two main points when looking at sex
Don’t get caught up in putting down sex
Don’t get caught up in the fact that anything goes
