SEX Part X

These are some closing thoughts on the topic:

Click on the title link to read previous posts.

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We are told that we cannot change who we are, and that it would be unwise to try. It is this mentality that leads to arguments in defense of pedophilia. If what I feel is not subject to critique or to change, if my desires are legitimate simply because they exist, then where does morality go? How do we decry the arguments of Mr McClellan?

Certainly our culture is not ready yet for such a position as his, without fundamental change in the way we determine wrong and right, however, where else is it likely to go? I am not trying to yell out, "the sky is falling!" but rather ask the question, "How do we rebut these arguments supporting rampant lawlessness, if we rule out an appeal to some standard of right and wrong that exists irrespective of our feelings toward it?"

It is easy to see the lie if we take it into other realms of human behavior. To say, "I desire to have sex with my girlfriend, therefore I should have sex with her" is no different a statement than, "I desire my neighbor's car, therefore I should take it," or "I don't like my employer, therefore I should punch him."

Simply put, the desire for something does not, in and of itself, legitimize the fulfillment of that desire.

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Having said this, I would like to point out, a large part of the problem is our weak sense of joy, and our unwillingness to pursue true pleasure!

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds ours desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

-C. S. Lewis

Like Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of soup, (Genesis 25) we trade away our God-given sexuality for fleeting pleasures that diminish as they are attained. We trade the joys of marriage (which is much more deeply and naturally sexual) for that of the idolized and romanticized life of the 'porn star.'

The adult film industry is portrayed as a glamorous world of delight...

...why is it then that the porn stars fantasize about a normal life, while they struggle with impotence, and pop pills to keep the genital herpes from breaking out?

It is not the married couple in their monogamy who are 'missing out' on sexual pleasure...

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I have come to this fundamental conclusion about sexuality (it is, of course, about everything, not just sexuality):

The way of the Cross is the way of return to true human-ness...

Our humanity has been corrupted, it must 'reboot' with the 'system disk.' Jesus is that system disk; the early Church called Him the "Second Adam." Jesus is the Son of Man, the quintessential human being, the perfect representation of what it means to be human. He is the 'new' man, the beginning point of the newly reconstituted humanity, the firstborn over all creation. In Jesus we begin to see the true shape of our humanity.

If this is true then we are called to a radical rethinking of our way of life. In fact we are called to a kind of death. Our very selves must be given over, and we must take the self of Jesus. This is the way to become who and what we were meant to be.

Jesus the truly human one defines humanity, and so sexuality is also defined by him, and so our sexuality must also be submited to him (along with everything else) for crucifixion and resurrection.

I am fully aware of the arguements that some will make. The Cross responds to our claims about ourselves by stating, "The way you are defining yourself is not the central problem, the problem is that you are defining yourself in the first place! Come to me and let me set the broken bone, let me start the song in the right key, let me be the foundation for your building, let me suffer the consequences off your actions!"