 7 Deadly Sins & 7 Life Giving Virtures "God did not call us to impurity." "God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27) Sexuality is that aspect of
personhood which makes us capable of entering into loving relationships
with others. Theology teaches that relationship - the gift of
self to another - is at the very heart of God. The Father and the
Son give themselves totally to one another and the mutuality of their
total response in love is the Holy Spirit, binding them together.
We honor God and become more like him when we create in our lives the
loving, other-centered relationships which at the same time give us
such human satisfaction and personal fulfillment. In addition, sexuality is
an aspect of human personality by which we related affectively to
othe5rs. It is a relational power which includes the qualities of
sensitivity, understanding, warmth, openness to persons, compassion,
and mutual support. These are the qualities we associate with a
loving man or woman. Sex generally refers to
genital pleasure, the physical, organic expression through sexual
intercourse and those acts that are naturally related to it. It
refers to sexual arousal in the genital organs. It refers, even
more basically, to the sexual appetite or sexual drive which impels the
human person - through desires, fantasies, urges - to seek genital
pleasure. There are two inappropriate
views toward sex. One view goes like this: Spirit is good, matter
is evil; the soul is pure, the body is corrupt; love is beautiful, sex
is shameful. The other view is quite different: The spirit
doesn't matter, the body is supreme; self-control is negative, pleasure
is positive; love is irrelevant, sex is meaningful. Presently in our history
and American culture, the second view dominants and has been referred
to as the Playboy or Playgirl philosophy of life. Basic to this
view is the conviction that genital pleasure should be sought for its
own sake; there is no reason to link such pleasure with love or
commitment; there should be no restraint no matter how promiscuous or
dehumanizing a person may be. Lust is thus defined as the
disordered or unrestrained seeking of gential pleasure. Lust is
not sinful because it is connected with sex or because it is
pleasurable, but precisely because it is disordered or
irrational. Thomas Aquinas says that lust pits the lower powers
of passion and animal instincts against the higher powers, the
distinctively human faculties of reason and will. -thoughts taken from Choosing Virtue in a Changing World: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins Please Email Us With Any Comments or Feedback At ©2005 CopperCountry.com,Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
