EPT
On April 17 2008 11:20 Kaotu wrote:
I don't think St Paul suggested that the desire to propagate was evil. He does argue that the solution to sexual desire is to become married, and that people should not be married if they don't have to.
That makes some sense though. If you have a very limited sex drive, and could do fine without it, then why get married? Well, the reason today would be, for the companionship. But of course, back then, marriage was not done for those reasons; you get married to some person who you don't love because you want to screw (male) or because your dad is paying for you to get screwed (female). So, avoiding this whole process is for Paul a good thing, it leaves you more able to be productive.
I don't know. I'm not trying to capture the subtleties of Paul's argument. Just saying, it's pretty clear to me that the Christian tradition only really became anti-sex as it incorporated more and more Platonism.
But then again, the Christian tradition has certainly always unanimously asserted that sex is to be done in the context of a monogamous, committed relationship. So, sexual desire for your neighbor's wife is frowned upon.
...Just my 2 cents. Don't blame Paul for everything, Plato's legacy is more to blame if you ask me.
I don't think St Paul suggested that the desire to propagate was evil. He does argue that the solution to sexual desire is to become married, and that people should not be married if they don't have to.
That makes some sense though. If you have a very limited sex drive, and could do fine without it, then why get married? Well, the reason today would be, for the companionship. But of course, back then, marriage was not done for those reasons; you get married to some person who you don't love because you want to screw (male) or because your dad is paying for you to get screwed (female). So, avoiding this whole process is for Paul a good thing, it leaves you more able to be productive.
I don't know. I'm not trying to capture the subtleties of Paul's argument. Just saying, it's pretty clear to me that the Christian tradition only really became anti-sex as it incorporated more and more Platonism.
But then again, the Christian tradition has certainly always unanimously asserted that sex is to be done in the context of a monogamous, committed relationship. So, sexual desire for your neighbor's wife is frowned upon.
...Just my 2 cents. Don't blame Paul for everything, Plato's legacy is more to blame if you ask me.
The core of Paul's argument was that the world was going to end soon and therefore it was best to remain pure, although if you had to have sex then have it within marriage.
Although much of it did indeed come from an earlier Greek tradition it was Paul who united the Greek philosophy with the Jewish Christian cult. I feel it is fair to blame Paul for the 2000 years of Western European sexual guilt in that he introduced it to what would become the dominant religion.
