Catholic author makes case that sex in heaven could shape its place on Earth?

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According to this article in National Catholic Reporter, thinking about sex in heaven may be just what Christians need to love passionately and well here on Earth. it could be so should inspire Christians in this world to make pursuing virtuous and pleasurable sex a priority. If sex is so central to who humans are as embodied, loving beings that it continues in heaven, then it follows that believers have an obligation to cultivate sexual desire and churches should be helping them do that. Then the practice of sex would, like prayer, become something to pursue. By practicing well, we become more of the kind of people we are called to be.
 
Sorry— People in heaven won’t have bodies until the resurrection of the dead at the end of the ages.
 
Will they be conscious or unconscious? If conscious, do they have a mind without a brain, or are they pure spirit though lesser so than G-d? And do the Scriptures and/or the Church go into these details?
 
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Great. You’ve managed to derail the thread on the very first reply. The author already thought of that and is specifically considering and speculating about what happens after the resurrection, when people have their own bodies again. Why have human bodies if not to live in them?
 
There are several old threads touching on such questions (they pop up from time to time, and I’ve taken a special interest in them) and I think the short answer is that a human being is not a duality but a unity of body and soul, and no one knows what a soul without a body can do.

The standard Catholic teaching (with a few references to Scripture) is found here:
CCC 362-368, “Body and soul but truly one”
 
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We have saints who intercede so they would have to be conscious.
 
Beryllos said:
Why have human bodies if not to live in them?
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Mary is a perpetual virgin and has a body, so it doesn’t actually point to much. This is also from the National Catholic Reporter we are talking about.
 
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VanitasVanitatum said:
Mary is a perpetual virgin and has a body, so it doesn’t actually point to much.
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A good point. Indeed, in heaven we will surely experience greater joys.
This is also from the National Catholic Reporter we are talking about.
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I admit I haven’t got straight which is which, Reporter and Register. The article is somewhat sensationalistic, so that was a clue. 😉
 
You bring up some good points.

I too can come up with objections. For instance, sexual intercourse here on earth is meant to be unitive and procreative, but in heaven we will all be one, and the population is fixed, so what’s left? Physical pleasure of course, but will we desire it in heaven? I don’t know.

Additionally, male and female are aspects of our humanity that go beyond the physical. In heaven, how will our sexuality be expressed? Men and women will be different, according to God’s plan, but how? (and why?) Again, I don’t know.
 
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By sexuality here (and in that quotation) I simply mean male and female. A female celibate or virgin is still female, and a male celibate or virgin is still male. So too in heaven, I think.
 
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Why are people so hung up on sex that they can’t imagine an afterlife without it? I’m happy to go along with whatever God’s plan is, but when I think of the afterlife, I don’t immediately think, “Oh boy, heavenly sex!” I think of it as a state of being that transcends earthly sex. Furthermore, for people who consecrated their virginity to God, or chose to practice some type of celibacy on earth as part of their vocation or spirituality, I would imagine sex would be pretty irrelevant.

Maybe it’s just that I’m quite tired of our sex-obsessed culture and of people acting like if you’re not out there seeking a sexual relationship or outlet, you’re behaving unhealthily or there is something wrong with you. As a new widow I read several articles on coping with widowhood and none of them focused on any practical realities, rather they were all about finding a new relationship and a new sex partner, like that should be the main thing on my mind. Thanks but no thanks!
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
like that should be the main thing on my mind. Thanks but no thanks!
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Quite agree. When people talk about this sort of thing they assume we will have, in the next life, the same hormones and foibles we carry now. I could not disagree with that more than I already do since that is the last thing I want to deal with in eternity.
 
If people who have some interest in this problem are like me, they are not hung up on sex that they can’t imagine the afterlife. I had never even given this issue any thought until I started reading Peter Kreeft and came across his essay: Is There Sex in Heaven several years ago. It certainly caught my eye and I found it very interesting. The important points of the article do really have to do with sexual intercourse, although it is addressed at the end and @Phatmass1 said above, there may be something similar or analogous to it (not exactly Kreeft’s words). The reason why the article has always been in my memory is that it addresses the nature of sex, ie what we are, not what we do. And, in this day and age, of complete confusion with regards to sexual identities, I think it certainly lends some invaluable insight.

http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/sex-in-heaven.htm

As a final note: I read the OP linked article, I had little hope for it being worthwhile considering the source. My expectation was accurate.
 
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No, we certainly will not have our same hormones and foibles that we carry now. But that is not because we will not be sexual creatures, it is because our sexuality will be perfected. If anything it will be much more significant than it is now.
 
It reminds us that many people have made sex into the be all and end all of existance that they cannot fathom heaven where standing in the presence of God is not enough, they have to have sex to make heaven good.
 
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