Ive said it before on here, but will mention it here, Ive always thought it kind of strange God made sex between humans feel so good, if you look at many other species, procreation is very uncomfortable, why give a species already hardwired to sin, such a great feeling when doing something they should not be doing on a recreational level?, that is almost inviting failure and other problems imo!
Theologically, sex is sacramental. The union between husband and wife is an image of the union between the soul and God, or that between the Persons of the Trinity. The pleasure is a tiny foretaste of Heaven.
As for why God doesn’t make it impossible to misuse the pleasure, we do not know His mind, but He also does not make overeating, hoarding possessions, or even rape and murder impossible or aversive. For whatever reason, He does not actively prevent sin, nor does He (usually) make the direct effects of sin aversive. Many sins are good things taken too far, and He expects us to accept the good thing while practicing it in moderation.
Anyway, why would sex really matter to God? Of course it is used to procreate, but eventually people found ways they could enjoy this great feeling without having a child each time, its just the feeling people want to experience, so Im not clear why it would sinful to do this…If both parties are OK with it and rape is not involved, why should it even matter what 2 adults do with their earthly bodies? Sex releases dopamine and seratonin into the brain, making us feel really good, but the same chemicals are released when we do other things we enjoy or give us good feelings, like spending time with a loved one, seeing wonders of the world, riding bikes with friends, exercise gives some people this level of enjoyment too, etc, so why didnt God make all these other things sinful too?
God doesn’t just arbitrarily “make” things sinful to mess with us. Sin harms – if not always directly another person, then the sinner, or the human community at large, or the intended pattern of the universe.
Again, sex is a sort of natural, small-s sacrament – the closest most people will come, in this life, to the sort of bliss and unity that exists in Heaven. To underscore its sacred nature, God has given us a capital-S sacrament (marriage) in which to “house” the activity. The misuse of sex isn’t sinful because sex or pleasure is sinful, despite the ideas of some particularly grouchy theologians of the past; it’s sinful in the same way that treating the Eucharist as a mundane snack without recognizing its profound significance would be. Profanation of a sacred thing is sinful, and all sacred things are kept to certain times or places and hedged about with ceremony so that they do not become simply mundane.
Hugging between 2 people can also release dopamine, non- sexual kissing, shaking hands with people even make us feel somewhat good, these are 3 physical interactions between 2 people, why arent these sinful? really sex is just another physical interaction between 2 people…what makes it sinful?
It’s not the interaction nor the pleasure that makes the sin. Sex has a theological significance that puts it on a different level than shaking hands or kissing. It also has the biological significance that it’s how we produce new humans (which itself has theological significance, since those are new eternal souls and potential citizens for Heaven).
Not everyone finds it inspiring, but I consider Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body to be the Church’s best meditation on the meaning of sex and the reason for all the “rules” surrounding it. As I did above, the sainted pope focuses on the sacramentality and symbolism of the sexual union as the reason why its use outside certain parameters is a bad idea. The sexual act, he says, is the physical affirmation of the marital vow to give oneself fully to one’s spouse. The act without the pre-existing vow is a lie – the physical pleasure and unity say “I give you everything that I am,” but you don’t, really, if you haven’t made the commitment. That also helps to explain why contraception within marriage is sinful – it’s another way of turning the act and the vow into a lie, since something is being held back. Oddly enough, he even uses the analogy of marriage to explain why we don’t open Holy Communion to those who aren’t in full communion with us as Catholics – it would be like offering the consummation before the vows are said.
Usagi
