Why is it every time im in my Religion class, they try to drill in our heads that sex before marrige is SOOOO WRONG? I mean if you really love someone wouldn’t you want to do everything with he/she? Why is this such a bad thing, I really don’t understand it.
How do you know that you really love someone? Is it because you receive pleasure from being around that person? But receiving pleasure is something that happens to me. Love isn’t about me; it’s about the person I love. This is where our culture falls off the track. It makes love a matter of what I need and what I want. But to love is to will the good of the other. It’s motivated by unselfish concern for the other.
This is why your teachers are so concerned. They don’t want you to think that to be self-absorbed is what love is. When one thinks that love is all about what I can get, then my behavior toward the person I think I love becomes a matter of my using that person for my own satisfaction. This can be very hurtful to that person. Ultimately, this can be very hurtful to oneself as well. In the long run, it doesn’t deliver.
When one treats others as objects for one’s own pleasure, one begins to think of oneself in terms of utility. I’m only good for what I can do. But this is a lie. Each one of us has value just by the fact that we exist as a human being, designed by God Himself.
To respect literally means to look twice. It means to behold the other as other and not just as a source of pleasure for me. That the presence of the other gives me pleasure can be a very good thing. But one’s first response can be to treasure that person’s qualities for themselves without my turning it around to serve me. This is where real love begins.
For more, check out: chastity.com/ Read about chastity in the NFL.
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