Why is sexuality pleasurable?

[Ghosty]

Mark T: Baptism is also a Sacrament, and can be performed by a layman as well. What you highlighted are the reasons why the Church requires that the Sacrament be performed the traditional way for it to be licit, but it does not explain the Sacrament. The actual description of the Sacrament is here:

1625 The parties to a marriage covenant are a baptized man and woman, free to contract marriage, who freely express their consent; “to be free” means:

• not being under constraint;
• not impeded by any natural or ecclesiastical law.

1626 **The Church holds the exchange of consent between the spouses to be the indispensable element that "makes the marriage."127 **If consent is lacking there is no marriage.

1627 The consent consists in a “human act by which the partners mutually give themselves to each other”: “I take you to be my wife” - "I take you to be my husband."128 This consent that binds the spouses to each other finds its fulfillment in the two "becoming one flesh."129
1628 The consent must be an act of the will of each of the contracting parties, free of coercion or grave external fear.130 No human power can substitute for this consent.131 If this freedom is lacking the marriage is invalid.

You’ll see that the the “indispensable element” of Marriage, the way the Sacrament is bestowed, is the consent between the spouses; no priest is mentioned. The Church normally requires the elements you listed, but this is explain as it being fitting and as protection for the spouses in question, not because of any Sacramental requirement. In other words, the Sacrament happens when two free adults consent to marriage (with all the implications of working towards having children that implies); the Priest is an assistant, and blesses the marriage, but he is still a “dispensable element”.

Now, all this being said, if you were in such an illicit marriage and wanted recognition from the Church, you would still have to have the proper ceremony performed, reexchanging vows and everything in front of the priest and congregation. That’s because that’s the way the Church recognizes that the marriage happened, and has very good reasons for doing so. The Sacrament doesn’t “happen again”, however, it’s merely being publically recognized by the Church.

It’s actually been a matter of some debate throughout Church history, and you can read more about it here:

newadvent.org/cathen/09707a.htm

Again, my understanding could definately be faulty.

 

[Mark_T]

I’ll be sure to read up on that link…thanks for the info!

 

[Ghosty]

No problem, and if you find out something new, please post it! I’m learning about this as much as anyone

 

[abcdefg]

I read somewhere that sex is pleasurable only for humans and dolphins.

 

[Ghosty]

That’s a misunderstanding, I believe. I think it’s more accurate to say that very few species (though more than just humans and dolphins) have sex for pleasure without apparent consideration for breeding. Dolphins seem to “masturbate”, which is why they are often used as an example. This isn’t the same as saying that other animals don’t enjoy sexual activity, just that they apparently have a much more holistic approach to it

 

[katherine2]

Pious Redeemer:

If sexuality’s only function were procreation, then why did God make it so pleasurable?

Because God is so wonderful.

 

[Chicken_Man]

legeorge:

God attached pleasure to the things that he wants us to do, things that are healthy for us to do. We find pleasure in eating, and sleeping, and in sexual relations. " Go forth and multiply and fill the face of the earth. " However, that does not mean that we should pervert these things. Just like we should not eat too much (gluttony) or sleep too much (sloth), we should only approach the pleasure of sex within a marriage union blessed by God and open to the Lord’s gift of children. The marital act is a gift from God and we should not abuse it (fornication). To do so is harmful to us, as is greed, sloth, etc.

This is one of the many things churning in my brain that I can’t remember till some 1 says something about it. So if sexual activity and eating and sleeping are all something that God wants us to do why is only one of them capable of making some one go to hell. If you eat too much and sleep too much will you go to hell? I hope not. Or else, well, nobody would make it. Listening to music makes us feel good, does God want us to make music alot. And if we make too much will we go to hell?

 

[Chicken_Man]

katherine2:

Because God is so wonderful.

But if I had the choice, to create my own reality, sex wouldn’t be a part of it. To me it is more of a pain that claims people’s souls than a pleasure.

 

[Ghosty]

So if sexual activity and eating and sleeping are all something that God wants us to do why is only one of them capable of making some one go to hell.

Ever heard of the Seven Deadly Sins? Sloth and Gluttony are right there on the list alongside Lust.

 

[DeniseR]

When I first learned about how babies were made I knew right then and there – at age 10 – that I would never have any babies! It sounded so gross!

Well, if God hadn’t built in a desire for expressing love and procreation into us, it all would have ended with Adam and Eve.

I may have misunderstood a previous poster who said that we should not have sex for pleasure for ourselves but to be united with our spouse. I don’t think they are mutually exclusive. We can and should enjoy the act while we are giving pleasure to our spouse. It doesn’t mean we are using one another unless it’s outside of marriage or not open to life.

The analogy about sugar/diabetics, alcohol/alcoholics, etc. is partially applicable. However, God made the marital act so special that nothing can truly compare because it represents Jesus and his church. To engage in or to abstain from appropriately – basically living chastely for all of us, married or unmarried – is not always easy but it’s something we all must try to do.

 

[chevalier]

It needs to be pleasurable or it would be a real sacrifice. Imagine a wife who’s not in the mood and has a splitting headache and aching stomach and sex is the last thing she wants, but she keeps it all in her heart and smiles without even telling her husband a word of how she feels. Now imagine both spouses feeling this way. Wouldn’t everyone be playing chess instead?

 

[legeorge]

Chicken Man:

This is one of the many things churning in my brain that I can’t remember till some 1 says something about it. So if sexual activity and eating and sleeping are all something that God wants us to do why is only one of them capable of making some one go to hell. If you eat too much and sleep too much will you go to hell? I hope not. Or else, well, nobody would make it. Listening to music makes us feel good, does God want us to make music alot. And if we make too much will we go to hell?

There is a reason they are called the “seven deadly sins”. Do you really think that only sexual sin can send you to hell? I hope not.
“Enter throught the narrow gate; for the gate is wide that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:13-14
Music is not necessary for sustaining life. So it is not relevant. Unless you want to say that you have an unhealthy obsession with music, putting it in front of your relationship to God, in which case it could be a grave sin, also sending you on the path to Gehenna.