Along with most pleasure in general? And please don't try to say they don't. Origern, whom many regard as THE Church father of Christianity, castrated himself, so hating sex was certainly not unheard of from the beginning. We have the Skoptsi in Russia, the Shakers in the US, just about every priest and Reverend I've ever heard a sermon on sex from. Other religions don't do it. Hindi celebrates sex, Buddhism, Confucianism, Shinto, are all studiedly neutral but none of them have any real problem with it. It couldn't really be the pregnancy either. That's always been there, and affects other faiths as well Why does Christianity alone try to marginalise and make evil the central life giving activity of humanity, the most pleasurable thing we can do, the reason we're HERE in the opinion of most people who've studied biology? Doing that is madness, IMO, tell me why it's not.
Patriarchy I think..... Fear and a desire to control women... I am not exactly young.. I remember when girls who had ... would NEVER admit it.. And then there was that rare teen from Ann Arbor who was in you face that she was sexually liberated.. (1960s) I belonged to the former group who would not even admit to heavy petting... What do they call recreational sex these days...? Oh yes, "hooking up". My parents told me that sex was beautiful .. and do wait until you are married.
Where did you get the idea that all of Christianity hates sex? Sex between married couples is definitely in the Bible. It's not taboo....and it's supposed to be MUTUALLY enjoyed, too. Proverbs 5 18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. 19 A loving doe, a graceful deer— may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. 1 Cor 7 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 1 Cor 7 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. That's kinda like saying: Why do Abrahamic faiths condone or promote murder? And please don't try to say they don't. Cain murdered Abel....so murder was certainly not unheard of from the beginning.
Based upon my time sitting in Church, the Church seems to believe that some forms of pleasure entice the faithful to fall from the path of God. Religion has a bad habit of labeling harmless action as immoral which is silly to me as harm is the boundary that seperates an action from an immoral action. Harmless action is not immoral by my logic... it is amoral.
Perhaps I'm being too simplistic this time around but if I had to guess I'd say micropenis is the culprit. - - - Updated - - - When a scale has been tipped too far to one side it always goes in the extreme opposite direction when trying to balance itself.
I never got the impression sex was immoral, only that it was unclean (the two are very different in Abrahamitic theology). Similarly, the deadly sins aren't really sins, but behaviours that might lead to sin, and there we find, not sex, but lust. However, when you address the issue lust, you kind of have to address sex too. I suppose it has to do with lust's ability to lead people away from other things, be it keeping people from taking drugs or stop believing.
some Christians also try to pass any sex laws, try to punish people for being sexually active, ect... there was even some Christians sects that believe dying a virgin was the way to God... course as they had no kids, they died out after a few generation to answer your question though, no clue one some religious nuts want to control what others do in their bedrooms .
I read a great series of books by the late, great Vardis Fisher called "The Testament of Man". It's a remarkable piece of work. One book deals with the origins of this faith in detail and is excellent. Check it out. http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/AORVardisFisher3.htm Island of the Innocents is the one that might interest readers. In this entire series, Vardis explores the many versions of religion that came about over time in the Middle East. He researched it well, it took him a long time to write the series. In many ways, it is much like Robert Grave's work in that he weaves fictional characters and dialogue in an argumentative style that attempts to explore the various points of view. You can find these in paper back on Amazon, they are worth reading.
By hating sex and turning it into a sin christians relieve themselves of the self loathing they keep hidden resulting from their own sexual inadequacy or inability to "get some" like normal folks!
i can only speak for former Orthodox Christians and Christian Mystics like myself but....... Partly.... because our religion has been somewhat taken over by fallen angels...... and or Hungry Ghosts.... and or sinister aliens...... who are jealous / envious of sex...... and deep down.... we realize that our silly exaggeration from the second or third or fourth century about the Virgin Birth...... was an exaggeration...... The Apostle Paul... .mentions nothing about this supposedly critical doctrine....
On the outside looking in, if I had to take a guess, I would say it was different paths toward a better result with the offspring that were produced that put any and all guidelines into play. People with differing interpretations and approaches and desires probably took those guidelines in whatever way pleased them, whether they were curbing their own temptations, or trying to ensure a balance between resources and warriors in their respective cultures. It could simply be a case of politics or those with power abusing it.
I think it's because if sex is shameful outside of marriage, then extramarital sex would be limited and... ahem... paternity wouldn't be questioned
I think you've nailed one of the major reasons. Virtually all traditional societies regulate sex, particularly female agency in sex, so it's not simply a feature of Christianity as the OP seems to think. Up tightness about sex probably started with the agricultural revolution when people started staying put and had property to pass down. The wanted to make sure property went to their own heirs rather than the child of some passing visitor.
Right wingers claim to be good moral Christians but the record clearly shows that they love their pornography and adultery. This has been documented on previous threads.
Virtually all traditional societies are "neurotic" about sex. Religion is simply the enforcement mechanism.
At one time Humanity did not have all these ideological constraints concerning sex. I really don't see a problem if a person say has several wives or even husbands. After all....love is not so limited and who say's that a person can only love one person? It doesn't work like that. Love comes in many forms and it is precious.....and a person should consider themselves lucky in the extreme if they find anyone who actually just cares for them never mind loves them. AA
Religion teaches the idea that sexual promiscuity by the adults OKs the same thing for teens and unmarried people. Then bastards appear in multitudes, making the inner cities dangerous, and soon Welfare demands $1 Trillion dollars every year, as happened since 2011. These bastard kids fail High School as turn schools into playgrounds in the classes, and Education disappears. The police soon have problems when these bastards gang together claim they get arrested for no reason.
