Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: goodrum@unccvax.UUCP (Cloyd Goodrum) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Is Sex Evil? (Was: Strangers in a Strange World) Message-ID: Date: 19 Dec 89 07:39:31 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Univ. of NC at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC Lines: 37 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu OFM sez: > [The idea that sex is evil was certainly present in some Gnostic > groups. However as applied to mainstream Christianity it seems to be > primarily an accusation that various groups make about others. --clh] I think that it is true that Christianity today does not view sex as inherently evil. But didn't Augustine believe that while sex in itself was not evil, the physical pleasure derived from it is? This comes awful close to saying that sex is evil. Cloyd Goodrum III -- Cloyd Goodrum III UNCC Computer Science Department Charlotte, N.C. unccvax!goodrum@mcnc.org [At least in the City of God, Augustine says that it isn't sex, but lust that is evil. Of the sinless state before the Fall he says "No sadness of any kind was there, nor any foolish joy; true gladness ceaselessly flowed from the presence of God, who was loved 'out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.' The honest love of husband and wife made a sure harmony between them. Body and spirit worked harmoniously together..." Had they not sinned, they would still have created offspring by sexual intercourse. However offspring would hve been begotten "without the disease of lust", "at the command of the will; and without the seductive stimulus of passion, with calmness of mind and with no corrupting the integrity of the body ... since no wild heat of passion would arouse those parts of the body, but a spontaneous power, according to the need, would be present." (City of God, Chap 14, par 26.) I think he doesn't object to pleasure, but to its uncontrolled nature. It may not have been clear from the quotation, but the fact that erection is not under the control of the will seems to him to indicate that we are not in control during intercourse, but are carried away by passion. --clh]