Hang-Ups.

                            

An Indian Guru once said to me, "When you join a religious group you may actually develop some problems you didn't have before."

I now realize that he was referring to sex.

Having grown up in the 1960s and 1970s I had quite a healthy, open-minded attitude to sex.

Since returning to the Christian Church in 1989, however, I have discovered that the institution still harbors serious fears about sex, especially homosexual sex.

This is backed up by its inverse - modern Satanism - which infects much of our popular culture.

So we cop it from both sides.

The problems in the Christian Churches derive from the writings of St. Paul.

Paul came from a strict sect of ascetic Pharisees and his problems with sex come from there.

Jesus did not condemn sex.
He saved the woman taken in adultery (John 8:1-11).
And he forgave the sinful woman who anointed his feet. (Luke 8:36-50).

He was known for eating with sinners and forgiving their sins.

So why is the Church still obsessed with sex?

Fear of sin and damnation drives them still.

There are numerous doctrines based on fear of sex:
Repression of the passions (Stoic).
All is clouded by desire (Buddhist).
The body of death (St. Paul).
The enemy of the spirit (St. Paul).
Animal instincts (general).
Evolution from animals to angels (modern).
Even bartering sex in exchange for heaven (Ascetic).

These theories are a blight on human philosophy and betray their origins in fear.

The time has come to leave them behind and move forward into a future of freedom.


Photo Credit: nicnac1000 Flickr via Compfight cc