• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Is Sex Sacred?

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
I often hear people say, "sex is sacred". But is sex sacred? If so, what makes it sacred? What would profane it? How do sacred and profane sex crucially differ?

If you believe sex is sacred, did you arrive at your belief through experience ("I have experienced its sacredness"), authority ("Someone told me its sacred"), or by some other means?

If you believe sex is sacred, is the experience of its sacredness open to all, or just a few?

Again, if sex is sacred, what are some of the implications of its sacredness on how we should act?

Can the sanctity of sex be reduced to neurobiology or some other scientific explanation?

Lastly, does your mother know you spend your time on the internet talking about sex?
 

c0da

Active Member
The whole idea of sex being sacred is changing. I would say that it isn't as sacred as it once was. Its not really frowned upon to sleep around a little bit before finding the right person for you, then deciding after a few years of marriage that they weren't the right person for you and the process is repeated!

The education given to youngsters used to be "don't do it till your married"

Now the education is "when (not if) you do it, make sure you use a condom or you'll catch a disease"

Attitudes are changing and although sex is still a pretty private matter, its not really sacred any more.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
c0da2006 said:
The whole idea of sex being sacred is changing. I would say that it isn't as sacred as it once was. Its not really frowned upon to sleep around a little bit before finding the right person for you, then deciding after a few years of marriage that they weren't the right person for you and the process is repeated!

The education given to youngsters used to be "don't do it till your married"

Now the education is "when (not if) you do it, make sure you use a condom or you'll catch a disease"

Attitudes are changing and although sex is still a pretty private matter, its not really sacred any more.
From your post, C0da, I get the impression you believe the factor crucially important to whether sex is sacred or not is the number of sex partners one has? Is this impression correct?
 

Pah

Uber all member
Intense pleasure can sometimes be called "sacred" as in "I've died and gone to heaven" pleasure.

Sacred sex is beef at Chris Ruth's - profane sex is a burger at Mac's (sometimes it requires "fries" with that)
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Pah said:
Intense pleasure can sometimes be called "sacred" as in "I've died and gone to heaven" pleasure.

Then is the impression some people have that sex is sacred nothing more than a by product of intense pleasure, Pah?
 

EnhancedSpirit

High Priestess
All of life is sacred, so by association, sex would be sacred. It has been explained to me that the feeling associated with an orgasm is like a window to heaven, and when we are nothing but unconditional love, we have that feeling all the time.

Also, while we are in spirit, we have no body, therefore sex would be an earthly experience only.
 

ΩRôghênΩ

Disciple of Light
sex is sacred because it shows us how the love between a man and a woman can be used to create a whole new person from that love. this is why i do not believe in pre-marital sex. because marital sex shows our love to one another, before sex. love comes first, then sexual fulfillment.
 

standing_alone

Well-Known Member
I don't think sex is sacred at all. All it is is a way to physically "bond" with another person, nothing more. Sex with someone you actually love is better than hving sex with someone just for the sake of having sex; sex with someone you love will be more special, I would think. But I wouldn't go as far as to call it sacred.
 

c0da

Active Member
From your post, C0da, I get the impression you believe the factor crucially important to whether sex is sacred or not is the number of sex partners one has? Is this impression correct?

Sort of, but more so how they are with these sexual partners and how they feel about them. If one has numerous meaningless one night stands and is rather promiscous, I don't think they are treating sex as sacred, but if somebody has had sex with quite a lot of people, but each time it is done within a loving relationship, it can be sacred.
 

Pah

Uber all member
Sunstone said:
Then is the impression some people have that sex is sacred nothing more than a by product of intense pleasure, Pah?
The ectasy sometimes experienced in sexual release is akin to spiritual ectasy. I really doubt that, in the heights of a sexual act, there is an awareness of God.
 

Flappycat

Well-Known Member
Sunstone said:
I often hear people say, "sex is sacred". But is sex sacred? If so, what makes it sacred? What would profane it? How do sacred and profane sex crucially differ?

If you believe sex is sacred, did you arrive at your belief through experience ("I have experienced its sacredness"), authority ("Someone told me its sacred"), or by some other means?

If you believe sex is sacred, is the experience of its sacredness open to all, or just a few?

Again, if sex is sacred, what are some of the implications of its sacredness on how we should act?

Can the sanctity of sex be reduced to neurobiology or some other scientific explanation?

Lastly, does your mother know you spend your time on the internet talking about sex?
It's a popular way to pass the time, but I like to think it's a passing fad. There are more fulfilling things to do with one's time in my opinion. There are more fulfilling things to do with a relationship.
 

michel

Administrator Emeritus
Staff member
standing_alone said:
I don't think sex is sacred at all. All it is is a way to physically "bond" with another person, nothing more. Sex with someone you actually love is better than hving sex with someone just for the sake of having sex; sex with someone you love will be more special, I would think. But I wouldn't go as far as to call it sacred.
I agree; looked up 'sacred' in the dictionary (Merriam-Webster)

1 a : dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity <a tree sacred to the gods> b : devoted exclusively to one service or use (as of a person or purpose) <a fund sacred to charity>
2 a : worthy of religious veneration : [SIZE=-1]HOLY[/SIZE] b : entitled to reverence and respect
3 : of or relating to religion : not secular or profane <sacred music>

I don't quite see sex as being for the service of a deity (except maybe for Roman Catholics with very strong convictions).

Besides, we have recently had a thread about masturbation (and I remember one in the past where someone found an article to support the fact that fetuses masturbate); now, I can't really see any of that as being "worthy of religious veneration", and don't let's forget the nasty side of sex: Rape.
 

evearael

Well-Known Member
Sex is sacred. It is a gift from God to create life--"Be fruitful and multiply", to express love and commitment--"and they shall be one flesh", and to provide comfort--"and he was comforted after his mother's death." Using sex to harm another, as in rape, or lying to obtain sex, "sure, I love you...", profanes sexuality.

The sacredness of sexuality is open to all. We should use this gift with respect for God, ourselves and our partners. Pleasure is explained by neurobiology, sacredness is more than neurobiology.

No clue if mummy knows...
 

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I think many of our parents, teachers and clergy told us sex was sacred primarily with an eye toward convincing us to reserve it for a sacred setting, ie: the marriage bed.
 

evearael

Well-Known Member
I certainly didn't get my ideas from any of them! My dad is a secular humanist and my mom is of the traditional Cherokee faith. I've had very little exposure to clergy in my life, and disagreed with most of them. Also, a high school teacher in public school would have been fired for calling sex sacred. The sacredness of sexuality is something you can realize for yourself through study, meditation and prayer.
 

lilithu

The Devil's Advocate
What is sacred? And what is profane? Are we going by Durkheim's definitions?

I remember being in a discussion about sex on RF while back where I was alarmed by the number of people who believed that sex is just sex, nothing special about it. Just a biological drive and a source of pleasure, like eating. (Wow, Freud has changed the world.) I otoh came off as a prude because I was arguing that ideally sex ought to be experienced in conjunction with love. I don't think I'm a prude (no one thinks of themselves as such) - I don't think that sex is dirty or should only be done "within the sanctity of marriage." Basically anything that you want to do is fine by me as long as it's between consenting adults. But I honestly feel that we lose something special by treating sex as just another biological drive. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think it's no more than that, then it's no more than that for you. And that's sad. Because sex, unlike eating, necessarily involves an interaction between yourself and another person. And your aproach to sex determines how you value that other person and vice versa. I hate to think of people treating each other as "meat," the means by which to fulfill a drive and nothing more. Ideally for me, sex is a conversation with another being, not just an act of mutual gratification. It is an act of communion.

But as for whether it is sacred, again, what is sacred?
 

EnhancedSpirit

High Priestess
Seyorni said:
I think many of our parents, teachers and clergy told us sex was sacred primarily with an eye toward convincing us to reserve it for a sacred setting, ie: the marriage bed.
Actually parents in my mothers generation taught that sex was sinful, and dirty, and a chore that had to be done. I found sacredness in sex. But I also find sacredness in eating, and meditation. All are gifts, all of life is sacred.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Seyorni said:
I think many of our parents, teachers and clergy told us sex was sacred primarily with an eye toward convincing us to reserve it for a sacred setting, ie: the marriage bed.
I think there might be a reluctance on the part of many of us to say that anything, especially sex, is sacred precisely because calling something sacred is so often publicly used as an excuse and rationalization for someone's morality. e.g. "Heterosexual marriage is sacred, homosexual marriage is profane. QED: Don't allow homosexual marriage." But I don't think this sad fact of life should preclude us from asking whether anything is sacred, and whether sex is sacred.
 

Krie

Member
i think that sex is sacred as in that you should not just give it away like it is a game. to have sex with a person you are giving yourself to them so why should it not be sacred???
 
Top