Jordan St. Francis
Well-Known Member
I just found this quote from C.S Lewis on Christian sexual morality in Mere Christianity, chapter 5 (worth a look). I thought, in the midst of the culture war themes which tend to bombard religion talk that this was at least worth seeing for both ourselves and others:
Besides that point however, I also liked this comment:Finally, though I have had to speak at some length about sex, I want to make it as clear as I possibly can that the centre of Christian morality is not here. If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self righteous prig who goes to church regularly may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.
There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying your food: there would be everything to be ashamed of if half the world made food the main interest of their lives and spent their time looking at pictures of food and licking their lips.