Sex and Pleasure?
Upvote:8
Sex (within Marriage) has Multiple Purposes
Outside of the Song of Songs, the Bible does not go into a lot of detail about sex. Some knowledge of it is assumed for any adult reader. Bounds are placed on its use (strictly within marriage). The particulars and mechanics of it are never really described or prescribed.
Some Christians might argue that sex’s only ordained purpose is procreation (though even the Roman Catholic church has backed off that stance somewhat, since it even promotes a form of deliberate abstainance, presumably to avoid unwanted pregnancy). If the question about “for pleasure” were made more general, “Does sex have a purpose beyond procreation?” the answer is certainly “Yes.” If the question is “Is it permissible to have sex only for pleasure (and absolutely nothing more)?” the answer is the same (though one’s motivation might be open to self-scrutiny), though I doubt that it can be experienced within marriage and pleasure be the only result.
These relevant passages are taken from an articly by Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry:
Procreation
- Gen. 1:28, "And God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"
Intimacy
- Song 1:13, "My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh which lies all night between my breasts."
- Song 2:3, "Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."
- Song 2:6, "Let his left hand be under my head and his right hand embrace me."
- Song 4:5, "Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies."
Companionship
- Song 3:1, "On my bed night after night I sought him whom my soul loves..."
Physical Pleasure
- Song 1:2, "May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine."
I don’t know precisely what you mean by “Biblically defensible,” so I’ll include some reasoning that is at least in harmony with the testimony of scripture.
Most will also point out the sheer necessity of sexual intercourse between a husband and wife in a healthy marriage. One of the first questions that marriage counselors will ask a couple seeking help is: When is the last time you were sexually intimate? This is because intimacy is essential to marriage. Two people will simply not stay happily married to each other if they don’t share intimacy. It doesn’t have to be sexual intercourse, but for a vast majority of married people, sexual intercourse is one important way of maintaining intimacy.
There’s no Biblical prohibition placed on sex for (married) people who are too old to bear children. I think it a fair assumption that even the people we read about in the Bible continued to be sexually intimate with their spouses beyond their child bearing years with no intention of becoming pregnant.
Conclusion
Sexual intercourse between a husband and wife is not strictly for pleasure. It is undeniably pleasurable, but sex has more purposes than just pleasure. Is it OK to have sex with your spouse without some higher purpose in mind? Sure, but know that other purposes will be accomplished whether you assent to them or not.
More post
- 📝 Why is it not that a state divorce is actually an argument AGAINST a church annulment petition rather than a necessary condition for such petition?
- 📝 Why are bibles sold for profit?
- 📝 Longevity of biblical manuscripts
- 📝 Why are we given details about what the descendants of Cain did? Is there special significance to these details?
- 📝 Does the seal of confession apply even when the sin is intended and there is no desire to repent?
- 📝 Who or what is the origin of the Seven Mountain Mandate?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, if one, faced with the threat of being burned alive, denied Christ, would his sin be mortal?
- 📝 How many New Testament manuscripts do we really have?
- 📝 Does a Catholic bishop appoint the Canon priests of his cathedral?
- 📝 Wilderness temptations of Christ: how did Satan appear to Jesus?
- 📝 Acording to Orthodox Christianity does God know the future?
- 📝 Eating a specific fruit that God didn't permit was an act of disobedience, agreed, but?
- 📝 All my days are ordained before I was born?
- 📝 According to Catholicism, how should Christians react when an unbeliever dies?
- 📝 According to Ravi Zacharias's apologetic argument, how could love have existed prior to the fall?
- 📝 Will all glorified children of God take on the title/name of YHWH in the age to come?
- 📝 Do the Eastern Orthodox think the state of virginity is more meritorious than marriage?
- 📝 Why is smoking a sin?
- 📝 Is there any significance to the aside in Luke 23:12, regarding Pilate and Herod?
- 📝 Ark of the Covenant
- 📝 Why are a Catholic bishop's Coat of Arms green and not purple?
- 📝 What was the pre-Babel language and what can be said about the mechanism used to confuse the languages?
- 📝 Did Jesus need to die, or would mere shedding of blood have been sufficient?
- 📝 Is there a difference of substance between the veneration of Mary, and the worship of God?
- 📝 Ephesians 2:2, which one comes first in the Calvinist view?
- 📝 How to ask a Catholic priest to bless something for someone else?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for civil disobedience, by not wearing a mask in the midst of COVID-19, despite health department rules?
- 📝 Do married couples need to live sexually?
- 📝 Were there any ancient prophets B.C. considered of the same God?
- 📝 Has any Christian (group) attempted to compile a list of personages, which are Biblically stated to be (eventually) in heaven?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that believe in sex and marriage in the afterlife?
- 📝 What Christian groups believe sex was the original sin, and not disobedience?
- 📝 Sex and Pleasure?
- 📝 If the Catholic Church teaches "babies and bonding", is having sex at an old age a sin?
- 📝 What is the Catholic teaching on oral sex and impotence?
- 📝 What was the Early Church's view of sexual immorality and sex outside of marriage?
- 📝 Does Christianity address the difference between joy and pleasure and how to manage them?
- 📝 Conjoined twins and marriage and sex
- 📝 Can I believe in evolution and still be a Christian?
- 📝 Why does Judaism celebrate Sabbath on Saturday and most Christians celebrate Sabbath on Sunday?
- 📝 What is the basis for saying Christians and Muslims worship the same God?
- 📝 How do young earth creationists reconcile the age of the universe with the speed of light, and visible distant objects?
- 📝 How to answer "Why do evil and suffering exist?"
- 📝 If Adam and Eve were perfect, why did they choose to sin?
- 📝 Why are Matthew, Mark, and Luke called the synoptic gospels?
- 📝 How can the sun be created after day and night?
- 📝 Is there any Biblical Basis for 400 years of silence between Old and New Testament?
- 📝 Did God change from a wrathful God to a loving God between Old Testament and New Testament?
- 📝 Can somebody summarize the different "branches" of Christianity to me, and explain why they exist in the first place?
- 📝 What is the difference between Evangelical and Protestant?
- 📝 According to those holding that Lazarus was literally raised from the dead, why did Matthew, Mark, and Luke not mention it?
- 📝 What are the different names of God in the Bible and what do they mean?
- 📝 Does God create some people Heterosexual and others Homosexual?
- 📝 How could Jacob wrestle with God if no one can see God and live?
- 📝 Is the "sinner's prayer" important for salvation and why?
- 📝 How could Jesus be born during the reign of Herod, and when Quirinius was governor of Syria, if those periods were not contemporary?
- 📝 Why do we use the order "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit"?
- 📝 What were the main doctrinal disagreements between Luther and Calvin?
- 📝 How can I tell the difference between the Moral law and other laws in the old testament?
- 📝 Sex outside of marriage is a sin. But what about "less than sex"?