Hopefully the following examples will reveal more of the problems involved in traditional Christian moral claims.
“Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Yahweh’s sight; so he put him to death also.” (Genesis 38:8-10)
Is it immoral for the brother of a dead man not to impregnate his sister-in-law?
In the Bible (Genesis 38:8-10), the Hebrew God Yahweh kills Onan for spilling his semen and not impregnating his dead brother’s wife. That would make it seem to be an important moral, would it not? Does the modern Christian think Yahweh later changed his mind about such an important moral absolute? Is morality subject to Yahweh's changing whims?
Since Yahweh does not speak aloud to everyone and make the truth clear, how are people to know whether Yahweh changed "his" mind or not?
Is it immoral for a man to have sex with his wife just for fun, even once, and not try for a child every time he has sex?
Ancient Christians actually thought so (citations below). Was the "Holy Spirit" misleading them? Did they fail to understand God's voice? Why? If they failed, who can say that modern Christians are not misinterpreting everything too?
Ancient Jews and Christians believed that in Genesis 38:8-10 Yahweh killed Onan for letting his semen fall on the ground.
[For Judaism, see Babylonian Talmud, Niddah 13a.]
Clement of Alexandia (c.150-211/216), one of the most important early Church fathers, expresses the early Christian view of the abhorrence of spilling semen:
“Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted. To have coitus other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature” (The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2, 2:10:95:3).
Jerome (c. 347 – 420), an early Christian apologist and famous creator of the Vulgate (the Latin translation of the Bible), wrote,
“But I wonder why he the heretic Jovinianus set Judah and Tamar before us for an example, unless perchance even harlots give him pleasure; or Onan, who was slain because he grudged his brother seed (semen). Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the procreation of children?” (Jerome, Against Jovinian 1:19).
It is clear from history that early Christians considered it immoral to have un-procreative sex.
I should remind you that these men were allegedly guided by the "Holy Spirit" in their role as Christian leaders.
Many modern Christians consider this idea ridiculous, although some may try to abide by it.
[Hence Monty Python’s song, “Every Sperm Is Sacred” from the film The Meaning of Life (1983) - link below.]
Is it immoral to use a condom or other contraceptives?
According to over 1,500 years of Christianity as well as the modern Roman Catholic Church, it is immoral to use a condom or contraceptives. Other Christians and plenty of Catholics themselves disagree. Who is right? The old Christians or the new Christians?
Is it wrong to masturbate?
I was told so in a Southern Baptist Sunday school class growing up. Early Christians certainly thought so, as described above. Clement of Alexandria and others thought it was sinful to waste sperm!
In Roman Catholicism, it is still officially considered sinful. "Masturbation is an intrinsically and seriously disordered act," according to Pope Paul VI in his 1975 declaration "Persona Humana: Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics."
Plenty of modern Christians still think masturbation is a sin.
Check out these links if you think I am making this up:
"Is Masturbation A Sin," http://www.allaboutlifechallenges.org/is-masturbation-a-sin-faq.htm.
"Masturbation Addiction," http://www.allaboutlifechallenges.org/masturbation-addiction.htm.
"Christian Author Mack Major Says Female Masturbation Is ‘Direct Path To Satan’: He also warns that dildos are used in “demonic sex rituals.” Huffington Post, 2016-04-11, 11:25 pm ET, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mack-major-masturbation-satan_us_570c47cae4b01422324a02ee.
RBC Ministries Bible Study, Tough Questions series. (No longer available) http://www.rbc.org/bible_study/answers_to_tough_questions/answers/30915.aspx.
Anybody who understands biology, however, knows that this is a foolish notion. Nature produces a vast overabundance of seed.
In an average, healthy ejaculation, there are anywhere from 20 million to 900 million sperm. That's M-I-L-L-I-O-N.
[20–150 million sperm per milliliter (mL), 1.0–6.5 milliliters (mL) per ejaculation, according to WebMD, http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/guide/semen-analysis?page=3 (link updated 2016)].
Does this sound like the work of a personal god who gets angry if people waste sperm?!! Or does it sound more like the work of natural evolution?
I feel sorry for guilt-ridden Christians who think masturbation is sinful and angers God.
Do they not realize that the male body will ejaculate sperm one way or another? Nature/ biology forces males to dream about sex and ejaculate if they do not masturbate or have sex. Nocturnal emissions (a.k.a. "wet dreams") do what Clement and other ancient Christians so dreaded -- they "waste semen." And they do not occur by choice. They are involuntary!
Ejaculations are in no way sinful. No God would be so stupid or petty as to become angry over ejaculations.
Is it wrong to "lust"?
Lust means "very strong sexual desire."
The ancient writer of "Matthew" depicts Jesus as saying,
“I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:28-29).
Should males then destroy their brains and bodies in order to prevent lust?
The influential early Christian writer Origen (c.185-c.254) actually castrated / emasculated himself, according to the ancient Church historian Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica 6.8). Is that not sad? Why would he do that? He did it supposedly because he took another scripture (allegedly the words of Jesus) very seriously:
"For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it." (Matthew 19:12) [eunuch = emasculated man = castrated = testes removed]
What?!
Every modern human should know this: Lust occurs involuntarily as a biochemical reaction, and it will happen one way or another for 99% of healthy males, either in waking or in dreaming (i.e. nocturnal emissions) or most likely both.
Lust can be risky when acted upon and can get people into trouble, of course. And of course thoughts often lead to actions, but not always. And lust can also be wonderful, exciting, beautiful, fun, ... a natural impetus toward and part of healthy relationships. As such, it should be celebrated as a healthy part of life. The important thing is not to avoid lust, but to make sure that you never harm someone by your actions or think you can do whatever you want with no consequences. Whether through sex, masturbation, or both, males and females should find safe and healthy ways of fulfilling their sexual desires, ways that are loving, ways that are respectful of others, ways that do not lead to unwanted pregnancies.
Christian sexual "morality" was primitive, repressive, and based on poor education.
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Every Sperm Is Sacred
Monty Python’s “Every Sperm Is Sacred” from the film The Meaning of Life (1983).
[https://youtu.be/fUspLVStPbk] *If this link breaks or the video is removed due to copyright claims, just do a google search!*
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Monty Python does a pretty good job of showing cases in which it might become immoral to keep up old morality.
Consider the following scenario:
If humans prosper on the planet, population will continue to grow and resources diminish. IF in the future there are too many people and not enough resources, (some would say the time is here), will it not become foolish, cruel, and BAD/wrong for a family to have more than 1 or 2 children? It seems that eventually, unless people voluntarily change, it will necessarily become immoral and eventually illegal for families to have more than 1 or 2 children (without permission or trade-offs), and thus immoral to have procreative sex more than a few times in one's life. For impoverished people that time is already here! It should be considered immoral for the poor to have too many children. Every decent, loving, considerate American should support the use of condoms and/or birth-control (and/or less reliably sex on the rhythm method?) for any sexually active people who cannot support children. Unless people want to be quite psychologically unhealthy, they will be having sex mostly for love and pleasure, not for procreation.
There are a few pretty good, helpful ideas in old Judeo-Christian morality, like "Love your neighbor."
However, reason, science, and Life are far too important for us to go ignorantly spouting off about unchanging "moral absolutes." Our success, health, well-being, our very survival will depend on our ability to reason and adapt.
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Regardless of how any individual feels, it is a fact that modern Christians disagree about sexual morality.
When Christians disagree with each other about moral issues, no God intervenes; no God explains to them the right thing to do; no God speaks. Why? Because Christianity is a false and ancient superstition, and people's claims of "divine guidance" are presumptuous and vain.
When it comes to morality, we should all see that actions have consequences. Real, effective morality is all about realizing what kind of society we desire, choosing behaviors that will lead to achievement of our goals, and avoiding behaviors that will harm us as a society and/or as individuals.
Modern society needs morality based on logic / good reasoning, not superstitious or unfounded/unquestioning confidence in ancient texts.
(Return to "Christian Morality Evolves")