Ethical values and morals have been awarded with a prestige in every society of the world. These set of rules have significant importance since without morals and ethics, human beings cannot dignify themselves from other creatures and do not guaranty success and respect; both in this world and after world. We usually start teaching ethics to our children since early childhood, and simple but basic morals like speaking of truth always, obeying of elders, sincerity for others, taking care of sick, fair dealings etc are taught by the parents, so that the child may not distract from his/her religious or social ethics. Every religion of the world has its teachings of morals and ethics, particularly Christianity provides us with those basic values which are essential for us for being a better human being, a beneficial part of the society and most importantly a loved one to Christ. He sacrificed himself for our gratification; it’s our turn now to be like how he wanted us, by following all those values and morals that are defined in Holy Bible.
In today’s modernized world when everything has become evident, vivid and exposed to all, sexual values are those set of ethics that has continuously been violated. Adultery, homosexuality, pre-marital or extra-marital affairs, intended abortions and the curse like prostitution or sex-work have become so common that even a minor knows about all of these. Our society has been continually indulged in these immoral activities, with no shame, no regrets; rather trying to legalize gay-marriage in the name of personal freedom or supporting sex-workers as professional workers. In this essay, I will put light upon Holy Bible’s teachings upon these issues, and will further discuss my personal opinion, based upon the moral teachings and influences that have shaped my thinking.
As far as abortion is concerned, it is one of those social phenomena of today that relates to moral and social values of sex and relationship. It has become very common in our society and particularly single, unmarried mothers perform this to get rid of that unwanted child which is the result of their illegal intimacy with someone. Christianity strongly denies abortion, regarding it as equivalent to murder of a born human being. As mentioned in Catechism of the Catholic Church, abortion is a moral evil and no one is allowed to kill the fetus by abortion or a newborn (The fifth Commandment: 2270, 2271), except only if the mother’s life is endangered by fetus, and if so happens then mother’s life is given prior importance (Humanae Vitae by PAUL VI). However in US, the legal status of abortion varies with respect to states, which are either “Pro-Life” or “Pro-Choice”. It is quite legal in US, while almost banned in countries of Latin America. Every government tries hard to settle the issue completely, but no collective agreement has been reached so far. However, i belong to a family which follows the rules and laws of Christianity in every way, thus i am in strong opinion against intended abortions. Just because parents cannot afford their own child or it would disturb their schedule, there is no question of murdering someone alive in womb. According to me, it is a strong moral evil, and there must be laws by which whoever performs abortion except for medical reasons must be excommunicated. The reason that influenced most of my thinking is that people used to have unlawful sexual relations just because they know they can have abortions, thus without bothering about family and love, they simply tend towards satisfying their desires from whoever. Making laws against abortions will definitely lessen the number of such immoral sexual activities from the society.
Likewise abortion, Catholic Christianity also condemns homosexuality, regarding it as an unnatural act that is against God’s will of making a man and a woman for each other. There is no question of satisfying one’s physical desires in those ways which are prohibited in religion. God has created males and females for the purpose of extending their specie, which can only be done when a male sperm utilizes a female egg. Homosexuality does not affirm this intention of God towards his creatures, and thus it must be abandoned completely. Christianity clearly supports natural ways of satisfying sexual desires, which can only be impossible in heterosexual marriages, as it is stated “In the beginning the Creator made them male and female. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Ekwo 2010, pg 18).
Since my early puberty, my parents have used to tell me clearly not to make any unlawful physical relations with someone. They told me that getting married is the only legal way of satisfying sexual and physical desires, and homosexuality is a felony in Christianity. I remember that they used to give me the example of Lot and his angel guests in this regard, who tried to save them from the homosexuals of his nation by saying “Don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof” (Cannon 2009). If Christianity would allow any form of homosexuality, then Lot would not try to save his guests. It is one of great moral evils and must not be legalized in any case; rather homosexuals must be condemned and must not be allowed to practice their immoral faith independently. I have seen my own family as a complete one, with a father, a mother and loving siblings; which provide care, love and shelter in the hour of need. Homosexuals do not enjoy such relationships, and a complete family is only possible with the marriage of a man and woman.
Any sexual act that is performed other than under lawful bond of marriage is considered adultery. Likewise, sexual relationships that are made before and after marriage fall into the category of adultery, which is strictly denied in Christianity. It is a matter of shame and concern that our modern society contains as many sexual evils as it could have. People belonging to every field of society are somewhat and somehow involved in any kind of sexual immorality, the most common one being adultery. Now, people are no more interested to have families, wives and kids; rather what they want is just sexual pleasure. Pre-marital or extra-marital affairs are everywhere in today’s world, whether it is Charles and Kamila or Bill Clinton and Lewinsky, it seems to be completely unavoidable. However, according to the seventh commandment, it is clearly written in Romans 2:22, that “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Mrkvicka 2011, pg. 23), but this, along with other teachings of Holy Bible has been completely neglected by our society. I personally condemn this as being a firm Christian; my religion does not allow me to have those unlawful relationships that have no basis at all. I have seen my society falling deeper and more in immoralities and unethical considerations, and i feel sick of myself being a part of it. What i used to think is that, if any or both of my parents would be involved in any extra-marital sexual relation, then would my family be the same as today? Certainly no! We as kids would be disturbed and our family life would be ruined completely. A family is a blessing, whose value cannot be denied as a bolster for all members. My sexual values are in the favour of preferring a lovely family over unlawful sexual relationships. I hope Jesus would love such thinking of mine and support me in achieving morals and values.
As adultery is defined as an immoral act and a sin in Christianity, prostitution is regarded as a matter of disgrace as well, for those who have been involved in it. Prostitution involves sex for the exchange of money, from the customer to the seller, actually the seller of his/her body. Although women are typically associated with the profession, gratifying masculine bodies who can afford to shed their money for their sexual desires; yet male-prostitutes are also considerable in number. Holy Bible teaches us that sexual activity must be performed between a legal, male-female couple, who have love and commitment for each other, and if any sexual activity lies outside this boundary, it is unlawful and immoral. As prostitution concerns with such people who neither know each other, nor do they have any love, therefore it must not be appreciated rather condemned on every religious or social basis. Prostitution as a means of earning is condemned on a larger scale by Holy Bible (Deuteronomy 23:17, 18), “You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both” (Wolkomir 2006, pg. 99). As far as my opinion is concerned, i strongly deny prostitution, because it is against our religious moral grounds and is weakening our society. There is no place like home on earth; a caring father, a loving mother and friendly siblings, they all are blessings of God Almighty. Likewise, a committed couple would not cheat each other by involving in any kind of immoral sexual relationship. These relationships are neither divine nor blessed, and that is why my strongest influence is my religion, afterwards my family, who always guided me towards the right and blessed path.
I strongly disagree with the common assumption that women are inferior to men; have lesser intelligence and a sense of deceive within them. However, it could rightly be argued that females are physically weaker and thus must not do those heavy works that are associated with men only. I believe both genders have been made by God for each other’s gratification, and if women were as much unnecessary for the world, God must not have created them. It’s His natural way to define phenomena that are beneficial on individual and social grounds. If anyone would say that man is superior as Eve came out of Adam, then i would argue that what about those millions of men who came out of their mother’s wombs? I also believe that whoever made any immoral act, either male or female, should be punished equally, so that none of them would be able to do that again, and at the same time no particular of them gets the unequal treatment. Society has a great influence of this thinking of mine, as most of the women around me are social, intellectual and competent and they have no signs of being inferior to their male counterparts. They are taking part in their studies and work more efficiently and are a beneficial part of the society. Hence in my view, both genders are equally sacred and respectable.
In my view, sexual education is somewhat necessary in our educational institutes so as to guide our children in appropriate ways, but it must put some limits upon it. First of all, it must not be started in primary level, in this way children get attracted towards some of the negative sides of education and may start practicing which they learn. Children of middle and secondary school must be taught about their religious teachings about sexuality, so that they come to know about their religion’s affirmations over the issue and may try to avoid bad relations as much as possible. The trend must not be that how to do sex, how to perform protected sex or how to use contraceptives. It must divert towards describing the bad impacts of felony conducted in the form of adultery, pre-marital or extra-marital affairs, prostitution and eventually in the form of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Our generation needs to be aware of all of these issues as immoral and unethical, rather to get indulge in them as soon as they cross puberty and find a girl/boy friend for their sexual purposes.
References
Cannon, J. R. (2009). The Bible, Christianity, & homosexuality. Lexington, Ky: The Author.
Catechism of the Catholic Church. (n.d). The fifth Commandment. Retrieved April 4, 2013, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm
Ekwo, E. M. (2010). Homosexuality: Explaining the zeitgeist. S.l.: Authorhouse.
Encyclical letter HUMANAE VITAE of the Supreme Pontiff PAUL VI (n.d). Retrieved April 4, 2013,
Mrkvicka, Edward F., Jr. (2011). No Innocent Affair: Making Right the Wrong of Adultery. Tate Pub & Enterprises Llc.
Wolkomir, M. (2006). "Be not deceived": The sacred and sexual struggles of gay and ex-gay Christian men. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press.
