In paragraph 12 it says, “The reason is that the fundamental nature of the marriage act, while uniting husband and wife in the closest intimacy, also renders them capable of generating new life—and this as a result of laws written into the actual nature of man and of woman. And if each of these essential qualities, the unitive and the procreative, is preserved, the use of marriage fully retains its sense of true mutual love and its ordination to the supreme responsibility of parenthood to which man is called.”
This passage has a few different conflicting messages to me. First, the pope says the fundamental reason for a man and a woman to get married is to engage in the closet intimacy. While the sentence does go on to say that this act is capable of generating new life, the initial statement argues that two people only get married to have sex for pleasure rather than to create a baby. This goes against everything else the pope says in this essay. The pope expresses his strong disdain towards the use of contraception, particularly in paragraph 14. Here he talks about how absolutely nothing unnatural can or should be used to prevent the conception of a child. In essence this says that no couples, even those who are married, can have sex for any reason other than to conceive a child. While I am sure there are many people who support the pope’s views in regards sex, I have a different view. There are tons of studies that show that sex is not only extremely healthy for your body as it reduces stress and blood pressure, but it also releases hormones that help people bond and build trust. If sex can only occur to try to have a baby, these benefits will be lost.
Continuing on in paragraph 12, the pope also states that a man and woman’s marriage is not fully retained unless they preserve the right to procreate. They must engage in sexual intercourse for the sole purpose of making a baby or their marriage does not fulfill the requirements laid out by pope. Furthermore, the pope declares that a married couple can only have a “sense of true mutual love” if they try to generate a baby. This conflicts with paragraph 9, where it states, “This love is above all fully human, a compound of sense and spirit.” This says that true love goes beyond the mortal world and the two people are connected through the spiritual world as well. Their connection is far and away from simple infatuation.
I agree that married couples should have sex to strengthen the relationship and build trust. And if that isn't part of the relationship then that potential for the level of love is lost. The Pope's goal is to have everyone of the religion to stay pure until they want to have a child, but in reality that will probably never happen.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I have also heard the scientific fact that sex is healthy for you. I did not even know that this was a old style view, but now that I think of it I guess that people in the old days had sex and had to expect a baby everytime they had sex because their was no protection or pills. But many people in that day were also abstinent so they would be married and would expect to have a child.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting point. I think the whole world takes on the purpose for sex and marriage in a different way. Like, we all know sex can make a baby, but like do people get married to stay with a best friend? To engage in sex without feeling guilty if that's what they believe? To have security and have sex to keep the feelings there and alive? Or just like do people just have sex for pleasure now days. I think it is just an interesting point the Pope makes, because really does sex have much value these days anymore? It's such a tossed around subject.
ReplyDeleteI've always heard that sex is the most romantic, connecting thing a man and a woman can do. As you mentioned, it builds trust and is HEALTHY for you (how awesome, right?)!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I gather from the Pope, he cannot understand sex for pleasure. If you're having sex for fun, you're not following God. Well, when something like 80% of undergraduate students have had sex, Heaven might be pretty lonely in 100 years when our generation passes on.
When you think about things that adapt over time, like the way we learn things in schools, the Pope is one of the only things in life that have not accommodated the new generations. Come on Pope, try to be a little more hip! :-)
The pope is right about this. He is arguing that sex is naturaly about having kids. He is looking at it through a biological lens, and us correct that is the sole purpose of sex....in that lens though.
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