Sexual Ethics

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  • Sexual Ethics
    • Sex in the old testament
      • Ancient Greek sexual ethics clash with today's modern ideas. Especially regarding sex with an adult and adolescent
      • Mans power was seen through the amount of property he owned and how many offspring he has.
      • Teaching of genesis was that God created Adam and Eve, and their purpose was to have sex and reproduce
        • Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve had sex because it was good in itself.
      • God says 1)pain in childbirth - consequence of sex 2)sexual desire - lust and obsession 3)husband ruling over wife - sexual dominance
      • After the fall, sex cannot be good in itself.
        • Purely for reproduction.
      • Woman must be virgin before she marries.
      • Some parts where sex can be inappropriate. Lot and his daughters.
    • New Testament teaching on sex
      • Teaching of Jesus says very little about sexual ethics.
      • Jewish law says divorce can only be done by the male and adulterous woman should be taken away from the city.
      • It can be read that Jesus agrees with divorce in some cases.
      • Main teaching of Jesus was to treat people equally
      • Jesus - "love god with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself"
      • Apostle Paul thinks the second coming of Jesus was sooner or later, so thinks we should focus on spiritual things rather than sex.
        • Paul says everyone should say celibate.
          • Paul's teachings are very sexist.
    • Christian teachings on sex
      • Early Church
        • Celibacy so you're closer with God
        • St Augustine saw sex as sin
        • Thomas Aquinas agreed sex was for reproduction, but understood the enjoyment.
      • Roman Catholic
        • Followed closely with Natural law
        • List of things that are wrong: 1)Premarital sex 2)sex for pleasure 3)Gay 4)Abortion 5)masterbation
        • 3 purposes of marriage 1)faithfulness 2)reproduction 3)becoming once flesh
      • Liberal Protestantt
        • Doesn't take bible literally.
        • Looks at how culture changes.
        • Ideas of sex has recently changed to love being its purpose
      • Evangelical Protestantism
        • Has similarities between Roman Catholic and Liberal Protestant
        • They accept that divorce is sometimes 'necessary evil' such as domestic abuse and adultery
        • sex is for marriage
    • Libertarian attitudes to sex and relationships
      • 21st Century - "if it feels good, then do it!"
      • if consent is given then it is morally acceptable
        • Contractarian view
      • most important principle's are the ability to be autonomous and to be free to choose
        • Autonomous: not being controlled by others or outside source
      • **** is not acceptable as there is no consent given.
      • John Stewart Mills created the harm principle - purpose of law should be to stop people from harming others
      • evaluation of Libertarian approach
        • deals with things such as homosexualityetc. They should practice what they wish to do.
        • they are morally responsible for their own actions. they are aware of the rightness and the wrongness
        • Criticism is that the power in a relationship is now always balanced.
      • Feminism and sexual ethics
        • feminism would disagree with both traditional religious approaches and libertarian ideas
        • believe male dominance has cased woman to be mistreated
        • the ideas of woman being a mans property is completely wrong and allows woman to be seen as a mans possession.
    • Homosexuality
      • Until late 1960s in the UK homosexuality was seen as a criminal offence punishable by time in prison.
      • Christianity and homosexuality
        • Most Christian teachings are against homosexual acts
        • "you shall not lie with a man as with a woman: that is an abomination"
        • Christian teaching tries to cure people of this 'disorder'
        • Protestant approaches - it is wrong and sinful. But those who are gay are still 'individuals of the sacred worth'
        • Roman Catholic approaches - nothing wrong with having feelings for same sex, but acting upon it is wrong.
        • Liberal approach - it is not a moral issue. If it is a good relationship then it should be rated as highly as a heterosexual one.
      • Evaluation of Christian approaches to homosexual
        • if the bible is taken literally, then homosexuality is completely wrong.
          • if this is going to be taken literally, then will other parts of the bible too? such as adulterers will be stoned.
        • Christian teachings say 'love thy neighbor as yourself' are followed, then the idea of homosexuality needs to be changed.
    • Premarital sex
      • Extramarital sex
        • This means adultery
        • Biblical teachings say adultery is wrong.
        • "thou shall not commit adultery"
        • seen as bad in most societies.
      • Traditional Christian perspective
        • Sex is for married couples only
        • Pauls teaching does not mention the same sex relationship, only says male and female.
        • Joy from sex is found in a married couple.
      • Liberal Christian perspective
        • encourages marriage before sex
      • Secular approaches
        • sees no reason why sex should be saved for marriage.
        • marriage is no longer required for a number of reasons.
          • Woman don't need men for financial security. no stigma around kids of parents who aren't married.

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