Theology of the Body

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:15-17)

I went to a wonderful Theology of the Body discussion today. I want to learn more and more about this, it is so clear to me that this theology is exactly what today's society needs.

Often the Truth is battled with exactly the opposite of what is true and that is what I see in the way that today's culture views sex.

Casual sex will make you happy.

Casual sex will cause low self esteem and is damaging physically, emotionally and spiritually

Freedom is the more important than anything else.

We are never free and never completely happy until we conform ourselves to God's will, in our sexual lives and outside. It is in the act of disciplining our bodies and our souls that we are able to feel the real freedom that God calls us to.

As long as you "love" him/her it's ok!

Love between a man and a woman is meant to mirror the love that God has for us, everlasting. This sacred act is meant to take place within the covenant of marriage, within the promise to love someone forever. When we have not made that promise and we have sex with someone else, no matter how much we love them we are still using that person for our own ends which is detrimental to us and to the person we claim to love.

Virginity is something to laugh at and pity.

Virginity is something to praise and encourage. It's the virgins who should be laughing, if their chastity is a conscious choice, they have preserved their self esteem. prevented themselves from experiencing emotional and spiritual damage, and are more ready for the commitment of marriage than anyone else because they understand that love involves sacrifice.

Virgins don't get to experience love and pleasure.

Saving yourself for marriage is an act that will strengthen your future marriage. If you enter marriage after living chastely, and both people approach sex with the attitude of chastity then they will experience sex as God intended it to be experienced: without shame, without pain, and I am assuming, since God invented sex, with a whole lot more pleasure!

And honestly the list goes on and on, I am sure some of you can add to it.

Thank God for John Paul II, he's the Catholic Church's Dr. Ruth, except he uses words like "concupiscence" :)