SWM018: Judaism had it right all along

Mar 02, 2016 by Jay Dee in Podcast

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Let’s face it, Christianity is not the perfect religion we like to make it out to be. At least, not the way we imperfect humans play it out in our lives. And one area of life that we’ve really made a mess of over the centuries is sexuality. In this facet of life, Judaism seems to have gotten it right, and I think we should have paid more attention to them.

The Bible is clear

Our bodies are good
Our spirits are of God
Together, our body and the spirit of God makes a soul
Separate, we don’t exist

Greek and Roman mythology influenced Christianity and taught that:

The body is sinful
The spirit is good
Sex, being a bodily function, is not spiritual and thus sinful

Christianity ran with this false teaching

We outlawed sex on all but 44 days of the year
Sex on Sunday was a sin
When sex was permitted, it was only for procreation
Sex was considered a necessary evil
Some believed that the “original sin” of Adam and Eve was that they had sex

Meanwhile Judaism

Made rules and laws promoting healthy sexuality
Taught a sex-positive view of marriage
Taught that it was a blessing and a good dead to have sex on the Sabbath
Taught that sex should be pleasurable to both the husband and the wife
Sometimes they got overzealous (if you want to conceive a boy, the Rabbis taught you must insure the wife orgasms before the husband), but their intention was good

So, what can we do?

Stop teaching that it’s a sin, but rather that context is what defines the sin or not
Stop teaching that it’s dirty, naughty, or bad
Teach that this is something that God made, and that is good, when used appropriately
Be willing to pray about sex. If you can’t talk to God about it, you won’t be able to talk to others effectively
Start being more willing to discuss sex with other Christians