Christian Perspectives on Sexuality and the Sixth Commandment

Christianity and its many sects has a colorful rainbow of different ideals towards sexuality as a whole that all stem from the same central ideal of preserving one’s sexual sanctity. The Bible has stated many varying rules that applies to sex throughout the old and new testament, which can be seen as the reason for these splintering ideals, along with the many different interpretations of these rules. The Christian Religion’s central ideals toward human sexuality was determined by the Catholic Church millennia ago, with the effects of these teachings still seen today.

The central component of all these ideals is best defined by the original Catholic teaching towards sex. This of course comes from the interpretations of the vague sixth commandment, “You Shall Not Commit Adultery”. The sixth commandment takes an ambiguous stance on sexuality that has one obvious purpose, but where many of the different interpretations by different Christian groups can be found lies within how far this purpose must be taken, and what the definition of adultery is exactly. The Catholic

Due to America’s largely Protestant origins, and the legalistic dissent towards sexuality by the Protestants, the American Culture features an unhealthy fear human sexuality. The realistic effects of these fears can be found within the average American mind throughout history. The lack of understanding and knowledge about our own sexual nature because of the stigma surrounding sexuality by Christians runs rampant, and leads to preventable circumstances that have the power to wreck lives. The Catholic Church still defines sexuality in this light, but the largely progressive new world has redefined their convictions in a secular method apart from the Church’s teachings that can be seen as adverse to what the Church