Christian Sexual Ethic and Desire

This essay can be broken up in to two distinct parts: first I attempt to define the role of christian sexual ethics into two main objectives: (1) primarily, it should be concerned with orienting sexual desires towards God and checking all desires against a desire for God above all. (2) And secondarily, sexual ethics should be concerned with the formation of a sexual character of commitment, loyalty and faithfulness.
The second part of the essay is call for reform from the current state of sexual ethics as it relates to the most vulnerable social group– teenagers. I conclude that current christian attempts within sexual ethics are failing teenagers and suggest ways in which my ordering of sexual ethics might prove more effective.

The Two Objectives of Sexual Ethics
The proper expression of human sexuality is a abiding question for the world of sexual ethics. There has never been a society that has not reflected upon and prescribed rules and regulations for this powerful and yet mysterious dimension of personhood; and there has seemingly never been a social order in which sexuality has not breached the boundaries established for it. On the surface scripture and much of the Christian response to sexuality appears to be establishing rules and regulations which attempt to limit sexual behavior until the ‘appropriate’ time or stage in ones life. Though this is a narrow understanding of sexual ethics– instead the goal of sexual ethics should be in the importance of how we relate ourselves and desires to others. Specifically, the relation between God : Humanity, and Humanity : Humanity.
In our first world consumer culture, there is a superficial understanding of sex as as synonymous to goods. One that understands sex as simple self–s...

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...rents and their teenage children, most adolescents do not know very much about sex.
In the end, the article explains most effective way to teach teens a sexual ethic through is through what the author calls plausibility structures. Plausibility structures are the networks by which beliefs held by individuals or groups are sustained. Because we live in a diverse age with many competing views on human sexuality, norms are kept alive by networks of people, organizations, and communities who tell and teach each other that some ideas, actions are worth doing or believing, and some are bad and ought to be resisted. Teenagers who are embedded in strong religious plausibility structures, usually through active religious involvement and strong religious commitments, are more likely to make sense of their developing sexuality in religious terms and using religious motivation.