marriage, sex and related rediculous topics

Stronger than God's plan?

So, yah...it's about that time to poke at a hornets nest.

There has been a lot of blog traffic recently about marriage, the Plan of God (can you hear the capital letters?), the purpose of sex and other related topics which I would laugh about if others weren't taking them so seriously.

The first matter I shall engage and dispose of with alacrity - contraception.  If God is all-powerful, then the Trojan man here ain't gonna foil His plan.

Coming then to the act proper, it is not unlike so many other things which are natural and seemly, which is to say that it has more than a single purpose.  When one dines, it is not just for nutrition but also gustation and fraternization.  The social benefits and pleasure which one may derive from a meal is no less seemly or proper than the fortitude which said meal provides.  It is when one's appetites, whether in bed or at table (or elsewhere), overcome temperance or prudence that the appetite becomes a vice.  Note, though, that the repast is not at fault, nor are the multiple benefits derived therefrom an evil, but it is the driving force from within that is the question.

Bringing this into more modern and customary parlance, sexual congress can be for reproduction, but it is also for pleasure and intimate social bonding.  The argument can be made that the latter two are actually more essential to the definition of sexual acts than 'makin babies'.  In any event, to ignore the aspects of social bonding or pleasure which are intertwined with sexual congress is to fundamentally misrepresent the act and to misconstrue the affect which it has upon the individuals involved.

This brings us to marriage.  "Mawwige is what bwings us togwether today".  As any who have been party to that 'dweam within a dweam', I will say that it is SO not about sex or having children.  It's about being there for each other when times are good and bad, through thick and thin...when you want to hold your spouse closely, by the throat or in your arms.  The only people who would think otherwise are those who have no experience in the matter.  Further, the concept behind marriage has radically changed multiple times over time and cultures.  To say that any social institution is an immutable entity is to willfully ignore the whole history and insult the intelligence of  your audience.

Just sayin.