Another comment about Mormons being sexually repressed got me thinking about this topic. I’ve heard similar comments about Christians generally or religious people generally. It is most frequently made by people claiming they want to free those enslaved by that repression (whichever group they directed their comment at). Sometimes I think it is said with genuine concern – too often I suspect that it is really said either to demonstrate that they are not repressed or else to justify their own hedonism. Regardless of what motivates it, I think it is important to recognize how easy it is to fail in our efforts to teach the truth about intimacy.
Parents need to teach their children about the purpose and sanctity of sex. As enjoyable as it is, it isn’t merely a recreational activity as it often seems to be portrayed in popular media.
We need to teach our children that when used correctly it helps to foster deeper connections with the one you love but that it can easily destroy a relationship if it becomes the core of how you relate with someone (that’s true whether you are married to them or not).
We need to teach our children that sex is like fireworks – it is beautiful but must be respected for what it is and not treated as harmless entertainment to be used without consideration for the dangers inherent in it. Fireworks are just as beautiful when they are shot off in a dry meadow on a hot summer night as when they are fired off above the Long Island Sound on New Year’s morning but they are not just as safe.
Sex with one partner within marriage is clearly the environment with the most safeguards in place. Different people will have different views about how much risk they are willing to accept with regard to sex (or fireworks) but nobody can reasonably argue that all sex is equally safe anymore than they can argue that there is some invisible safety threshold where sex outside marriage is utterly unsafe while sex within marriage is inherently safe.
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