There are many different views on certain sexual acts or behaviours for example homosexuality. In the bible there are many passages which state that homosexuality should be condemned and is a sinful act. For example in Genesis 19 the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, God condemns homosexuality and destroys Sodom. Another example is in The Old Testament Leviticus 18:22 “No man is to have sexual relations with another man”. Traditional/Conservative Christians believe these statements to be true and take the bibles word as fact. The Roman Catholic Church still teaches that same sex relationships are wrong. Although they do not condemn people for being homosexual but believe that it is wrong to act upon these feelings.
The church views sexual acts as showing love between husband and wife and to produce children. Therefore these traditional Christians believe God created men and women to join together in families and feel homosexuality is against the natural order of things. Liberal and progressive Christians don’t take this view and feel that there can be stable same sex relationships. Jesus taught that all people are equal in the sight of God. Individuals may have different opinions but they should respect views of others. Progressive Christians accept that times have changed and are more tolerant of homosexuality, and there are now more members of the clergy who admit to being homosexual.
Another sexual behaviour in which there are many views is sex before marriage. The Christian view teaches you must not have sex before marriage, although some Christians now accept it but no Christian will accept promiscuity.
A difficulty of this view of sex before marriage is the debate of contraception which arises in many religions as well as ethical theories. The Catholic Church states that the use of contraception is wrong because the aim of the sexual act is to conceive a child and that is God’s will and intention, for humanity. Natural Law was developed by Thomas Aquinas who stated since everything has been created for a purpose human reason, by reflecting on that purpose can judge how to act in order to conform to that purpose. Therefore Natural Law states every sexual act that is not intended to conceive a child, or which could not lead to conception is immoral.
Marriage and Adultery in the Christian view has moral absolutes in which people must follow. The Christian view states that marriage is ordained by God and is a sacred bond between two people. The purpose of marriage is procreation, love and affection within this special partnership, therefore adultery would be seen as wrong is the Christian church. Adultery would be breaking one of the Ten Commandments.
The Catholic Church views marriage as a sacrament and unities two people and should not be broken. The Old Testament shows a progressive realisation that marriage was to be monogamous, faithful and loving. This leads to the idea divorce and what happens if the marriage is loveless. The Catholic Church forbid divorce in the 13th century and did not become apart of the church until the 1560’s. However it wasn’t until the 1917 that the church fully accepted procedures for divorce or annulment. Annulment is the term used when a marriage is void or null from the beginning. There is a difference between annulment and divorce. Annulment is the term used when a marriage is void or null from the beginning. There is a difference between annulment and divorce. Annulment states the marriage is void, and divorce is the dissolvent of the marriage bond.
In conclusion to the statement ‘there should be no moral absolutes in sexual behaviour’ depending on the sexual behaviour peoples views and opinions change. If there were no moral absolutes at all in sexual behaviour, then people would act selfishly and in an unmoral way and there would be no point in the act such as marriage if couples were just going to cheat on one another. The vows would mean nothing, so would be pointless. Therefore in my opinion there needs to be some sort of moral absolutes in sexual behaviour to aid society to act in a moral way with love and compassion.
