better for you to continue to live alone as I do. But if you
cannot restrain your desires, go ahead and marry.”
This is basically saying that it is moral to remain celibate, although it is also moral to marry and within this marriage have sex, although St Paul chooses to show this as less moral then remaining celibate. Therefore it must be even less moral to have sex outside marriage. So a Christian opinion to contraception might be a negative one, as they may believe it encourages sex outside of marriage as it limits the risk of making the female pregnant, so turning it into a ‘casual activity.’
The Roman Catholic view towards contraception would also be a very negative one as they are completely against any type of artificial contraception.
My view would be that contraception has not made society less moral as before its introduction publicly, and before we had sex education etc. sex was, for many people, thought to be almost a ‘bad’ thing. And people at about 18 didn’t really have even a basic education on sexual relationships, and so could not make a reasoned judgement on the matter, even though at this age they were sexually developed, and would probably encounter occasions where they would have to make choices on the matter.
All these factors made them vulnerable, whereas, if contraception is made available, and people are given sex education, it makes people start to think; they think about their behaviour, and the consequences of certain types of behaviour. They can begin to make suitable choices, which among other things, can lead to a reduction in the risk of sexually-transmitted diseases, and helps partners to practise ‘safe sex.’
In my view, though, contraception can lead to prostitution being less risky for the prostitute and clients; it reduces the risk of pregnancy for the prostitute, or the client in the case of a male prostitute with a female client.
I do not believe that prostitution is a morally defensible practice, as it takes away respect for the person you are having sex with, which is contrary to the Christian view, (based on Jesus’ teaching) that love should be the basis of all our relationships with others.
The Bible implies that sex is a gift from God, and as such is not to be abused.
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah shows us how the Bible shows God to be so upset by the sexual immorality of these two cities that he destroyed them and most of the people in them.
David used his power as King to take for himself someone else’s wife, which led to problems for him.
Paul says,” The man who is guilty of sexual immorality sins against his own body. Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God.”
This clearly suggests that Christians have a responsibility to keep high standards of morality in their own personal lives, as well as to promote these same high standards in society as a whole.
Ben Street A7