Jim Guinee opined: So you wind up reading the Song of Solomon as an allegory.
Puh-leez. It's a love story. It's EROTIC! So what does that tell us about how sex is depicted in the bible? From how I read that book, inside of marriage, go NUTS Nancy: Why not outside marriage too, or at least before it, or if you are two people of the same sex, etc.? Why is sex confined only to marriage? Jim: Well, good questions, and we may be getting away from the essence of your original post. Anyhoo, stepping away from same sex, I would certainly and vehemently argue that sex should be limited to married couples. Think for a moment how many unwanted pregnancies would be eliminated in a moment if everyone kept calm until the connubials...and then when you look at the problem of sexually transmitted diseases. Those two right there should trump. Nancy: Clearly, by the way, this has been one of the most unsuccessful aspects of the enforcement of such taboos. Jim: Well, we've had a hard time controlling substance abuse and other social ills but should then just give up? Since when does the rightness of an approach get judged ultimately by its success (however you measure that)? Nancy: These appear to be interpersonal matters that society has an interest in enforcing for reasons of maintaining control and order. Yet premarital and extramarital sex remain fairly common, for all the restrictions and threatened punishments - here and in the after-life. Jim: Well, doesn't religion generally promote doing and not doing for the greater good of all? Maybe religion is right after all -- people are just inherently damned selfish and don't WANT to rise above themselves until they really have to (I'd rather not believe that, btw). --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
