The Vatican - Declaration on Sexual Ethics
The declaration starts by emphasizing the importance of sex
"According to contemporary scientific research, the human person is so profoundly affected by sexuality that it must be considered as one of the factors which give to each individual's life the principal traits that distinguish it."(364)
But there is a problem with contemporary views of sex.
"In the present period, the corruption of morals has increased, and one of the most serious indications of this corruption is the unbridled exaltation of sex..."(364)
And now it is time for the Church to step up and outline what is wrong about certain sexual practices and why.
Quick review of Aquinas and the idea of natural law and also of teleology (finality).
Starry night and Einstein example.
"'Man has been made by God to participate in this law, with the result that, under the gentle disposition of divine Providence, he can come to perceive ever increasingly the unchanging truth.' The divine law is accessible to our minds."(365)
All one has to do, is correctly reason.
"They thereby necessarily manifest the existence of immutable laws inscribed in the constitutive elements of human nature and which are revealed to be identical in all beings endowed with reason."(365)
the laws God made for man are obvious if one only pays attention to the creation itself. In particular, sex has an obviously created intention which is God's design. Therefore, any deviation from this intended use is immoral, because it is not what God made designed it to do.
First they must dismiss a couple other moral theories:
1st cultural relativism - "These principles and norms in no way owe their origin to a certain type of culture, but rather to knowledge of the divine law and of human nature. They therefore cannot be considered as having become out of date or doubtful under the pretext that a new cultural situation has arisen."(365)
2nd Kant's emphasis on Good will and intention - "...the moral goodness of the acts proper to conjugal life, acts which are ordered according to true human dignity, 'does not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives. It must be determined by objective standards.'"(365)
Ok, now on to the reasons that premarital sex, homosexuality and masturbation are immoral
Premarital sex and conjugation -
Does not matter if you intend to get married, or whatever your reason is, it is only ok inside of marriage
"However firm the intention of those who practice such premature sexual relations may be, the fact remains that these relations cannot ensure, in sincerity and fidelity, the interpersonal relationship between a man and a woman, nor especially can they protect this relationship from whims and caprices."
aka no social contract or promise binding them to remain faithful
"These requirements call for a conjugal contract sanctioned and guaranteed by society - a contract which establishes a state of life of capital importance both for the exclusive union of the man and the woman and for the good of their family and of the human community."
Society will crumble and there will be no family to raise the children.
"Most often, in fact, premarital relations exclude the possibility of children. What is represented to be conjugal love is not able, as it absolutely should be, to develop into paternal and maternal love."(366)
Discussion question: Would society crumble an immorality become rampant if the institution of marriage and the social pressure to follow its rules was done away with?
Homosexuality - Simple unnatural argument given.
The nature of our sexual design is to produce offspring, without this ability to take place we are misusing the faculties, and this is immoral
"But no pastoral method can be employed which would give moral justification to these acts on the grounds that they would be consonant with the condition of such people. For according to the objective moral order, homosexual relations are acts which lack and essential and indispensable finality."(367)
Masturbation - Pretty much the same argument
"The main reason is that, whatever the motive for acting in this way, the deliberate use of the sexual faculty outside normal conjugal relations essentially contradicts the finality of the faculty. For it lacks the sexual relationship called for by the moral order, namely the relationship which realizes 'the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love.' All deliberate exercise of sexuality must be reserved to this regular relationship."(367)
"According to contemporary scientific research, the human person is so profoundly affected by sexuality that it must be considered as one of the factors which give to each individual's life the principal traits that distinguish it."(364)
But there is a problem with contemporary views of sex.
"In the present period, the corruption of morals has increased, and one of the most serious indications of this corruption is the unbridled exaltation of sex..."(364)
And now it is time for the Church to step up and outline what is wrong about certain sexual practices and why.
Quick review of Aquinas and the idea of natural law and also of teleology (finality).
Starry night and Einstein example.
"'Man has been made by God to participate in this law, with the result that, under the gentle disposition of divine Providence, he can come to perceive ever increasingly the unchanging truth.' The divine law is accessible to our minds."(365)
All one has to do, is correctly reason.
"They thereby necessarily manifest the existence of immutable laws inscribed in the constitutive elements of human nature and which are revealed to be identical in all beings endowed with reason."(365)
the laws God made for man are obvious if one only pays attention to the creation itself. In particular, sex has an obviously created intention which is God's design. Therefore, any deviation from this intended use is immoral, because it is not what God made designed it to do.
First they must dismiss a couple other moral theories:
1st cultural relativism - "These principles and norms in no way owe their origin to a certain type of culture, but rather to knowledge of the divine law and of human nature. They therefore cannot be considered as having become out of date or doubtful under the pretext that a new cultural situation has arisen."(365)
2nd Kant's emphasis on Good will and intention - "...the moral goodness of the acts proper to conjugal life, acts which are ordered according to true human dignity, 'does not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives. It must be determined by objective standards.'"(365)
Ok, now on to the reasons that premarital sex, homosexuality and masturbation are immoral
Premarital sex and conjugation -
Does not matter if you intend to get married, or whatever your reason is, it is only ok inside of marriage
"However firm the intention of those who practice such premature sexual relations may be, the fact remains that these relations cannot ensure, in sincerity and fidelity, the interpersonal relationship between a man and a woman, nor especially can they protect this relationship from whims and caprices."
aka no social contract or promise binding them to remain faithful
"These requirements call for a conjugal contract sanctioned and guaranteed by society - a contract which establishes a state of life of capital importance both for the exclusive union of the man and the woman and for the good of their family and of the human community."
Society will crumble and there will be no family to raise the children.
"Most often, in fact, premarital relations exclude the possibility of children. What is represented to be conjugal love is not able, as it absolutely should be, to develop into paternal and maternal love."(366)
Discussion question: Would society crumble an immorality become rampant if the institution of marriage and the social pressure to follow its rules was done away with?
Homosexuality - Simple unnatural argument given.
The nature of our sexual design is to produce offspring, without this ability to take place we are misusing the faculties, and this is immoral
"But no pastoral method can be employed which would give moral justification to these acts on the grounds that they would be consonant with the condition of such people. For according to the objective moral order, homosexual relations are acts which lack and essential and indispensable finality."(367)
Masturbation - Pretty much the same argument
"The main reason is that, whatever the motive for acting in this way, the deliberate use of the sexual faculty outside normal conjugal relations essentially contradicts the finality of the faculty. For it lacks the sexual relationship called for by the moral order, namely the relationship which realizes 'the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love.' All deliberate exercise of sexuality must be reserved to this regular relationship."(367)
posted by Charles Carlson at
10:04 AM
