Is God against sex?
Discover what the Bible says about the ultimate act of love.
People usually think God is against sex. But, the Bible has good news about sex: God is for it! He invented it and blessed us with bodies that are built for sex and brains wired to feel sexual desire and sexual pleasure.
Let's go to where it all began, to the book of Genesis and the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. God created all the plants and animals. Then he said (Genesis 1:26),' 'Let us make man in our likeness ... '. (The 'our' here is the Trinity—God in three persons as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and yet one God.) God wants us to enjoy life-giving relationships of total intimacy, trust and honesty because he is himself a relational, life-giving God.
As the Apostle John said, 'God is love' (1 John 4:16). And out of his love, he made this universe as a place of life—he created the plants and animals, and breathed the breath of life into humans. Real life—a feeling of being full, complete, and valued—comes from having healthy relationships (and, most importantly, a relationship with Jesus Christ). We’re happiest when we feel safe and loved.
God tells Adam and Eve to have sex
In the next verse we learn that this couple in the Garden of Eden had a unique and complementary character (Genesis 1:27). 'He [God] created them as male and female.' Adam and Eve would have been totally comfortable as male and female. OK, it helped that they were the only two humans in the world, so they had no one to compare themselves against. But the point is: Adam knew he was a male and Eve was a female; Eve knew she was a female and Adam was a male; and they were both happy with that. They weren't stressed about who they were: they accepted themselves, their bodies and their identities as God had made them.
And they both knew they were there for each other. Adam was delighted to be with Eve. 'Finally!' he said. 'Her bones have come from my bones. Her body has come from my body' (Genesis 2:23). You can expect that he was totally in love with her, turned on by her, and absolutely committed to her. God wanted it that way because he had created them. Now that's romance—Garden of Eden style!
Then God gave them the command (Genesis 1:28) to 'have children. Fill the earth and take control of it'. That was a command to have sex and make babies. They didn't even have to get naked—they already were! And they were totally comfortable with it. God gave them the gift of sex to make them 'one flesh' (Genesis 2:24)—to bring the two together in such a close relationship that they thought and felt and acted as one.
Sex requires commitment
That's why love and sex go together. When we love someone, we want to have sex with them; when we have sex with someone, we fall in love with them. God wanted it that way: God is love, remember? That’s why sex belongs in marriage. To marry someone is to publicly promise to be there for them, and care for them, for the rest of our lives. It unites love with commitment. We're determined to care for each other (even when we don't feel like it) because we have promised to do so before God, each other and our friends and family.
And that's also why sex leads to babies. Good sex in a good, caring relationship makes us feel alive: it makes us feel whole, happy, and content. And it is designed to lead to new physical life—babies!
So, is God against sex? Not at all. He designed it, and he wants us to enjoy it - but only in the right context of a lifelong husband and wife partnership.
FromTeen Sex By the Book, a popular Christian book on teenage sexuality and relationships. It talks about things like falling in love, dating, pornography, homosexuality, and that all too common question, 'How far is too far?'.
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