{Love and Sex (9) continued [continued (3)]}[6th October 1989]

[Redbook6:291-293][19891006:0908]{Love and Sex (9) continued [continued (3)]}[6th October 1989]

19891006:0908

The last part of the article above* is a demonstration of a man trying in all sincerity to prove to himself that he believes something which he does not really believe at all. I’ve reached a watershed, and have formally to acknowledge that my views on love and sex, pre-marital, marital and extra-marital, may fit the overall quality of Christ’s person and teaching, but do not comply with what I believe to be the Church’s interpretation of what Jesus is reported to have said on the matter.

From the starting point that no action is evil in itself, but that only the state of mind can be evil – which is similar, but not identical, to the mens rea doctrine of the English common law, and is also I believe the main thrust of Jesus’ ‘moral’ teaching – it follows that no sexual act can be considered to be evil:** and as we are not gnostics, and do not believe that matter is in itself evil, we cannot say that genital intercourse (or physical intercourse) are evil in that respect either.

We may consider that a certain level or type (mentally speaking) of genital intercourse is symptomatic of a low level of spiritual development, refinement or integration: that is, one in which love is not predominant. We also may say that the predominance of self-less Love must mean that factors such as the feelings of other parties (spouses, children) must be considered, and that to wilfully ignore their feelings would be wilfully to turn away from the Spirit of God in others: and wilful separation from God is evil. So each case will be judged – is judged – on its merits, on its circumstances and in the mind of the individual: and not by us. Our function is not to judge, but to guide. And when we guide, our guidance is not primarily to be ethical – e.g. ‘Think of your wife’[,] ‘Try to keep things together for the sake of the children’. The primary guidance is to live in the Spirit – from which the rest follows.

*[See last previous journal entry]

**[as such; in itself]

[continues]

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