HUMAN SEXUALITY

India is a land of contradictions. These reach their zenith when it comes to the issue of human sexuality. The land of the Kama Sutra and of temples with friezes showing naked women and different sexual poses is also the place where any discussion of sex is culturally taboo. It is a place where virginity is prized but there is rampant rape and sexual abuse.

And India is not alone in this. Throughout South Asia it is difficult even to talk about human sexuality because the topic is bound up with many cultural, sociological and religious issues.

Young people today are torn between the ancient ideal of an ascetic life in which human sexuality is at best a necessary evil and the brazen display of human sexuality and images of erotic licentiousness. Christians need to grasp the biblical understanding of human sexuality if they are to remain strong in their convictions.

The Genesis account of human creation is key to our understanding of human sexuality. That account makes it clear that sexuality is and always has been part of our personhood. God specifically created humans as “male and female” (Gen. 1:26). When he proclaimed that what he had created was good, he was saying that their sexuality was good too – whether we use that word in relation to their gender differences or to sexual activity. The reference to their becoming “one flesh” (Gen 2:24) points to God’s intended design for authentic sexual union as a place for love, intimacy, union and procreation, within the context of marriage.

The idea that sex is good stands in contrast to those ascetic ideals that distinguish between body and spirit and regard sexuality as belonging to the earthly and lower realm of the body alone. This point is important because in South Asia asceticism has often been held up as an ideal. Humiliation of the body and deprivation of sexual pleasures are praised. Many in India consider suppression of sexuality (because it is carnal) as essential for anyone committed to a spiritual pursuit. The church has taken a similar stance, spiritualising or allegorising the Song of Songs to strip it of its erotic overtones. In so doing it indicates an underlying belief that sexuality is evil.

By contrast the Bible holds sex in high esteem, provided it takes place within the prescribed moral boundaries of marriage. The Song of Songs, which could be considered to belong to the genre of “adult literature”, is part of the biblical canon. The writer of the book of Proverbs tells a young man to rejoice in the wife of his youth and find pleasure in her (Prov 5:18-19). While the Apostle Paul conceded in the course of argument that “It is good for a man not to marry” (1 Cor 7:1 (1984), in another context he puts those who “forbid people to marry” in the same category as “hypocritical liars” (1 Tim 4:1-5). He commands couples not to deprive each other but to meet each other’s sexual needs (1 Cor 7:5).

These days, however, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction and asceticism is dismissed as “old-fashioned”. The entertainment industry encourages us to make pleasure the yardstick for determining what is good. Traditional understandings of morality are replaced with the hedonistic slogan: “if it’s pleasurable, it’s permissible.” Accordingly pleasure has come to be the chief aim of human sexuality.

The same Bible that places sex on a pedestal is also teeming with teaching against adultery and unrestrained cravings for pleasure. The stories of Samson and Solomon illustrate the consequences of unchecked lust. The Bible clearly censors ways of pleasure-seeking – bestiality (Exod 22:19; Lev 18:23), homosexuality (Lev 20:13), incest (Deut 27:20-23) and adultery in general (Exod. 20:14) – that go against the divinely stipulated design of heterosexual marriage.

Since sexuality is part of who we are by virtue of our creation as sexual beings, how we are treated sexually affects our personhood.

This understanding makes it impossible for us to accept the distorted view of sex, presented in pornographic materials that glorify sadistic tendencies and self-gratification at the cost of denigration of the other person.

Combining the idea that pleasure is all that matters with a patriarchal culture gives birth to the idea that women were created solely for men’s pleasure, to meet men’s needs. The result is that women are seen as objects, passive elements in sex. Some have even gone further and demonised women by blaming Eve for Adam’s fall.

This view is supported by many South Asian proverbs and stories that degrade women’s sexuality. Such lopsided views about the relationship between men and women are grossly mistaken and do not fit with the bigger picture in the Bible, which portrays men and women as equal in worth and complementary in their roles (Gen 1 27; 2:18-25). To despise women and ignore their sexuality tarnishes our relationship not only with God but also with other human beings.

South Asian countries also have a grim record in their treatment of the group known as hijras. These people identify with the eunuchs of the Bible, rather than with the Western categories of transsexual or transgendered. Many of them were born without sexual organs or with deformed sexual organs, and others were castrated at a young age.

They describe themselves as a third gender – “neither male nor female”. Though the law of Moses may seem to discriminate against eunuchs (Deut 23:1-2), God later assures them that if they, like anyone else, “choose the things that please” God, they will receive “an everlasting name” (Isa 56:4-5). An Ethiopian eunuch is remembered for his sincere faith (Acts 8:27-29). While not being lenient of those who experiment with their sexuality for personal indulgence (Deut 23:1-2), the God of the Bible opens his arms for those who have been born eunuchs or made eunuchs by others (Matt 19:12).

The Bible puts the issue of human sexuality in perspective. It recognises that sex can both enrich and enslave, and that wisdom and discipline are needed to direct one’s sexuality properly. A joyous sexuality that is restrained by the divinely appointed boundaries is needed to create a society that glorifies God and encourages harmony with God and his people.

Charles Christian