What follows is a treatment on the Natural Law and sex.
Does the conjugal act have a purpose? Does it need one? What can we know about it from nature?
Nowadays, the mass media tries to convince us someone can change his or her gender. The ability to have one’s own baby dismembered inside the womb remains a legally protected “right.” And someone can use another person, including one’s own spouse, for sexual gratification by using contraception.
As it stands now, consent of sexual activity remains about the only barrier left standing. That is the only barometer by which sexual activity is weighed morally.
Our society accepts fornication as a rite of passage for teens. Promiscuity seems to have shifted from the exception to the norm for multiple generations. Is it any wonder marriages break up so readily?
Therefore, we can make a logical conclusion, by use of simple reason. Namely, we conclude the conjugal act is meant to be between one man and one woman each time, so as to make the transmission of life possible.
HOW DO WE EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED?
How did we get to this point? How come the conjugal act has become a recreational activity? Where did our culture go wrong?
Despite what our culture tries to promote, sex still means something. It always has. And it always will.
Our society has ignored this fact.
I say ignore, because deny as people might, no one can escape the Natural Law altogether.
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE SEXUAL ACT?
We can know the meaning of the sexual act by way of the Natural Law.
If you remember, the Natural Law is composed of our human natural inclinations and our ability to reason. We are to reason as to the meaning of our natural desires, so as to use them properly to ensure our human flourishing.
What natural inclinations of humans combine to tell us the meaning of the conjugal act?
Men have sexual desire for women and women for men. This is the predominate status of the entire human race. Anyone who does not have a desire for the opposite gender has an unnatural attraction.
We have a desire to procreate. Along with this, we have a desire to preserve the existence of our species by bringing children into this world to outlast us.
We also have a natural inclination, thanks to the Natural Law, to live in community. By having sex and then raising together any resulting children, our God-given inclination is fed.
As well, nature provides men and women the reproductive equipment necessary. Men’s parts and women’s parts complement each other. When the complementary parts are used together they make the transmission of life possible.
Now we are prepared to combine these natural inclinations with our human reasoning ability. We can deduct from here the meaning of the conjugal act.
Namely, we conclude the conjugal act is meant to be between one man and one woman each time, so as to make the transmission of life possible.
Procreation, thus, remains the primary purpose of sex.
And yes, humans innately are sexually attracted to the opposite sex. And yes, the sexual act feels good. And yes, not every sexual act results in a baby being made.
But none of that negates that, by simple reasoning ability, the conjugal act is primarily meant for procreation.
The fact that the conjugal act also feels pleasureful falls under the secondary purpose of the act. Namely, the conjugal act curbs concupiscence and bonds its participants.
WHY IS THE PURPOSE OF SEX IGNORED TODAY?
Modernism has achieved a dramatic shift to the detriment of our culture. The modern day Culture of Death pretends as though things in our world have no purpose, no end for which they exist.
Why is there a sexual act at all? Why are we made male and female? What is the purpose of sex?
Modernism tries to convince you there are no objective answers to any of these large questions. For instance, the fact that we are made either male or female from birth is now supposed to be irrelevant.
With no answers as to the ends for which things are the way they are, society has lost its bearings. It no longer matches up to reality.
By ignoring the Natural Law, modernists think they can free themselves and others. Ironically, all they have achieved is societal chaos and enslavement to sin.
When is a train most free? A train is most free to be a train when it runs on its tracks. Without those tracks, it is a large vehicle very difficult to control.
And where are humans most free to be human? When they too conform to the nature by which they are made.
What happens when humans try to redefine for themselves the meaning of their existence, of marriage, of sex itself?
To know the answer to that, go back and reread the top of this article.
YOUR TURN
What do you make of the argument on the Natural Law and sex, namey that the meaning of sex is knowable by means of our human reason, when analyzing our human inclinations?
Please share your thoughts below.
