God created humanity in His own image and likeness, as written in Holy Scripture, just as we are, and this is a good selection of all our traits. Humanity manifests itself in various aspects. Sexuality is an instrument of co-creating life, which caused us to exist in „union with God.”
Jesus was capable of intimacy with a woman, not only physically, but also emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. In short, in every dimension of our human nature created in the image of God. Christ also wanted humanity to be free in its entirety, in its fullness. This includes conscience, body, and love in all its manifestations, including its sexual aspect.
Sexuality, burdened with guilt, can become dangerous and can indeed lead to illness. To both mental and physical illnesses. (This is discussed in the Gospels of Mary, Philip, and John.) Jesus therefore encourages us to free ourselves from our divisive and demonizing duality—the duality of body and spirit.
Such a burden of guilt and a reluctance to explore the aspect of human sexuality in light of Holy Scripture leads to nothing good. A certain taboo is created here, there is no help, instead there is stigmatization, ridicule, and other such things. As a result, children very often draw their knowledge from inappropriate sources, since adults are unable to discuss these matters. Since they are considered inferior, scandalous, leading to enslavement, sin, and generally not good and pure.
Perhaps this aspect should also be given its rightful place in theology, instead of imposing dogmas on the faithful that contradict human physiology and science. Holy Scripture does not contradict science, but it can already contradict the teachings of the Church. This sounds very radical, but it is the truth. How can a woman remain a virgin after natural childbirth?
This leads to many perversions, inappropriate behaviors, and violence that the Church deigns to ignore. Women are treated as inferior, sinful, and tempting. And what about men? Aren’t they the same in this regard? Why is all the blame placed on women? This is far from appropriate. The question arises again: why is the church afraid of women, just as they are? Why don’t women dress appropriately? Surely, that shouldn’t matter. Men should be in control of their own behavior, they should work on themselves, not just blame women. Although, of course, it can also work the other way around.
Why are women supposed to tempt? Men can do it too. Why are women blamed for seduction, while men seduce too? Why do women dress inappropriately, while men can do it too (not to mention how often they undress more than women in the summer). Why are women supposed to be impure because they menstruate, because they give birth, because they are postpartum… because of a million things. After all, God created the female body, with its cycles, to give birth and declared it good. So why is it so often blamed for sin, for inciting sin, etc.? Because they can do what men can’t?—they can endure greater pain, endured greater humiliation and abuse for centuries, because they can give life? Men are somehow incapable of giving birth.
The Bible commands procreation, from the very beginning indicating the importance of having children. God’s first command is to go forth and multiply and subdue the earth. In the past, priests, to attain this office, had to have wives and well-reared children. In the New Testament, he writes about a widow whose brothers were supposed to raise offspring after her husband, and none of them succeeded. All this only demonstrates how important this aspect is, yet how much it is overlooked, silenced, or reduced to the eternal denigration of women. That was not God’s intention.
Such marginalization of this issue leads to many illnesses, evil phenomena, and pathologies… Why isn’t it taught about boundaries and that we have the right to consciously set them? Why isn’t it taught that if we don’t grasp and control this issue, we’ll also have problems with other things, which will lead to uninteresting things and certainly won’t help us with spiritual development? There are such clever pyramids of human needs – where does sexuality fit into them, and where does spiritual development fit in? For spiritual development to occur, all the previous elements in a person’s development must be met, worked through, and mastered. One cannot fully develop one’s spirituality without grasping this issue within oneself. How can one grasp it again, given the approach of the church and people, which is often deeply rooted in church practices? As a result, there is only more and more pathology regarding sexuality in the world, and this affects people’s achievement of wholeness, human salvation, as the church calls it.