This originially appeared on OnFaith. Paul was tormented by this careless, indulgent attitude. In his letter, Paul goes into a riff on sexual purity, specifically regarding intercourse with prostitutes; Paul finds sex with prostitutes problematic because sex with a prostitute typically happens without spiritual union.
Since Paul believes that the body and spirit are connected not temporarily but eternally, what we do to and with our bodies matters. Clearly Paul is anti-prostitution. Paul is anti a lot of things. This is one of the reasons so many people dislike Paul so very much. Come to think of it, this is also the reason so many love Paul so very much.
Today, those who dislike Paul usually dislike him because of the way his guidelines for sexual activity and gender roles, and interactions with slaves, and castrationβ¦etceteraβ¦oh Paul have been preached as moral law. Some churches tend to avoid the topic of sex altogether, usually in response to those churches who obsess over it.
Unfortunately, the effects of talking too much about sex and too little about sex are pretty much the same. While moralizing explicitly reveals what activity is shameful, silence inspires the same shame but without all of the sexy details.
When a reading like 1 Corinthians comes up as it will this Sundayβ¦be prepared , unrehearsed lectors will read aloud with uncomfortable voices and eyes wide open as teenagers squirm in the pews next to their parents. Paul deals directly with sex, but he does not do so as many assume; Paul never really writes a treatise on sexuality; he comments on it, but he never landed a book deal to write definitively and timelessly on the topic. Not like James Dobson smh.
