CHAPTER NINE
Respect for the
Gift of Sexuality
The Goodness of Sex
God created us as sexual beings.
Sex is derived from the Latin word
secare which means “to separate.”
Both created in God’s image, men
and women are complementary beings
who are equal in dignity.
According to Genesis, sex was
intended to be very good.
The Goodness of Sex
Our sexuality involves our
emotional and spiritual makeup.
Sexual activity involves respect:
looking at ourselves as creations of
God and looking at others as persons
and not objects to be used.
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
These commandments serve as
safeguards of God’s intention for
human sexuality.
They warn against the disrespectful
and harmful actions involving sex.
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
Sexual Intercourse is for Marriage
God intended sexual intercourse and all
actions leading up to it to be shared
exclusively by a man and a woman in the
union of marriage.
fidelity
Marital faithfulness between
husbands and wives that requires
reserving all sexual activity and
affection for each other and also
asks couples to be loyal to each
other through good times and
bad.
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
Two Purposes of Sex in Marriage
The
sharing
of love
between
the
spouses
Transmission
Purposes
of Sex
of life
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
Two Purposes of Sex in Marriage
Moral means of birth regulation must be in
harmony with the two ends of marriage: openness
to life and sharing of love.
Periodic abstinence and Natural Family Planning
methods are effective, natural ways of regulating
birth.
It is wrong to use immoral means to conceive a
child. Any procedure that separates sexual love
making from the act of procreation is disordered.
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
Offenses Against Marriage:
Adultery – sexual relations with someone other than
one’s spouse or an unmarried person with a married
person
Divorce – dissolution of the marriage contract
Polygamy – having more than one spouse
Incest – sexual intimacy between relatives or in-laws
within a degree that prohibits marriage
Free unions – extended relationships where couples
refuse to have their commitment formalized or sanctioned
by law.
Chastity, Purity, and Modesty
chastity
modesty
The virtue that helps us control our
sexual desires and use them
according to our situation in life.
The virtue of temperance, related to
the virtue of purity, applies to how a
person speaks, dresses, and
conducts himself or herself.
Protects the intimate center of a
person by refusing to unveil what
should remain hidden.
Allowing our sexual thoughts
and desires to control us.
lust
Offenses Against The Sixth
and Ninth Commandments
Masturbation – the deliberate
stimulation of the genitals to obtain
solitary sexual pleasure
Fornication – sexual intercourse
engaged in by an unmarried male and
female
Pornography – media that’s motivation
is to depict sex acts in a way that causes
sexual arousal
Offenses Against The Sixth
and Ninth Commandments
Prostitution – engaging in sexual
intercourse or other sexual activity for
money or some other advantage
Rape – forcing another to have sex
Homosexual activity – sexual activity
between members of the same sex. Lacks
unity between a husband and wife and
openness to the transmission of human
life
Offenses Against The Sixth
and Ninth Commandments
Homosexual Activity
Those with homosexual orientation are
not morally guilty for who they are.
Prejudice against someone who has a
homosexual orientation is wrong. We
must accept persons of homosexual
orientation as our brothers and sisters.
Vocabulary
Fidelity
Fecundity
Infertility
Adultery
Divorce
Polygamy
Incest
Free unions
Chastity
Modesty
Lust
Masturbation
Fornication
Pornography
Prostitution
Rape
Homosexual activity