A different kind of thing

I suppose it depends on the official religion that you subscribe to, but my view of why physical intimacy is wrong without marriage is essentially two-fold. (I'm aiming for traditional Christian here, not my personal religion but one that I was pushed towards believing when I was younger, long story ;)

First off, God created Adam and Eve and thus all relationships are supposed to mimic the original pairing. That is, heterosexual two-partner. They bypass the marriage qualification in this case because they are married under God (I'd use quotes there but I don't want it to appear that I'm quoting directly from something other than memory), i.e. God created them to be together.

The second reason is that any pleasure that you derive in life is essentially supposed to be derived from God (or alternately expressed, approved by God). So drugs are a no, sex with random partners is a no, anything outside of constructing a God-fearing family to reproduce and produce God-fearing children is a no. (p.s. masturbation is a no too)

Personally I think fundamentalist Christianism sounds a lot like fundamentalist Catholicism sounds a lot like fundamental Muslim-ism, in that it's essentially deny all pleasure, deny all knowledge not derived from the church, reproduce and create more people to hold our faith. I think you could additionally draw parallels to a lot of cults too. There is good in everything though, even in rampant fundamentalism, in case I sound like I'm bashing rather than disagreeing.

Personally I think that religions would be a lot more paletteable if they had the following clauses: (a) respect the right to choose alternative religions and respect that doubt is a healthy and God-like thing, (b) respect the right of the individual to experience life (i.e. have sex or do drugs) as long as it is both safe and not infringing on the rights of others (i.e. forcing children, etc), (c) respect and encourage love in all its forms (i.e. gay, hetero or poly-amorous) except where it infringes on the rights of others (i.e. forcing children, etc).

I think there is a lot of value in examining a variety of religions and saying "I'm somewhere between these three", and not feeling confined to any in a strict sense. There's nothing wrong with faith, there's nothing wrong with supporting a local church in both a religious and society-building sense, but no one is right all the time (other than maybe God and I don't trust any religion to bring me His word directly).

Anyways, don't know why I'm rambling so long other than I really enjoy religion. I don't practice anything that has a solid name to it. I wear a cross, though. Raised Christian, Dad was Anglican, step-father was Catholic, my first serious g/f was a Witness, my current g/f was raised Mormon. They all have value, they all contribute to the whole. Heck, I think Stigmata (the movie in case that's ambigious) had it right in the attributed quote to Jesus (and I'm quoting from memory) "honor me not in churches of wood or stone but in the church of your own heart", even while I believe that local churches are a good thing. *shrugs* There's contadiction everywhere in life.

Anyways, wanted to weigh in with my $0.02, had been meaning to comment on the new-ish blog for a bit. Have fun (and if you're really serious about the orgy bit then be safe about it, that's my $0.02 about that ;)

i totally understand what you mean with the intensely emotional/forming attachments thing... i'm the same way... but personally, i don't "hold out" for the right guy/girl, because... well, practicing monogamy doesn't really work for me, and i don't think there's *one and only one* person for everyone out there. relationships naturally flow in all sorts of directions, and the level of connection you feel with a person is always changing, at least from my experience... so it's never worked for me to "date" or have a "significant other". physical affection just... sort of happens, when it feels comfortable for me and the other person/s involved. but... now i'm just rambling :)

and of course there is more out there. there's always more out there. and i sometimes get frustrated too, feeling like i'm waiting. but really i'm not... stuff is always happening... connections with different people are always getting stronger and weaker...