Thread by @CraigACarter1

1/7. What is sex for? Historically, there have been 3 basic answers to this question with different assessments of the role of procreation, pleasure & mutuality.

(1) The Traditional One - Primarily procreation with mutuality as a secondary good & pleasure as incidental.

2/7.
(2) The Modern One - Primarily pleasure with mutuality as a secondary good & procreation is an inconvenience.
(3) The Biblical One - Primarily procreation with mutuality understood as an integral pt of procreation & pleasure as valuable only as it contributes to mutuality.

3/7. The Traditional answer is the current RC view & it is based on natural law. It has been the view of the Xian Church for 2000 years & has a lot to be said for it. However, it must be admitted that it has crumbled under the pressure of modern individualism & hedonism.

4/7. The Modern answer is basically applied Darwinism. We are animals with hormones so have at it. It makes sex impersonal & degrades those who are tempted into it. It is easily exploited by advertisers who make money out of our weakness. It leads to heartache & loneliness.

5/7. The Biblical answer is procreation, but with the understanding that the emotional bonding of husband & wife thro mutual self-giving is the glue that makes stable marriages the place where children can best be nurtured & educated. Such a marriage must be open to children.

6/7. Mutuality is part of procreation, which is why sex is a moral good even beyond the child-bearing years. Grandparents are part of God's plan as models of stable, loving marriages & as helps to parents trying to raise a family.

7/7. Pleasure is fine as a means to the greater good (unity of the parents) but demonic when it becomes an end in itself because it then tears families apart instead of binding them together. Sex, then, is for binding husbands & wives into a permanent, monogamous, fruitful union.