And let's face it, the Bible condemns all sexual acts except missionary style, doesn't it? Everything else is "sodomy".
"MassPackersFan" wrote:
Hell, the fuck no, it doesn't! Have you ever read the Song of Solomon? It's quite graphic and explicit (in poetical ways, of course) about various sexual acts. There's nothing in the Bible whatsoever about "missionary position," which, even today, is hardly the normative sexual position outside of Western cultures to begin with.
I am not going to go too far in depth with this, because I have studied it intensively and exhaustively, and once I get started, I won't stop.
Suffice it to say that when the Bible condemns homosexuality, the Hebrew refers explicitly to "temple prostitutes," and when you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. Considering the Hebrews were called to be different from the surrounding nations, it would have been rather inappropriate for them to be sleeping with temple prostitutes as a way to reach out to God. Sex rituals had no place in the Hebrew religion, but they were ubiquitous throughout the Near East of that time.
And before you guys start saying, "But my King James Bible says . . . " remember that translations are influenced by the biases and cultures of the translators.
Classic case in point:
Did you know that in many cultures, childbirth is not expected to be a painful, debilitating experience? Have you ever heard of, for example, the "childbirth orgasm"? Yes, women can have ORGASMS while in labor! But do you ever hear about that in our culture? No! For some despicable reason (probably a morbid fear of female sexuality), western culture has long deprecated childbirth, training women to be terrified of what should be one of the most beautiful experiences of their life.
Michael Crichton wrote in his autobiography that when he was a medical resident on his OB/GYN rotation, he was stunned at the differences in how women evaluated their childbirth experiences. At that time, hospitals were much more segregated than they are today, so he got a chance to see how socioeconomic status affects healthcare. In the free ward devoted to poor women who couldn't afford "advanced" healthcare (i.e., no drugs and no cesareans), he said that for the most part the childbirths were quiet and peaceful. In stark contrast, over in the wards devoted to rich women who could afford every possible medical procedure, the women who were on anaesthetics were often screaming, shrieking profanities, and exhibiting all the various signs and symptoms of agony.
Research has since shown that when nature is allowed to take its course, a wave of amnesiac chemicals washes over a woman's brain while she is in labor. Study after study shows that women who have natural childbirths subjectively recall far less pain afterward than women who have had spinals, epidurals, etc., because these medical procedures suppress the hormonal bath that women who have natural childbirths enjoy. (I can confirm this in my own life: my sister has had two natural childbirths and recalls essentially no pain, in contrast to my mother, who had 10 unnatural childbirths and recalls them all as horrendous experiences.) But all you hear about in the media is how to deal with what they portray as an excruciating process with toxic drugs and medications.
How does this relate to the Bible? The Curse of Eve, of course. Consider how the NIV renders the Curse in Genesis 3:
16 To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children."
But notice how it renders the curse of Adam a verse later:
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
Guess what?
The word translated "pains" in verse 16 is the EXACT SAME WORD as the word translated "toil" in verse 17!Was God condemning women to have painful childbirth? No, he was telling them that bringing children into the world would be HARD WORK. And it sure as hell is.
But because of our cultural biases and paranoias, we put a spin on this admonition that was never intended to be there.
You have to read your Bible with a critical eye.