Enjoying Sexuality

Evangelicalism's simultaneous deep fear of sexuality, fairly constant fixation on it, and legalistic tendencies do not exactly make for an accurate way of representing the Bible's teachings on sexuality.  Though evangelicals might persistently hyper-focus on matters sexuality and even repeatedly do things that they admit they think are sexual sins, which only sometimes truly are sins by Biblical standards (see Deuteronomy 4:2 and identify the sexual acts or thoughts the Bible does not condemn), the prudery they cling to at the same time prevents them from enjoying sexuality even in marriage.  Personal discomfort, gender stereotypes, misinterpretations of Christian sexual ethics, and a general evangelical subculture of intense prudery make it far more difficult to find peace and thorough excitement in the most basic forms of sexual expression not condemned by the Bible.

Enjoying sexuality is of course something that comes naturally to most non-asexuals who are Christians if they do not believe in the illusions of sexual legalism or gender stereotypes.  Only someone who has never read the Bible, made assumptions while reading the Bible, or wants to fit into evangelical or certain anti-Christian groups would be so stupid as to think Christianity is compatible with ideological prudery.  On the contrary, actual Biblical philosophy is very supportive of sexual expression while never prescribing that any man or woman commit a sexual act against their will just to fit in with others.  The Biblical stance goes far beyond treating marital sexual expression that is consensual as worthy of joy, celebration, and private or public affirmation, but any sexual intention or act that is not sinful, which leaves masturbation, extramarital attraction, extramarital sexual flirtation, and public nudity with sexual intentions all in the same category as marital sexual behaviors in this regard.

The Christians who have had decades to read the Bible and discover what actually logically follows from its claims and doctrines have no excuse for misunderstanding it to be a book that declares prudery righteous, not that Christians or non-Christians are ever justified in making assumptions either way.  There are very personal and pragmatic benefits to evangelicals awakening to these truths other than just the more crucial matter of understanding truth.  Ultimately, if someone holds to erroneous or assumed ideas about sexuality outside of marriage, they are likely to only deprive themselves of psychological security, peace, and pleasure in marital sexual expression as well, but even then, the greater issue is simply that assumptions are always epistemologically invalid and that truth, which is both grounded in and revealed by reason, supercedes every being's preferences about sexuality.  Enjoying sexual as a married Christian or even just a married person is in some ways contingent on whether one is already irrational in one's beliefs about the nature of sexuality and whether one holds to inconsistent ideas about sexuality.

Enjoying sexuality does not even have to involve looking at the opposite gender or performing interpersonal acts with a spouse, though.  One's own mind and body are enough to explore one's sexuality without the need for a partner, but for those who have committed partners, sexual expression has more potential avenues and can be amplified in certain ways.  Married or unmarried, Christians are free to enjoy and practice anything sexual that does not specifically fall into categories like promiscuity, rape, prostitution, homosexual behaviors, incest, and so on.  There are far more things permitted here by the Bible, including masturbation with or without sensual imagery and sexually charged flirtation, than there are things condemned.  Marriage alone will not destroy the grip of prudery and make understanding, accepting, and living in light of one's sexuality any easier.  Reason, introspection, and accurate Biblical positions on sexuality can.