I guess it must be something to do with the fact that his best-known songs are about WWI - and not only that, but they both mention a date in the first verse - 1916, and 1915 respectively. So I guess I associate those dates in my mind with Eric Bogle. Hence the assumption of deadness. I wonder if that might be what's going on with others who make this mistake. Anyway, cool!
I think probably a majority of Christians (self not included, though I used to), certainly a majority of Evangelicals, stick to a fairly clear "no sex before marriage" view (with "marriage" referring to a man and a woman), but within that I find there are a range of attitudes. At the best, there's the acknowledgement of universal sinfulness and need for forgiveness (starting with oneself), that sexual sins are far from being the worse sins, and that one should not judge a person as being worse because they commit some particular sort of sexual sin, without condoning the sin. Motes and beams and all that. At the worst, there is the ugly sort of judgementalism and condemnatory attitudes that alas seem to be becoming increasingly prevalent in both the Evangelical and RC churches (at least at the top in the latter case). Somewhere inbetween are attitudes like the ones you describe in christianitysex along the lines of "yes we're sinners but at least we're trying and repenting of it after we do it (again and again and again...) unlike those wicked heathens." I must admit I've never come across that "we can do it because we're priveleged but it's very bad for poor people" attitude, but then I've led a very sheltered existence.
Of course the problem with even the best versions of the no-sex-before-marriage line is that it leads to wads of unnecessary guilt, repression, anxiety and even despair.
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Date: 2005-11-25 01:10 pm (UTC)I guess it must be something to do with the fact that his best-known songs are about WWI - and not only that, but they both mention a date in the first verse - 1916, and 1915 respectively. So I guess I associate those dates in my mind with Eric Bogle. Hence the assumption of deadness. I wonder if that might be what's going on with others who make this mistake. Anyway, cool!
I think probably a majority of Christians (self not included, though I used to), certainly a majority of Evangelicals, stick to a fairly clear "no sex before marriage" view (with "marriage" referring to a man and a woman), but within that I find there are a range of attitudes. At the best, there's the acknowledgement of universal sinfulness and need for forgiveness (starting with oneself), that sexual sins are far from being the worse sins, and that one should not judge a person as being worse because they commit some particular sort of sexual sin, without condoning the sin. Motes and beams and all that. At the worst, there is the ugly sort of judgementalism and condemnatory attitudes that alas seem to be becoming increasingly prevalent in both the Evangelical and RC churches (at least at the top in the latter case). Somewhere inbetween are attitudes like the ones you describe in
Of course the problem with even the best versions of the no-sex-before-marriage line is that it leads to wads of unnecessary guilt, repression, anxiety and even despair.