Celibacy

Doesn't celibacy among priests lead to sexual abuse?

 

In Islam there were prophets who practiced Celibacy. These prophets were sent to a particular people in a particular time. This means that the message of these prophets were only for that people and none other. This changed with the last prophet Muhammad who was sent to all humanity. Because this is a total-religion for all kind of people of every time the rulings are different then religions before.

Hereby Celibacy is forbidden in Islam. Moreover marriage completes half of our imaan(believe) and is one of extreme recommanded things. I do understand the major problems we are involved in nowadays. I don't think Celibacy is the answer especially not on global level. One might notice that Islam is extremely against immoral sexual behavior, celibacy could easily have been commanded to us. However it's still forbidden.

 

I do not get that message. The message that I used to get as an atheist was that these priests are torturing their bodies. For what? For some BS doctrine that is based on silly superstition and fear to go to hell. Excellent life? No, when I used to think of priests I would not call that excellent life. I would call that deluded life full of self imposed torture promoted by fear of punishment. I would associate nothing positive with it.

But I was/am an atheist. Maybe for Christian people it would seem different. But I don't think an atheist person can look at a priest as an example of good way to live life. Now I think I'm probably a little more evolved, so I can also see some glimpse of their perspective. And I certainly see benefits of celibacy. I am kind of interested in it myself these days, or at the very least semen retention, excess limitation and control of my sexual desires. I probably will end up celibate at least for few years at some point.

I agree with you that sex is not central to life, and that it is possible to live an excellent life without it. I just don't feel that celibate priests send that message. Religious celibacy sends message that sexuality is something to be condemned and suppressed, which I do not think is healthy mentality to have either.

 

Lol what? Well that's definitely news to me and all my Christian friends and family.

 

Ah. Sorry, I was thinking you meant abstinence, as in not having sex before marriage.

 

I more tend to agree with this.

I also look at celibacy as @The Serpent of Fire does; that it doesn't make one more excellent or holier and is probably BS doctrine.

It seems to me that whenever we take the extremes of anything we often miss the point. Too much sex or conversely celibacy, either way doesn't hit the mark of our devine potential. We gain more from experiencing life and overcoming than we do by avoiding. The quest for self-mastery does not happen in a vacuum, we live on a giant earth with billions of other people. Interaction, even in appropriate sexual ways, is all part of the experience.

It is hard to suppose God would expect or desire celibacy and yet create male and female perfectly, biologically compatible for reproduction.

The message to the world - sex is not central to life, is false . Without sex life itself wouldn't exist. (But I get what you're saying)

I believe in marriage, sacrifice, and commitment as well as, self-control, accountability and personal discipline.

 

That was my first thought.

I would say that celibacy should not be mandated by any religious institution, because religion is a question about who enters heaven and who goes to hell. If you tell someone that they need to practice a life of no sexual outlet in order to reach a divine plane of existence, you will have all of the same problems as we have seen with religious infighting over the history of human civilization. You are demanding something that goes against the biological instinct.

Abstinence is workable. Celibacy, however, seems to lead to the problem of people attempting to engage in such mental gymnastics that they convince themselves that sex "with a woman" is immoral and corrupting yet sex with a young boy is a nice loop-hole that will salvage their immortal soul. Very problematic. I'm not saying that celibacy causes this -- a monk can be celibate, for example. But, I would say the case of sexual assault by priests to young children is an event that occurred too often to be ignored. Just take celibacy off the table, and stay on the safe side.

If you are going to be celibate, you should reach that decision on your own.

 

I never claimed celibacy is the sole standard of salvation. There are sects of Christianity that affirm that there are individuals (priests) that have power to lead and forgive members of their congregation, and that in order to be close to Jesus Christ, the Savior, they must lead a life of as much purity as possible. You said "most if not all forms," which implied that you recognize that celibacy can play a part in certain denominations' understanding of salvation.

Furthermore, I was of the understanding that celibacy is a form of self-subjugation that is more severe than merely abstaining from sex until marriage. Priests are not permitted to marry, last I checked.

 

Celibacy is admirable in some ways, but its obviously not how we all are meant to live. Or else, you know, the human race would cease to exist.

 

I think celibacy is the way to practice chastity in the vocation of the priesthood. Chastity before marriage and after marriage is lived out in different ways. I'm not sure it's anymore excellent or higher in virtue then chastity within marriage. I agree that our culture is too focused on sex. Marriage is not for everyone.

"Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.126 "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end."