To the Editor:
I read an article about sexual relationships awhile ago and wanted to present a different view on sex and true love to readers of The Dartmouth, a view involving God.
Our culture is consumed by love and sex. Television and books tell us what they want us to think love is about. Haven't we thought about love at first sight, the "one," or the chance to love someone so much that we want to share our bodies with them?
I would agree that "true love" should be the basis of a relationship, but not the way in which our present society suggests. Love today permits sex without limits. It also gives us the burdens of guilt or emptiness in a relationship that may rob us of a healthy self-image and our ability to be open with others and cultivate deep relationships, worries of unplanned pregnancy, STDs, emotional distress from a break up if you had sex with the person, what a new partner will think of your sexual past, and sexual insecurity in new relationships.
True love, defined by God, protects us from these things. He defines a love that requires that a person find the happiness, health, and spiritual growth of their partner as important as their own. It requires that a man or woman "nourish" and "cherish" their partner as they do themselves (Ephesians 5:29).
Because this love is based on three characteristics of God -- love, purity and faithfulness -- the conditions for a truly loving relationship can only be met in a marriage relationship where a couple has committed their lives to each other for a lifetime.
As adults looking for loving relationships, I think it's time we thought about these things.
