God Made Sex (and He Made it Sacred)

God is one creative Creator. He gave us the cosmos, the sun, the moon, and the stars. He gave us the mountains and the seas, volcanoes, and icebergs, tropical rain-forests, and sand-covered beaches. He gave us the humpback whale, the platypus, the giraffe and the dragonfly. God also gave us humanity. God created us male and female – beautifully distinct and wonderfully made in His divine image. God created marriage and God created sex.

Did you catch that last line? God created sex – it was His idea – and sex is sacred. Sacred comes from a Latin term that means “holy.” When something is sacred it is connected to God and deserves great respect and reverence. God is the author of all life and, as such, the Creator of that which brings life.

Before we go on any further, it’s vital to point out that sex is absolutely more than a physical act. Sex has two purposes – the unitive (bringing a married man and woman even closer together) and the procreative (an openness to the possibility of creating life with God).

It’s important that we make a clear distinction here: love is not what makes sex sacred… at least not “love” in the sense most people think. You see, sex between animals isn’t sacred, but sex between people is.

Why, you may ask?

Humans are sacred. We are God’s children. We are made in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). It’s not just that a man and woman are “making love” – it’s that they are potentially “making humans” and there is nothing more sacred than human life (Psalms 139:14-16, Jeremiah 1:4-8).

We are mammals, yes, but we are not the same as animals. By virtue of our intellect and our free will, we are made distinctively different from the animals. We reflect the image and likeness of not only our Creator, but of our Heavenly Father, who is all holy, all perfect, and all sacred.

Human sexuality is not about what we receive, but what we give.

In other words, when we reduce sex merely to an act that elicits pleasure, sex has been stripped of its dignity – the end result is use. Sex is part of God’s beautiful mystery of life in which He plays a critical role. When you strip the dignity from sex – when you take the mystery out of sex – you’re left with pornography. Sex carries with it a purpose; pornography is merely about use.

Sex is an amazing gift of God and the Church proudly proclaims how incredible and beautiful sex is in the proper context and relationship of sacramentally-committed love between a husband and wife, both sacred creations of God.

Want to read more about God’s plan for your sexuality? Check out these blogs!

• Male & Female: What’s the Point?