Sex and Lust are two different things

Now with the new Family Law ammended where the naughty wanting a harem are to pay maintenance to their Xs, Dear Father Pell has this for us... Now let's pay attention shall we... :)

Sex has the power to purify or corrupt

The Sunday Telegraph
November 16, 2008 12:00am

LUST is still one of the seven deadly sins, but not because Christians are spoilsports. A disordered sexual appetite causes damage.

Healthy sexual desire is a blessing, but like every desire it needs to be trained, well directed and restrained.

We now recognise that sexual addiction is as much a disease as addiction to drugs or alcohol, because habits feed on themselves for good or ill.

Lust is the deadly sin this week because of the recent sad news that NSW is suffering from an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers.

The rate of diagnosed chlamydia among girls and young women is more than double that among teenage boys and young men.

Those aged 16 to 24 had the highest percentage of such infections, and south-east Sydney and the Hunter region were the worst-affected areas.

Lust is more of a problem among older age groups than it is among teenagers, but it's sad to see some of them making trouble for themselves in the future with the threat of infertility, as they are encouraged to drift into disordered patterns of life while still at school.

Across Australia, 50,000 youngsters tested positive for chlamydia last year, more than 12,000 of them in NSW. Disturbingly high rates were found among 15-year-olds.

Doctors estimate the real rate of annual infections at a quarter of a million a year, because many of those infected are either too embarrassed to seek medical help or persist in thinking they're invincible - that such diseases only strike others.

Too many of our young people are sold short on sex, because nobody is telling them the whole truth and many have to learn solely from their mistakes.

They're relentlessly encouraged to reject the traditional Christian teachings on sexuality, usually without any sort of examination or comparative assessment.

It's evidence of a very low estimate of young people's altruism to tell 15- and 16-year-olds that the best answer to sexually transmitted diseases is a condom.

No one is perfect, and our instincts are partially disordered, but human beings are more than a mass of uncontrollable desires.

Sexual activity is lit by a fire, sacred or profane, that in the long term either purifies or corrupts.

It is not as morally neutral as other physical activities. Nor is it a recreational right, because sexual activity should be linked to love.

And love comes from our hearts and changes the core of our being.

Lust is selfish and uses the partner as an object. Love is unselfish, concerned for the loved one.

In the Christian scheme, love, openness to children and sexual activity are linked together as a worthy ideal - a trinity preparing for marriage and family. True love is urged to wait.

Truly human teaching on sexuality recognises the need for ideals as well as human weakness.

Lust is a damaging thing, an easy option, but true love is precious and different.

Cardinal Pell is Australia's most senior Catholic cleric.