http://gnosticteachings.org/scriptures/jewish/1-orgasm-in-leviticus-15.html What the Bible actually says about the orgasm.
Old Covenant, bro. And yes, I'm well aware of the verse cited that refutes the "Old Covenant/New Covenant" argument, but it's ripped completely out of the context of the entirety of the gospel, so yeah.
It gives us the idea and ideal of purity. The idea of a holy of holies. I see it as an ideal, not the norm. Most us will conform to the norm, but the ideal remains. Most of us will fall short of it, that's ok, we are human, inhabiting the real world. But there will be a few, a consecrated few, who will devote their lives to the ideal. Enter the monasteries. What else was it but a crime against humanity when the 'Puritans' drove out the monks and nuns, closed monasteries, and destroyed those with symbolic power.
I don't want to get in another religious debate here, but I have to disagree that this is the ideal and that anything less than abstaining from orgasm is "fine," but not "ideal." (Please correct me if that's not what you're saying... I might be misunderstanding.) It's worth noting that sex between a man and a woman, in marriage, is a beautiful thing, sanctioned by God. And orgasms are a great gift from God that He wants us to enjoy, in the right setting. So I don't think the perfect ideal of holiness is to remain free of orgasm, because orgasm in and of itself isn't sinful in any way. Just my two cents, though. Obviously people with differing religious beliefs are going to disagree.
There's a difference between moral/spiritual cleanliness and ceremonial cleanliness. I mean the Bible also says that women who are on their periods are "unclean," but I don't think that means I need to get on my knees and pray for forgiveness of my "sins" for a week straight, once a month. lol PMSing is not a sin, and neither is orgasming (in the right setting, of course).
It helps if you don't think of it in terms of either/ or; it is either holy or sinful. Rather, look at it in terms of gradation [it's a paradigm shift, the way in which one conceptualizes things]. So there are different levels to holiness. You see that represented in the Jewish temple; at the centre is the holy of holies, then there is the holies, on the outer is the market place etc. And yes, I certainly wouldn't say marital sex in sinful.
Good thing we are not under the law anymore, cause according to the same law, a man was not allowed to touch a woman while she was bleeding, cause she was unclean. According to the scripture, it sounding like it was more and uncontrolled issue, than an orgasm.
Yeah. The mosaic law covenant has been fulfilled in Christ and the wall of seperation (ceremonial laws) has ceased.
I too do not want to encourage religious debate here, but -- for whatever my opinion as an aspiringly-religious Jew is worth -- I'd like to state for the record, purely for your information, that the traditional Jewish view of "cleanliness" with regard to sexuality happens to largely agree with what @TakingTheSteps wrote. In fact, I'm not sure that I could have described as nicely as she did the correct distinction between "moral" cleanliness and "ceremonial" cleanliness! From the perspective of Judaism, it is totally expected and understandable how examining isolated portions of the "Written Torah" -- without the context of the "Oral Torah" -- almost necessarily leads to serious misunderstandings of even the most fundamental and basic meaning and intention of the scripture. Thus, I find it kinda funny how people can, in this case, arrive at the conclusion that orgasms and ejaculation should -- even if just "ideally" -- be avoided! First of all, in these verses, the special condition of "זָב" does not refer to a regular ejaculation at all, but to a specific form of abnormal seminal discharge. And for the most part, the "ritual impurity" resulting from this special condition in males (or the analogous condition in females), or even from "ordinary" ejaculation and menstruation, is relevant mostly in the contexts of physically entering the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and of the performance of certain rituals. (In addition, the Jewish laws of marital intimacy indeed prohibit physical contact between husband and wife during specific periods related to menstruation -- but one of the reasons behind this is to specifically enhance the desire and ultimate bond between the two.) In any case, I fully agree with @TakingTheSteps's beautiful statement that: "sex between a man and a woman, in marriage, is a beautiful thing, sanctioned by G-d. And orgasms are a great gift from G-d that He wants us to enjoy, in the right setting."
This is a great example of why we need theologians. Lol thanks for the more specific insight and wisdom, Yesodi
