Hudson,Kam

What Does It Really Mean?  What do different religions and their sacred text say about some of the many popular controversial topics in the world?

__**Introduction **__ In the world we live in there are many controversial topics like sex, drugs, drinking, smoking, abortions, marriage, and etc. Many people base their opinions on these things on what their religion has to say about it simply because religion plays a big role in the way people look at things. What makes it interesting is that there are hundreds of religions with so many different sacred text that can say very different things on all these topics. The four main religions that I'm researching are Christianity, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Taoism. Within these four religions the sacred text used are The Bible, The Granth, The Vedas, and The Tao Te Ching. The controversial topics I plan to research are marriage and sex.

__**Christianity **__



In Christianity the sacred text is called the bible. The bible is made up of stories from different people that God chose to share wisdom with. Christianity is the largest religion in the world right now.


 * Marriage and Sex**

In bible it says that God will send you a partner for you to love and marry and you are only to have sex with that one person. The Bible believes that marriage is a beautiful and honorable thing. People defile it though by committing adultery. That includes people who have sex before their married, people who have sex with more than on person while they're married, and people who rape and get raped. In the bible people who commit adultry have to pay it with their life. There are two quotes below to back this up.


 * [|Hebrews 13:4] **Marriage [is] honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.


 * [|Deuteronomy 22:22] **If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, [both] the man that LAY WITH the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put from Israel.

__**Sikhism **__



In Sikhism the sacred text is called the Granth. The religion was born in the 16th century and is the fifth largest religion currently. In Sikhism it is one of their beliefs that there is only one true god and that all people that believe in God are good. What makes them interesting though is the fact that they don't approve of any kind of picture or representation of God because they don't want people to idolize it.


 * Marriage and Sex**

·So, like christians, Sikhism has a the belief that their god will send them their life partner as long as we listen to his word. Also the text of the Granth implies that a woman who is not “virtuous” will be miserable. can be for with out her husband, a women would forever suffer. By definition of dictionary, Virtue is being moral, respectful and always trying to do what's right. The Sikhism religions seems to put a lot of pressure on women in reference to how they relate to themselves and men. There are alot of quote about how women should act and how women are and what women should be like to be a wife but there are almost no references to how a man has to act or be or present himself. 

__**Hinduism **__



Orgins stretch all the way back during ancient times in India. There is no really founder of the religion so in a sense, it just kind of... Exist. The religion is just a vast variety of beliefs, philosophies, and traditions compiled together. Hindus believe in reincarnation, value meditation, and follow the words of the Vedas which are the oldest indian sacred text. It is one of the most open religions and in the top five.


 * Marriage and Sex**

In Hinduism there's a section in the Atharva Veda about marriage called "A Charm to Secure A Husband for a Marriageable Wife". Basically it's some kind of chant or "magical spell" you say that in general says that a suitor will come to a woman's house and if they hit it off well enough she'll marry him and have a beautiful family with him. It doesn't refer to marriage as a requirement or something sacred or how it relates to sex so I think it would be safe to imply that they don't care if you stay virgin until marriage.

__**Taoism **__



Taoism is an Eastern religion and philosophy that has over 225 million followers. The word Tao can be defined as "the first-cause of the universe. It is a force that flows through all life." The people of the religion believe that since Tao surrounds everyone they have to listen to it for understanding and guidance of the many things of life. They strongly promote health and vitality. They follow the art of "wu wei" which means to let nature drive its course and that's how most of them live. They also value balance like the yin yang symbol, hard work, preparation, and diligence.


 * Marriage and Sex**

Now it doesn't directly say anything about marriage or sex but there is a section in the "Tao Te Ching"that relates to it. :

If powerful men and women could remain centered in the Tao, all things would be in harmony. The world would become a paradise. All people would be at peace, and the law would be written in their hearts.

Basically this means that when a man and woman come together who are secure and strong in self, they can balance one another out and find harmony within each other. They're harmony will bring joy to the people and environment around them and they'll know what is right within their hearts.

__**<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Interpretation and Analysis **__ <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Compare and Contrast

I find it interesting by the fact that these four different religions have different views on marriage and sex. Christianity was the only religion that specifically stated that marriage was designed by god and sex is something that is supposed to be shared between only two people who are married. It is considered a extreme sin to go against this is is punishable by death. Sikhism was the second closes to that because it stated their god sends them a partner for them to marry. What's interesting about this religion though is that is says that a women who is impure will forever be miserable and sad and alone yet it doesn't define say directly if being intimate falls into that category.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Hinduism talks about marriage a little but it doesn't talk about sex at all. It implies that they don't care about virginity in relation to getting married. Taoism doesn't directly say the word marriage or anything about intercourse but it does refer to relationships. Both of these religions are a lot more loose, indirect, and open about this topic.

The reason that the religions are so difference in their beliefs can be said for sure but it is a fact that the religions have different principles, rules, and beliefs and that is what separates them. No religion is more right or wrong than another because of it because of the fact that everyone has the right to believe what they want to believe religiously.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Final thoughts/reflections

The main reason I chose this topic to write about was because recently i got into a conversation with a group of friends about why we do or do not chose to get married and experience intercourse and in the process of our dicussion religion came up a couple times. I was curious as to if there were religions that condoned intercourse before marriage or religions that were against marriage and I was truely shocked about Hinduism and Taoism and the fact that their sacred text didn't really touch on the topic.

I found all this interesting because it also allowed me to look into other religions that before hand I really didn't know much about. All this research that I've done shows how different parts of the world hold different kinds of people who can believe in many different kinds of things.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Bibliography:

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[] James, King. //The Bible//. King James Bible Online, 2010. Genesis to Ezekiel. Print.

[] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 14.4px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal;">//Hindu Beliefs//. 1st. ReligionFacts, 2004-2010. 2. Print

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