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DISGUISES OF THE FEAR OF PUNISHMENT
on the sexual life. Both for biological and social reasons sexual
behaviour must be subject to restraints. But personal ignorance
and faulty instruction can convert a restraint into a taboo or
create a fear of punishment that does grave damage to
personality. It can make the sexual act itself appear sinful,
preventing the proper consummation of marriage and sowing the
seeds of great unhappiness for people of both sexes in their social
attitudes and relationships. Indeed, sexual fear of punishment
is, curiously enough, one of the causes of sexual perversion and
promiscuity.
We need a new sexual morality based on reverence for
personality, not on fear of a perfectly natural and necessary
function that becomes a curse and a source of sin only through
misuse.
The demand for realism and sincerity in Christian living
makes it necessary for the spiritual adviser to be able to
distinguish very clearly between the fear of punishment and real
guilt feelings. It is not easy to learn how to do this; nevertheless
the task is one that must not be avoided. Slipshod thinking or an
easy-going attempt to minimise the seriousness of the problem is
fatal both for the spiritual integrity of the adviser and the
effectiveness of his work.
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