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I know this is an older post, but it is "straight fire," as the kids say (do the kids still say that?). I, too, have long been frustrated by the prevalence of the "belief that the one thing in my life which I am destined to not be able to exercise self-control over, that I’ll eventually end up needing to gratify, are my sexual desires."

Though I could never put it into words quite so clearly, I was always bothered by the way that Christians have essentially taken on the logic of the secular world. The world says that our sexual desires must be gratified in order for us to live healthy, fulfilled lives. Protestants, it seems, say much the same, but with the limitations of heterosexuality and monogamy.

One more thought: Calling sexual temptation an indication of one’s divinely-ordained *need* to be married seems to me to besmirch marriage, by conceptually making a spouse into…how do I say this with tact?...a mere outlet for one’s uncontrollable urges. It also implies a failure to note how either lust (ungodly) or good sexual desire (godly) can occur both within and outside of marriage.

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