Compiled from the writings of David Brandt Berg
How often do we stop to pause and thank the Lord for how WONDERFUL life is, or can be? We have so MUCH to be THANKFUL for! How much easier even our PROBLEMS would seem if we would stop to count our many BLESSINGS! -- Like the beautiful blessings of love, affection and sex that give such meaning and fullness to our lives! Yet often we either take them for granted, or else ignore them, and, in our hurried daily pace, don't take the time for them! But what would life be like without them?
"In the BEGINNING, God made them MALE and FEMALE", (Genesis 1:28) and He had very GOOD reasons for doing so! Have you ever thought of what this World would be like without sex and the love of a man for a woman, and women for men? I can't even imagine such a life, can you? For instance, how would we reproduce ourselves? I guess we would have had to split in two like amoebas or something! Horrors! But God, in His love and wisdom, gave us SEX! Isn't that wonderful! Even one of the writers of the Bible couldn't get over how wonderful it was when he exclaimed, "There are three things too wonderful for me to understand" -- the last of which was "the way of a man with a maid!" (Proverbs 30:18-19)
I was thumbing through my file of newspaper clippings recently and I came across several amazing articles! The first article was headlined "Four Hugs a Day Shoos the Blues Away!" The article stated that a Dr. Virginia Satir told a gathering of over 4,000 delegates to the American Orthopsychiatric Association that 4 hugs a day will help you survive the blues, but a dozen is better! She went on to say that 4 hugs was actually needed for survival, 8 were good for maintenance and 12 for growth.
Well, she sounded like she must know what she's talking about, so I enthusiastically tried hugging my wife more! -- With wonderful results! At the moment I'm beyond surviving and hopefully by the end of the day I'll be growing. I wonder what comes after 12 though? I guess she didn't expect anyone to reach that level!
What a nice way to show affection one to another: With a hug or a kiss! Even the dear Apostle Paul admonished Christians to "greet each other with a holy kiss." (2Corinthians 13:12) But sad to say, so many nations have been indoctrinated with the traditional "Judeo-Christian standard of morality" which is very straight-laced, stand-offish and cold in its ultra-rigid religious interpretations and guidelines to human relationships. How sad that entire CULTURES have misinterpreted the Scriptures and try to freeze all of society into a cold, unloving FORM with their rigid rules! --
Rules, which, as it turns out, are not even Scriptural! And, as modern scientists have proven, such overly-puritanical codes of conduct are not even GOOD for people, psychologically, physically, and certainly not emotionally! How many hundreds of thousands of marriages fall apart every year simply because of a lack of showing affection and genuine displays of emotion?!
Remember, true Christianity is not just a mental, intellectual faith! It is supposed to change your HEART, and anything that moves your HEART logically has to move your EMOTIONS as well! Therefore, being LOVING, AFFECTIONATE and free enough to give HUGS and KISSES is an integral PART of obeying the Lord's admonition to love others!
I found another fascinating article the other day, and it was about KISSING. According to a study done in Italy, a doctor found that "kissing stimulates the heart, which then gives more oxygen to the body's cells, keeping the cells young and vibrant!"
It just goes to show that the natural desires that God placed in us to show LOVE and AFFECTION are actually BENEFICIAL and NEEDED for a healthy life! Not only are they morally RIGHT, but they are very NECESSARY parts of His plan for living!
Science has ALSO been discovering more and more how wonderful and beneficial SEX is! Now, we all knew it was wonderful anyway, but scientists are discovering more and more that sex -- God's wonderful design for showing love and having babies -- doesn't just FEEL good and leave you with that warm and satisfied feeling of complete unity with the one you love, but it has amazing MEDICAL and PSYCHOLOGICAL benefits as well!
For example, consider THIS fact: It has been discovered that an active sex life actually PREVENTS breast cancer in women because it helps maintain the right hormone balance! Researchers claim that it may prevent up to 65% of possible cases!
There is also evidence that sex can CURE arthritis, insomnia, ulcers, heart disease and hypertension! Think of all the ills we could avoid if we would just have more free and FREQUENT INTIMATE sexual relations with those whom we love! -- As God Himself surely intended us to have! -- SEX even helps cure a HANGOVER!
To quote Dr. Earl Marsh, Medical director of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, "If people would get more sensually involved with those they care for, they would have less illness, would sleep better and there would be fewer of them in hospitals or in an early grave! HUGGING, TOUCHING, KISSING, anything like that would do! We have found that SEX is one of the most efficient treatments in RELIEVING TENSION which is the ROOT CAUSE of so many ailments. Once the tension is gone, then the intimacy of sex continues to cure and remove all the symptoms. Sex, even just intimate bodily contact, works to bring relief to the whole body!"
And that's not all! Dr. Thomas Hackett, Chief of Psychiatry at Massachusetts' General Hospital in Boston, says, "Sex is one of nature's finest tonics! It is not only POSSIBLE after a HEART ATTACK, but seems to HELP with RECOVERY! People who RETURN to a sexual life almost invariably have a better prognosis in terms of returning to work and socialising after heart attacks. It is a DAMAGING MYTH that once you have a heart attack that you are 'over the hill' and there's no sense in even talking about sex because you can't have it any more." Dr. Hackett is a co-author of a Heart Association booklet on sex and heart disease.
So what do you know! -- All these years I've been engaged in HEART THERAPY! -- Ha! It does my heart good just to READ all this!
According to another report entitled "Sexuality in Later Life", issued by the National Institute for the Aging, regular sexual activity after a heart attack can help to PREVENT a SECOND attack! Dr. Marsh, whom I quoted earlier, says that "the trouble with our culture today is that those over 50 have been conditioned to think sex is taboo as a person gets older. But as people get older they often get into a tense mental state because of things like loneliness and anxiety about the future. That's when hugging, kissing or touching could bring new meaning to their lives!"
And to quote yet another source, Jessie Potter, of Chicago's National Institute for Human Relationships, says that, "Studies in European Hospitals have shown that even a BACK RUB has made patients feel so much better, that hospitals could eliminate the need for pain-killers and other medicines, particularly sleeping pills. SEX is ALSO one of our healthiest natural resources, but too many people leave it untapped."
It just goes to show that God knew what He was doing when "He created them MALE and FEMALE and BLESSED them and said, 'Be FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY (reproduce)!'" (Genesis 1:27-28). Knowing how vital love and sex are for the procreation of the human race, He made it so we'd not only DESIRE it, in fact, barely be able to resist it -- but He ALSO made it so that we needed to have LOVE, SEX and AFFECTION for our own PSYCHOLOGICAL well-being and PHYSICAL HEALTH!
One doctor recently wrote that "Only 15 MINUTES a day of VIGOROUS EXERCISE that leaves you GASPING for breath will keep you HEALTHY! -- Sounds like SEX to ME!
So here's to love and sex, a never-ending source of WONDER! -- And it's obvious that God INTENDED it to be that way! As David said in Psalm 139:14, "I will PRAISE You, for I am FEARFULLY (awesomely) and WONDERFULLY made; Your works are MARVELLOUS, and my soul knows that right well!"
God CREATED men and women to not only need HIM and HIS Love, but to need LOVE and beautifully unifying, intimate SEXUAL contact with each other! We were MADE to be emotional, warm, loving and affectionate, and to NOT be that way is to not be NATURAL!
As Ecclesiastes 9:9 says, "live JOYFULLY with your wife whom you love all the days of your life!" -- And ENJOY love, affection and sex as even a CURE-ALL for many diseases, afflictions, tensions & troubles! -- It's GOOD for you! -- TRY it! -- You'll LOVE it! -- And THANK GOD for it!