Sex

There is a wonderfully odd tradition in religion and that is those less able to discuss the issue of sex, virgins, are those always called upon to discuss it. Thus I an confirmed virgin have come to continue with this beloved tradition.
I am going to reserve my comment to my own particular faith Christianity but virginity is held in reverence in most religions (no doubt there are some which are opposite). Why we must ask is virginity so highly prized?
Let us look at the secular vision of man first. Man is animal, he is a thinking animal but animal still and he searched to slake his animalist needs. At the top of these need is the need to reproduce, this the secularist argues is not a mere reflection of his animal lust but as a product of evolution, indeed the evolutionist would argue it the sole purpose of the man’s life. Thus to him and those without faith it is a mystery why a man would give this to God.
On one level it is precisely the importance to man l of sex that makes it worth of sacrifice and veneration. If you give God that which marks you out as a mortal human (reproduction) then you are giving him your entire life, for there is no gift which is as costly as childless isolation. It also marks an absolute renouncement of any alternative idea of eternal life via genetics, in the world of the bible it is the ultament treasure to store with God for it is the most earthly of joys.
There is another level hidden among the bible and in this debate the purpose of human endeavour. Are sins are caused by a corrupt nature and it was earthly things that caused this corruption, i.e. the fruit of knowledge. It was our earthly concerns that have kept us in sin, greed, envy, poverty and of course the most earthly sex. If we turn from sex so the bible suggest, we turn toward God because we are turning from the earthly and thus debase to the divine and thus Godly.
There are of course issues with property, absolute confidence of parenthood of children and power involved around this issue. Man has become involved in aspect of his own failing in his own weakness but what I have tried to do is show why my faith places such a value on virginity. It is not to control people’s actions or because it can but because it marks a choice for divinity a choice to move away from temporal pleasures and reach for heavenly rewards.