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WT Sharpe · 08-13-2010, 08:35 AM

.....Heterosexual love, in the Old Testament, is sometimes down-to-earth; very material and deliciously sensual, as when Solomon* tells his future bride:

....."You are stately as a palm tree,
..........and your breasts are like its clusters.
.....I say I will climb the palm tree
..........and lay hold of its branches.
.....O may your breasts be like
..........clusters of the vine,
..........and the scent of your breath like apples,
.....And your kisses like the best wine
..........that goes smoothly
..........gliding over lips and teeth."

.....But in the New Testament, sex becomes non-erotic and full of self-denial. Paul advises that "It is well for a man not to touch a woman," but he concedes that marriage is a last resort for those who can’t be celibate. Because pent-up desires can lead to fornication or adultery, "each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. Their duty is to use sex as a safety valve and to produce children. Divorce is forbidden. "To the unmarried and the widows," Paul warns, "I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn." And better to marry than to burn with desire, which he depicts as a private hell in which sin walks one’s nerves as if they were so many tightropes.
..........— Diane Ackerman(1948 - ), American author, poet, and naturalist. A Natural History of Love (1994). A footnote reads: The word "testament" comes from the Indo-European root tre, having to do with triads: two deal makers and a witness. A testament was a pledge and it concealed the idea of castration. When a man swore something was true ("giving testimony"), he put his hands on his testicles. In effect, he was saying, You can cut off my balls if I’m lying. In time, law courts decided that asking a man to put his hands on the Bible might be more decorous.

* It is extremely doubtful that Solomon actually penned those lines, as the Song of Solomon contains evidence of multiple authorship.
...— Tom

08-13-2010, 08:35 AM	#349
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	Excerpt from A Natural History of Love .....Heterosexual love, in the Old Testament, is sometimes down-to-earth; very material and deliciously sensual, as when Solomon* tells his future bride: ....."You are stately as a palm tree, ..........and your breasts are like its clusters. .....I say I will climb the palm tree ..........and lay hold of its branches. .....O may your breasts be like ..........clusters of the vine, ..........and the scent of your breath like apples, .....And your kisses like the best wine ..........that goes smoothly ..........gliding over lips and teeth." .....But in the New Testament, sex becomes non-erotic and full of self-denial. Paul advises that "It is well for a man not to touch a woman," but he concedes that marriage is a last resort for those who can’t be celibate. Because pent-up desires can lead to fornication or adultery, "each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. Their duty is to use sex as a safety valve and to produce children. Divorce is forbidden. "To the unmarried and the widows," Paul warns, "I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn." And better to marry than to burn with desire, which he depicts as a private hell in which sin walks one’s nerves as if they were so many tightropes. ..........— Diane Ackerman(1948 - ), American author, poet, and naturalist. *A Natural History of Love* (1994). A footnote reads: The word "testament" comes from the Indo-European root tre, having to do with triads: two deal makers and a witness. A testament was a pledge and it concealed the idea of castration. When a man swore something was true ("giving testimony"), he put his hands on his testicles. In effect, he was saying, You can cut off my balls if I’m lying. In time, law courts decided that asking a man to put his hands on the Bible might be more decorous. * It is extremely doubtful that Solomon actually penned those lines, as the Song of Solomon contains evidence of multiple authorship. ...— Tom Last edited by WT Sharpe; 08-13-2010 at 12:41 PM.