first!

lol good post!

Very much so.

Are you sure you won’t offend any Christians out there?

Not exactly appropriate, but I guess Christians CAN write and read erotica. I’m not sure if sex can be used for one’s enjoyment (according to the Catholic Church…), but if the erotica ends with the woman being pregnant (procreation), I’m sure it’s acceptable. ;]

@z3rglinG - Oh no!  Your ignorance is showing!

lol! that was great! i guess he liked boobies…

what exactly is myrrh?

They can always feel guilty about it afterward. Why not? I never knew the bible was so naughty. Too bad they don’t sell a version that has all the good parts highlighted.

he likes boobies like you dan!!!    I loved your comments.  Personally, I’d rather just get it on with the guy than read or write.  But if that does it for you…really, it could be considered a form of worship since God made such a glorious thing.  also, myrrh is a spice, kids.  if you want to use it as lube…good luck.  you’ll probably get a rash first!!!

Solomon was a freak in the bed! That’s pretty funny!

Well….

This IS a subject I’ve had to think about.

The Song of Solomon is very poetic… not terribly blunt. Subtle.

I suppose the question is… erotica VS pornography?

I’m not trying to be difficult. There does come a point at which a story becomes… lewd.

But where is the line drawn? There are so many differing views…

It deserves discussion and debate, in concert with other books of the Bible, of course.

Song of Solomon IS erotica.

…but the Song of Songs doesn’t graphically depict the sex act itself. There is that as a concern. There’s a lot of suggestion and such… but not graphic depiction.

I hate religious ambiguity.

well, God made it all for us to enjoy (including boobies, and “gardens”)… a fact lost on many.

Why not? I mean, who can really argue with what you just pointed out? Sounds like Solomon was writing erotica.

I think the only time it wouldn’t be appropriate is if the person was reading/writing it to fill an unhealthy void in their marriage or something to that effect.

@StrongLetterI - Its  oil that is extracted from the Myrrh tree that is supposed to have healing characteristics…( Kinda like ancient aromatherapy)

I remember looking through the Bible when my dad was preaching and I found this book.  I was shocked-”It says breasts in the BIBLE!”  Of course I was like, 9.

RYC:  I only get carpal tunnel when I’m pregnant and this time it’s pretty bad.  Like pregnancy isn’t uncomfortable enough.   

From what I just read, YES!!!!!!!!!!!

This post makes me wonder about the definition of a Christian. I have a few questions:

1. Can’t someone be a Christian and still fail at it, still end up in hell? I realize the question is whether the act is seemly more than if it ejects someone from the category, but I still wonder, since some groups accuse others of being frauds and all. Although I was raised Unitarian Universalist and one of the non-creedal creeds is that God is too good and too forgiving to send anyone to hell at all ever, so to me, the answer is always no on a technicality. Though I’m an agnostic now… but even so, it still flavors my opinions.

2. This first one leads me to my second one, which I’m sure has been beaten to death here before, though maybe not in this way, but here goes: What about liberal Christianity? Do they count? The UUs (though some would say they have exited the Christian category, it’s not necessarily true on a person by person basis) and the United Church of Christ who support and perform homosexual marriages? Does support of gay rights make one automatically not a Christian? Does having sex for enjoyment alone? Where do people draw these lines? And if everybody generally recognizes everyone else as being Christian, too, then how do people reconcile that some come to creedal sorts of conclusions like “homosexuality is wrong” while others come to the opposite conclusion?

I guess I just wonder what each branch thinks of all the others. They really do vary widely.

I suppose a good argument FOR erotica is that there is no specific rule against it.

On the other hand, there’s no specific rule against necrophilia, either. Some things go without saying. -_-

The claim that erotica could cause a brother or sister to stumble is not a good one. There are people who believe that the reading of novels all by itself is a sin. But if I write and publish a novel, I don’t believe that is a temptation. It’s not the same thing as shoving a novel into the hands of one who believes they shouldn’t read it, and saying “read this!!!” THAT would be temptation.

Again, though, there is erotica, and there is pornography. The sex act itself is not depicted in the Song of Songs. Desire is expressed and suggestion is strong. But that’s it. The Bible has a general attitude of modesty. Not suppressive or oppressive modesty, but a kind that keeps tension down.

You know my comments. You must know by now that I’m not prudish. Sola scriptura.

But a lot of things are tied together- nudity, erotica, what IS modesty- and we can’t rush such discussion. The possible consequences are too serious.

The whole subject deserves scrutiny, and in the end something tells me no one would be entirely happy with the informed results- neither those who support permissiveness or those who wish everyone were an immaculate conception.

This subject requires prayer and study. Let God’s truth be upheld, and not human interests.

@Color_me_Karma - Sorry, my sarcasm isn’t that great.

Why would a erotica end with pregnancy? Doesn’t it defeat the point…?

I know I keep coming back to comment on this post (and leave long comments at that). I consider it too serious to just walk away from it- it poses too important a question.

I’ve been praying about it. And reading the Song itself.

1:12 While the king sat at his table, My perfume spread its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, That lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms From the vineyards of En Gedi.

The emphasis here appears to be scent. Her perfume, then his “myrrh” and “henna blossoms”. There isn’t an obvious reference to his penis. I see the possibility, but it isn’t clear.

2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, His fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love.
5 Strengthen me with raisins, Refresh me with apples; For I am faint with love.

Food has become a theme here, and was apparently as erotic then as it is now. But oral sex is not clearly spelled out. I actually don’t condemn oral sex automatically, I don’t know whether it is sinful or not, but I can’t be convinced that the Song refers to it in 2:3. Too much other talk of food. It could be referring to kisses, or even just being in the prescence of Lover.

4:12 A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; A locked up spring, A sealed fountain.
13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits: Henna with spikenard plants,
14 Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; Myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,
15 A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, Flowing streams from Lebanon.

Beloved

16 Awake, north wind; and come, you south; Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, And taste his precious fruits.

Now a garden theme. Though the oral sex connection is easier to find here, the words “Awake, north wind, and come, you south,” sounds less like Beloved is making a request of Lover and more like a desire to be aroused in general.

And again, no actual act is depicted. There’s plenty of symbolism- ha, even I knew chapter 5 left little to debate in the way of symbolism!- but I can’t be confident that erotica is represented in this book. Not outright erotica.

Don’t think I wouldn’t be thrilled if it could be definitively proven that I could write erotic scenes.

I’d write a few category romances, because they always need new authors there and don’t care whether or not the writer has degrees or has taught creative writing in an Ivy League college. Good gosh, I’d love to do that, I really would.

But while sex is celebrated, eluded to, and reveled in within this poem, it doesn’t resemble erotica well enough.

Lewdness is clearly forbidden in the Bible, however.

What is lewdness? If that word can be defined beyond question, there will be no more confusion.

Good gosh, this comment is long. I’ll go now. I think this is my last comment.

Nice! yes, there would be nothing wrong with christians writing erotica…as long as it’s bwtween a man and a women.

@ltl_rvr - yes, he does lke boobies judging from the story.

Well if you think that King David and Johnathan were just friends read the Hebrew!!!! It simply says the sent away the Servent and then embraced in a passionate erotic situation…. Hummmm great articl though…don’t be ignorant about sex being a sacred thing only for oppsite sexual partners.

@EccentricSiren - It’s a sin to have sex, period.

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