(April 2, 2013 at 12:50 pm)festive1 Wrote: Why is carnal self gratification inherently bad? Cause it isn't... Not all the time anyway. Anything can be abused religion, TV, drugs, food. Doesn't make them bad, only when you indulge in something to the point of excluding everything else does it become bad, IMO.
One of the things the famous mystic Ibn Arabi was attacked on, is that he said God is best known through sex. What he meant though, is that it manifested our desire for intimacy with the divine beauty the most.
But he also said, that even though, people don't know this, they are worshipping the divine when attracted to pleasure (cause God is ultimate pleasure) and beauty (because God is ultimate beauty).
I kind of like his perspective in that, everyone worships God no matter how much they try to avoid, because everywhere you turn, you are turning towards the face of God.
Even Satan did what he did for pride and honor, and that was worshipping ultimate honor and pride, however misguided he was.
