Phil,
You have free will. Everyone does. A religious or philosophical creed that offers instructions or advice for moral living, does not negate your free will, or somehow undermine God's gift of free will in the first place.
Think of it as our own "Freedom of Speech". Freedom of speech allows us to protest a President or Congressman, and even wear a T-Shirt that said something like "Bush Sucks" or "Obama: Socialist States of America" and get away with it, having our voice heard, expressing ourselves freely, etc... But, if we were to scream "Fire!!!!" in a crowded theater, when there was no fire, and people were injured or killed as a result of the prank, then even though this was an act of free speech, because of the nature of the act, and the resultant injuries, we would be prosecuted for a crime.
On the highways of "free" America, we are free to drive across this great nation, to just about wherever we choose, as free citizens. But if we decide to drive on the sidewalk, or through a playground, or through someone else's private property, then we would be in trouble. Even in our "free" society, we have RULES that are designed to ensure freedom for everyone, within reason. The rules help avoid our MISUSING our freedom, and thereby threatening other people's freedoms, or they help protect other's from harm, from our unchecked freedoms.
In a free society, we have freedoms.
In a civil society however, those freedoms come with "clauses".
For a civil society to exist and thrive, it is ESSENTIAL that some agreed upon standards are arrived at, in order for us
ALL to have the best balance possible between FREEDOM and CIVILITY (peacefully co-existing).
As a society we make a
CHOICE to voluntarily give up certain "freedoms" (like the freedom to drive automobiles on sidewalks rather than roads) in favor of "orderly progression of traffic" - "public safety" and many other considerations.
BALANCE is the goal.
EXTREMISM is the enemy to order and peace and saftey.
To say that "I have a penis" so I should use it whenever and however I choose, regardless of the possible harm brought to others, is simply an uncivil, irresponsible and even childish, position to hold.
You likely wouldn't hold the same position were we speaking of something else, rather than sex.
I would assume that you understand the logic of having laws prohibiting the MISUSE of "free" speech? For example, I could argue that it was my right to free speech, which allows me to ruin your life, by spreading false information about you, to your wife, family and business associates, but if my facts were false, we enter another arena known as "libel". And if I ruined your marriage and your business, through a well-crafted disinformation campaign, besides wanting to kick my ass, would you not be supportive of laws which would have made my actions illegal, and now give you some recourse to punish me, and maybe recoup lost earnings, etc...?
Or even as Sans pointed out, basically that... Regardless of any promises which may have been made, if you feel horny, then that is your green-light, your license to screw whomever you choose. Well, Sans gets urges to murder certain people, he doesn't think are worthy to share our oxygen.
Shouldn't he "obey" those urges, just as you do? You could argue that there is a difference, because sans is enforcing his will against someone else, without consent, by murdering them. But you too, may very well be enforcing your will on others, and without their consent. Like bringing venereal diseases home. Or maybe even introducing a psycho into your wife's life that could eventually bring her harm? Think of Amy Fisher, the young girl who fell in love with the garage owner, and then she went and tried to kill his wife so they could be together. The innocent wife, now has a face that is permanently frozen on one side. That man's wife, has to live the rest of her life now, disfigured, because Why? Because, hell... he had a penis, and when a fairly attractive 17 year old wanted it, by george, it was his OBLIGATION to his own penis to oblige her.
The MOTHER of his OWN CHILDREN, paid a hell of a price for that indiscretion.
They're long divorced... and she's still paying!
You shouldn't hate religious principles and rules so blanketedly.
You don't have as much problem when it is found in other areas of your life. I imagine the "stickmasters" have their own set of rules, that are expected not to be broken? I don't see you bitching about those?
Religion's problem, is that, over time, they take a good thing, way too far.
But many of the initial insights I believe, really are spiritually inspired, and they are there for the BENEFIT of others, not their detriment.
I realized a long time ago, that many, if not most, of the rules that religions lay down, are simply COMMON SENSE! No sex before marriage. Fidelity "IN" marriage. I can give you a laundry list of why these behaviors, while taxing on our self-control, are wise and logical, and help give a couple the best opportunity for a successful marriage. Same with the "weird" dietary laws and laws on cleanliness that are found in Jewish religious laws. Is washing your hands before eating, a bad rule? The admonitions against certain foods, like pork and shellfish, particularly in a more unscientific age, probably alone, saved countless lives.
We can also find examples of extremism there, of course.
Which agreed, are wrong... like stoning your children to death for being disrespectful, but all in all, religions have rules meant for healthy lives, successful families and productive lives.
But interestingly, these sometimes very diverse religions, seem to have one big thing in common....
DENIAL OF THE FLESH. Meaning, ALMOST ALL religions, practice some form of denial of the desires of the flesh. i.e. No sex before marriage, or Monks who may take a vow of silence for a year or more, or Priests who remain celibate throughout their ordinations, or fasting at certain times... no meat on Fridays or for Muslims at Ramadan, no food before sunset that month.
It is not always the rules themselves that have value... God could care less whether we refrain from eating before sunset for a month, or instead we fast for 3 days with water only, or we don't eat meat at certain times of the week, etc...
It is not the FOOD that is the issue.
The deliberate practice of abstaining from things our bodies crave, for certain periods of time, have nothing to do with the food or the sex or the talking, itself. It is all about SELF CONTROL. One of the most obvious things that separates us from animals, is our ability to CONTROL our natural urges, for some greater purpose, whereas animals, do what is instinctual WHENEVER and WHEREVER they are, providing nothing else interferes. The animals will take a dump, and then screw their own sister, right in front of you, and anyone else who cares to watch. To most humans however, this is not civil, healthy or productive behavior.
If your urges were allowed to go unchecked, as they do to varying degrees, in most wildlife, then your own son could be shopping at WalMart just in time to witness you raping the cashier, because you had the urge to sleep with her, so why wait? Animals don't wait. They obey urges. Some have penises after all. And then maybe you decide to just steal the stuff you had in your cart without paying, and maybe you shoot some people and kill them on the way out of the store, because they had something to say about you raping the cashier in front of everyone.
Do you really believe the abandonment of laws or rules of conduct themselves, leads to a positive scenario? Is that "really" what you want your WalMart experience to be? (Don't answer that... I can hear the jokes now. LOL)
But seriously...
Is that the kind of WalMart experience you want for your family? It may be
YOUR son who gets shot next, or
YOUR sister who was raped in front of everyone.
Clearly rules of conduct, are meant for the BENEFIT of society.
Religious rules are no different.
They are guides, to help us learn how to MANAGE our free will responsibly.
Without these guides, and most are religiously inspired, where would the world really be right now?
It may have remained in a more primitive form, where people lived not unlike animals, and "DID" rape whoever they chose, right in front of everyone else, because the urge happened to hit at that time.
As I have said before...
God has been helping mankind move AWAY from our animal inheritance (our bodies) and to strengthen the spiritual nature He infused us with. As we learn to subjugate physical animal-like desires, and control them, using them responsibly, we learn then, to live as more spiritual beings. As we move away from our physical inheritance, we move more closely to our spiritual destiny, where
ALL LAWS become unecessary, because our CONSCIENCE alone, becomes the only law necessary.... we won't do a certain thing now... not because it is illegal, but because it is wrong... because it may hurt someone or cause some grief to others, and our conscience couldn't bear that.
We aren't there as a society, or as a world.... not yet.
But with religion's inspiriation and help, and with modern psychology working along side, and as these lessons are being entrenched into the human psyche, before long, it turns then, into political will and action. And as this is occurring (as it is now) and as we learn to RESIST animalistic urges that are unhealthy when unrestrained, and become more spiritual people, the place where God always designed us to reach to... Then...
Even these conversations will become uneccessary.
It will, one day, be
OBVIOUS, why we have to find our better natures, restrain our animal urges, and cooperate as a COMMON SPECIES... for the benefit of our own survival and success as a PEOPLE.
The human race.
History has been bringing us to that day.
And trust me... God, is the guiding hand, helping us to bring it to fruition.
.
