I have a Question for You
Is there any council given in the writings of Ellen White about sex or intercourse on the Sabbath? Please send some information to help be know if
it is right or wrong to have intercourse on the Sabbath. I am speaking as a
married man or woman.
Regards,
___________
Dear ___________,
Thank you for contacting the Ellen G. White Estate. I am not aware of any statement from Mrs. White which addresses this question. I could leave matters there, but that probably wouldn't be too helpful to you. So, for whatever it is worth, let me copy for you the discussion on this question from ___________'s book God Invented Sex (Southern Publishing Association [now part of the Review and Herald Publishing Association], 1974). I suspect that the book is out of print, but if you wish you can probably find a copy at an Adventist institutional library or even get your local library to find a copy for you on interlibrary loan. You might also find a copy for sale at www.lnfbooks.com or at Leaves of Autumn Books, PO Box 440, Payson, AZ 85547, phone 928 474-3654.
I'll copy this portion for you below my signature. I hope you find it helpful. God bless!
--------
William Fagal, Director
Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office
Andrews University
Berrien Springs, MI 49104-1400 USA
Phone: 616 471-3209
FAX: 616 471-2646
Website: www.WhiteEstate.org or www.egwestate.andrews.edu
E-mail: egw@aubranch.egwestate.andrews.edu
Q. Is it proper to have intercourse on the Sabbath?
A. One could take either of two possible attitudes. On the one hand, a couple may say that the Lord has been good to allow them sexual pleasure for six nights in the week, and as a form of fasting they will refrain from the privilege on the Sabbath. It could be their way of giving up something they enjoy greatly as a type of sacrifice offering to the Lord. One of the most dedicated and balanced Adventist couples I know follows the practice. One must be careful, though, not to think that he or she is earning merit by abstinence. On the other hand, a couple could feel that the expression of their love for each other in sexual union is appropriate and fitting for the Sabbath. They may reason that God intimately identified Himself with the emotion, and that the love of a man for his wife and her love for him reflect His on the human level. For them the Lord made man in the image of God to the degree that he is able to give and receive love of the highest order. For Christians, they feel, sexual love is a part of the larger realm of love and is therefore completely in harmony with the spirit permeating the worship of God on the seventh day. The orthodox Jew, whose respect for the Sabbath we can hardly question, considers Friday night as a perfect opportunity for engaging in intercourse. It is assumed that the reasoning behind the rabbis' approval takes into account the letdown from the tensions of the week as one moves into the restfulness of the Sabbath. Once in a while the couple may put sex relations aside for a high purpose. One instance occurred at Mount Sinai. The lord commanded the Israelites not to have any intercourse for three days, a period of abstinence to recognize the unique solemnity of the formal proclamation of the law. Nowhere does the Bible intimate that God set it up as a precedent for refraining from sex on the Sabbath. However, to refer to the orthodox Jew again, he abstains from sex relations on two particular occasions. [I'll shorten Wittschiebe's discussion of this, noting that the occasions are the Ninth of Av, commemorating the destruction of the temple, and for seven days following the death of a loved one.] Incidentally, Seventh-day Adventists in one part of the world have a depressing view of sex on the Sabbath. Many believe that a child conceived on that day will be retarded.
Q. Are sexual relations on the Sabbath "doing thine own pleasure"?
A. If by the word pleasure we mean anything that pleases a person on that day, then we must omit many other activities, such as eating, cuddling one's child, any demonstrations of affection short of intercourse, visiting friends, and so on. It would make the Sabbath a day of "unpleasure" and would give it the spirit of a Puritan Sabbath. "Pleasure" here probably has the meaning of "will"--as in the expression "it is the kings's pleasure." The Interpreter's Bible comments on Isaiah 58:13, "Perhaps we should read, 'from carrying on your business.' . . . Not for man's profit but for the glory and praise of God the Sabbath was instituted." Our own S.D.A. Bible Commentary, Volume 4, page 307, points out that "the essence of sin is selfishness--doing what one pleases, irrespective of God or man." In commenting on the word honour in the same verse, it explains, "Any activity entered into with the objective of learning more of the character, works, ways, and will of the Creator, or that is made a channel whereby His love may reach the hearts and lives of our fellowmen, is indeed an honor to God." It hardly seems that sexual intercourse engaged in by two loving Christian spouses would be inconsistent with knowing more of the character of God or would fail to be a channel by which they could better understand and experience His love on the human plane. After all, according to Ephesians 5:31, 32, the love a man for his wife symbolizes the love of Christ for His church. According to The Babylonian Talmud, scholars were to perform their marital duties every Friday night. If orthodox Jewish authorities could see no violation of the Sabbath in intercourse, surely the Christian should not be too quick to label it an act of Sabbathbreaking. If couples refrain from intercourse on Sabbath because they feel that the sex act is essentially impure, then they raise a question about the fitness of engaging in it on any day. Labor or the selfish expression of one's will is contrary to the spirit of the Sabbath. But engaging in impurity is morally wrong on any day of the week.
From God Invented Sex, by Charles Wittschiebe (1974), pp. 90-93
