Heather Little-White, Ph.D.Contributor

'I am used to going with three or four women a week because I love sex and always want to have sex, my friends think I am a sex maniac, but I just feel good to have sex with more than woman,' according to Wray, 32, who claims that he does not plan on being married for a while because of the good time he is having with his sex life. He cautions, though, that in all his sexual exploits he uses a condom (or two) because he loves himself and does not want to get AIDS.

Wray is a devout Catholic 'church-goer' growing up in the church as a boy, and attends mass every week. Each year during Lent he tries to give up something he loves and for the first time this year his sister encouraged him to give up 'womanising'. For Wray that meant no sex for Lent. He decided to make the sacrifice and his sister is keeping him busy by having him help with her accounts for her business.

Forty days

There are many persons like Wray who make the sacrifice to give up something for Lent. Lent is a time of fasting and repentance - a period of reflection that proceeds the Easter season. Christians who observe Lent are re-enacting Jesus' 40-day fast which made him strong to withstand the devil's temptations.

Today, the Lenten fast is broadly practised across religions with people taking on a Lenten discipline like exercising and daily prayer. The period also means abstaining from pleasures and passions like alcohol, sweets and television. The practice of abstaining from meat and animal-based foods is an age-old practice and is still practised by many. It is believed that flesh-foods eliminate certain types of cholesterol which increases testosterone, the major androgen responsible for sex drive.

Celibacy

Abstaining from sex during Lent is a form of temporary celibacy. Celibacy is defined in the broad sense as 'the state of not being married' and an 'abstention from sexual intercourse'. Ask any 'hip' teenager what abstinence means and he or she will tell you it means avoiding se or 'until marriage'.

Early writings of the Church Fathers and Judeo-Christian tradition made a distinct connection between meat-eating and increased libido. St. Augustine attributed the disastrous sexual passions of man to the eating of meat. This led to encouragement of abstaining from sex during fasting and penance during Lent. The Church has long advocated abstinence from sex as a critical aspect of religious living. Churches had several prohibitions against sex outside of marriage. This was firmly rooted in the belief that bodily suffering was good for a righteous Christian life.

Deadly sin

Quoting from The Seven Deadly Sins, Rami Bishay in the Journal for Discussion of Science suggests that abstinence is a means of controlling the body under the will of the mind (spirit). It is also a means of returning to the idealised biblical state of humanity as an herbivore (plant eater) and to eliminate bodily satisfaction and flatulence which are contrary to vigilance and sober demeanour during times of spiritual reflection.

It is not true that couples turn their backs to each other in bed for all of 40 days. According to Lauren Winner in her article 'Giving up Sex for Lent', (www.beliefnet.com/story) some Christians will break their Lenten fast on weekends, having sex on the Sabbath in accord with traditional Judaism. Winner states that married couples are encouraged to have sex on the Sabbath because making love is seen as a robust fulfilment of the Sabbath commandment to be joyful. Winner adds that St. Paul in Corinthians makes it clear that husbands and wives can take a break from sex by mutual agreement but the break should only be temporary.

Bodily desires

Winner speaks of a couple who by giving up sex for Lent claim that by giving up sex for Lent the themselves with their hearts, will and experience of Jesus. The lesson couples say they learn from fasting and sexual abstinence is that it teaches them that they are utterly subject to their bodily desires and sexual abstinence is a form of self-reverencing.

On the lighter side, abstaining from sex during Lent makes for greater sex after Lent is finished. One couple claims that the absence of sex is always well worth the wait - "It is like a sexual renewal," the wife quipped, "and we feel better about ourselves."

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