Controversy on sexual intimacy within marriage on the Sabbath day in the South Luanda and Cabinda Mission, Angola

Abstract

The Sabbath of the seventh day of the week and the heterosexual and monogamous marriage are two institutions coming from the Garden of Eden during the week of Creation. Both remain in force and are also part of the 28 fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventists, guiding their values, behavior and identity. The first one is belief number 20 and the second one is number 23. According to this last belief, sexuality, as a gift of God, is an important element of marriage for pleasure, joy, procreation and sanctification. However, some members of Seventh-day Adventist Church in Luanda, Angola, have difficulty seeing harmony, unity and combination between the keeping and sanctification of the Sabbath and the sexual intercourse of a married couple on that day. Such as the researcher captured through observation and interviews, the church members are divided into three groups about this controversial issue: those who accept the sexual intimacy within marriage on Sabbath day; those who refuse this practice; and those who are in doubt about it. In order to contribute to solving this problem, the researcher conducted a deep biblical, exegetical and theological study through which he learned that there is not any contradiction between sex and Sabbath, because both are restful, blessed and holy, and both were given by God, the Creator, at the end of the week of Creation. That is, there is no sin or prohibition of sexual intercourse within marriage on Sabbath day. Any form of abstinence is the exclusive responsibility of the couple involved. When this study was shared with the couples from the churches involved in the research, there was a positive change in thinking, feelings and beliefs, and the negative views were reduced to insignificant numbers.