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THI MISSING DIMINSIDIIN
~mM
This is the first of a series of articles taken
from the editor-in-chiers book by the same
name. The book, original/y on
' 7he
New
Mora/ity," was first published_in 1964, with
a first press run of 250, 000 copies. Seven
subsequent prin tings added 208, 500 more
copies. The current edition was published
in 1971, with press runs totaling 402,500.
by
Herben W. Armstrong
Part 1
T
he world has emerged from lhe age
of
hush. ID
tbe last balf-oentury a
moral
revolution has swept over the
world.
The professional •authoritics" - the
psyehoanalysts and lhe medica! dociOrs
- deeided moral standard$ were in need
of revision. They have beco revised,
radicaJJy, under the eatchphrase
·~M
MWmorallty.
6
There
is
of course general awarencss,
if not yet total acceptance. of the
ehange. Yet few realize lhe
focJs
of tbe
true origio of the "sex-is-sbameful" atti–
tude, or of lhe impetus bebind lbe moral
revolution. The
¡acu
are
stranger than
tlction!
You live today in a mixed-up world
that has lost its way, especially in the
arca of sex and marriage. And
tMn
u
a
>try
sign.¡iCJJnt rMSon!
T be
Most Vital Dimeosion
Míssrnc:
The world, since World War
l.
has
beco deluged witb
boob,
pampblets,
and articles in magazines and newspa–
pers about
sex.
Still, the most necessary
dimensioo, in knowledge of lhe subject
9as been missing - unpublisbed until
now!
Today protest fills lhe air. Revolt is
everywbere, against almost everything!
And in oo grievauce is revolt so wide–
spread as lhat against lhe reprC$Sive
moral codes of tradiúonal Cbrisúaoity.
The revolters reject the autbority of the
churcb. They have embraced wbat tbey
term "tbe new morality."
Just wbat are tbe generally u.nknown
PACTS?
What
was
the real origin of lhe
traditiooal Christian morality? Oíd it
come from Christ - from the original
apostles - from tbe Bible?
And wbat tríggered thc moral revolu–
tion and finally plunged lhe world in10
the sexual ' 'freedoms" of today?
Origin or
lhe
"'id"
Morality
Cbristianity, foUowing its first genera–
tion, absorbed the pagan dualism of
Oreece and pasted the label "sinful" on
sex. Tbrougb tbe centuries since, lhe
moral standard$ of lhe. Western world
were regulated by the Roman Catholic
Churcb.
Does
lhat mean, lhen, lhat Christ in·
troduoed aod taugbt
tbia
attitudc thut
sex of itself is sbameful and evil? Em–
phaúcaUy it does not! Jesus never repre–
scnted sex as anything other than that
6
which our Maker ereated, and
aiJ
that
be bad created be prooounoed "very
good.~
Jesus taught against wrong
uses
of
sex. He forgave
a
repentant woman
caught
in
the act of adultery, with the
admonition, "Go, and sin no more."
The original apostles never deviated
from
this
teacbing, The bibticalteacbing
tbrougbout is lhe same.
What, tben, was lhe real
source of
this
attitude of sbame?
lt
flowed
on
lhe tide
of the Babylonian mystery religion into
tbe Roman world. And bow did this
concept come to
be
accepted as
Chris–
tian? Tbe factS.
1
repeat. are straoger
than fiction.
Emphatically it was not the teaehing
o(
11ebraisrn, nor of Jesus, nór of the
original churcb of
Ood.
1t
reacbed. the
Roman world by way of Oreece, but it
ftowed, at an earlier date, into Oreece
froro
Egypt.
Yet it stems froro a still
earlier souroc, to be revealed io the fol–
lowing cbapter.
In lhe first and secood centuries the
Roman world
was
dotted by pagan
schools, on the cu.rricular model estab–
lished by the Greeian Plato. Plato bad
received this dualistic attitude toward
sex from his teacher, the philosopher
Socrates, himself a sex pervert This
dualistic teaehing had beeome lhe basic
bypothesis of
aiJ
Oreeian thougbt, writ·
ing, and religioo.
.
Sex
was regarded as
low
and degrad·
ing. an aCI in whieh
man
descended to
the leve! of the beast.
This was tbe underlying attitude in
the teaching of the pagan sebools
tbrougbout the Roman Empire. There
were no Christian scbools. To establ ish
sucb scbools would bave been impos–
síble. Textboolcs bad
10
be printed labo–
riously,
by
/w.nd,
one at
a
time. Tbe
printing press was not to be invented for
ocnturies.
AU
textbooks were pagan.
Second- and third-generation Chris–
tians were reared aod educated from
childhood in these pagan scbools. By tbe
beginning of lhe 6th eentwy this dualis–
tic concept toward sex was ftrmly roo.ted
in Westem Christianity. lt is still lhe
teachingof lhe Romao Calholic Chureh.
Proi~WIIS
in
general
have
passively fol–
lowed Catholic teaching on sex, but
bave tended
10
be more
lax
in practicing
it.
ID
rapidly increasing numbers, Pro–
testants now are forsaking this tradi-
tional teaehing and aocepting lhe unew
morality."
Kllowledge
Le¡ally
Wlthheld
And
b«aUH
sex was viewed as i.nde- -
cent, degrading, shameful and sinful -
even in marrlage, rxcepr for
procreation
- lhe dissemination of knowledge about
sex
was
fO<Cibly
withhcld
froto
the public.
Even
as
tbe United States entered
World War
1
in
1917,
it was still unlaw–
ful in America 10 publish,
sel~
or
distrib·
ute any knowledge about sex o r
instrueúon in its use. Certaioly married
people sorely
n«ded
proper instruction.
But
all
teacbing was legally banned.
ParentS taugbt their children notbin,.
They themselves knew nolhing. Thetr
parentS bad never taugbt
tlrem.
And,
be·
sides, it would have been too embarrass–
ing! Tbe commonly accepted attitude
was: "Keep our children innocent and
pure lhrough ignorance until marriage
- and then instinct will teU tbem what
todo." ·
But inStinet did not teach them.
Humans, unlike animals, do oot come
equipped with instinct. Blindly, with a
smattering of •gutter-acquired"
mu–
knowledge, the newly married blun·
dered lheir way into disil.lusionments,
shattered dreams. bitter <eseotroentS,
frustrations- and,
too
oflen, tbe divoroc
couru and broken homes.
True, a very large j'Crcentage of girls
and wives were kept pure." The girl, as
late as
1917,
wbo lost ber virginity un–
married bad also "lnst her honor." Sorne
even deeided lhey cnuld never face "de–
cent~
people again and ran off 10 enter
houses of prostitu tion. Of course
a
double standard had developed. Every'
man wanted a virgin for a wife, but a
majority were less eareful about their
own malo virtue. The girl who had
ugone lhe limit"
was
"damaged goods."
The commonly accepted
Victorian attitude was,
" Keep our children inno–
cent and pure through
ignorance until maniage
- and then instinct wi/1
te// them what to do. "
Tbe
Fruits of
Pruclt"l7
8 ut what were the real fruits of that
dualistic cnncept of virtue? Some
90%
of
marriages were reodered unhappy -
many utterly miserable and unbearable
- because of false altitudes and sex ig·
norance. Many a wife was virtuaUy
raped on ber wedding nigbt. The stupid
busbaod didn' t roean to injure bis wtfe.
He was just plain tGNO!lA,.-r! He needed
instruction tbat bad be011 denied
bim.
Many
wives ealled their busbnnds
"&RUTES."
They simply were ignorant of
the fact that brutes, guided' by instinct,
are not guilty of sucb lhings. Husbands
said the.ir wives were "frigid" aod
too
oflen began tn visit prostitutes.
Wbat price IGNOilANc.E!
Then carne World War
l.
lt
brought
tremendous ehanges in
thinking.
in
1»
bavior pauems, in social cus10ms, aod in
the double standard. Womcn won the
vote in America. Wives began entering
employment and beeoming financially
independent.
Tbe
Freudlao Coaduslon
Previously. about
1904,
a su.rthng
cnnclusion had been reached by Sig·
mund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis.'
This revolutionary opinion bad resulted
lfman is
mere/y
the
highest of the animal
kingdom, when in his
evolutionary develop–
ment did marriage, home
and family life start -
and why?
from
bis
clinical experience and re–
searches. Freud had decided that sexual
repressíon, the attitude of shame and
ignorance about
sél(
were
the
c.<usES
of
neuroses and many mental disorders.
He "and his roUowers in t.he newly
ap–
pearing profession of psychiatry urged
knowledge disseminatioo and sexual
freedom as the panacea. lf repression
aod self-denial
caused
the neurotic dis–
quiet. why not reverse the interpretation
of morality? Emancípate the people
from restraints. Put a new defuútion on
sex. Define it as
oooo,
not degrading.
sbameful and
EVIL -
any
use
of sex, in
or out ofmarriage. In lbe wake ofWorld
War
1
tbe agitation resulting from
Freud's revolutionary coodusions fi–
naUy brougbt about tbe toppting of the
legal barriers. And the moral barriers
began brealcing down simultaneously.
With the removal of legal restrainl$
against sex iostruelion, medica! doctors,
and psychoanalysts began grinding out
volume afler volume imparting here–
tofore banned instrueúon about sex.
Previously, the publication of knowl–
edge in olher fields had beeo aocelerat–
ing. But in the delicate area of
lcnowledge about sex tbe medica! and
associated professions bad beld a mo–
nopoly. Now sex informatioo was burled
at the public from aU directions. Even
today almos! every magazine one might
.pick up off a newsstaod wiU contain
at
least ooe article on the subject ofsex.
·'Tbe "NewMoraUty" Appears
Yet somelhing has been criminaUy
wrong with
this
avalanche of sex litera–
tute. There has
beco
missing lhe most
vital dimension.
The world bepn !hrowin& olf tbc re–
straints. Thc rcvolt was on, against pru·
dety, repression and ignorance. Tbe
new
sensual knowledge - Wllh its most–
needed dimension missing - quickly
1»
gan to be gulped
in
by curiosity-hungry
WEEK ENDINO MAY 24, 1975