Intimacy: the forbidden history of sex

The Christian’s views on intimacy you have not been told about

Some very old texts turned up in a cave in Upper Egypt; they are known as Nag Hammadi codices and offer a totally different picture of the early Christians and the teaching of Christ.

They record that Adam was immortal and whole of androgynous nature until he separated from Eve by “begetting beasts” (children) instead of engaging in sacred union. In their interpretation, they say that Jesus returned to heal the separation between the sexes in a mystery called the sacrament of the bridal chambers.

In the Gospel of Philip, we are given some clues about this mysterious rite of the Bridal Chambers:

“The union is in this world man and woman, the place of the power and the weakness … there are two trees growing in paradise. The one who bears animals, the other bears men. …. If the woman had not been separated from man (through misguided union), she would not die with the man. Her separation was the origin of death … the holy of the holies is the bridal chamber or communion. Man and woman unite in the bridal chamber and those who have known this sacred embrace will never be separated”.

The ultimate goal as suggested through the Nag Hammadi texts is a way back to our divine androgynous nature “(we) are reborn to the Christ two by two … we are no longer in duality but in unity”.

I suspect that the idea of “giving birth to Christ” in this sacred mystical and physical union is behind the Christian concept of divine and Immaculate Conception. As with the Taoists, the “mystical” union of the sexes is not procreation orientated and does not require climax.

In the Nag Nammadi Gospel of Thomas: “ (Jesus) said to (her) lucky are those who heard the word of the Father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, lucky are the womb that has not conceived and the breasts that have not given milk”.

Although most traditional currents of Catholicism will deny this, Jesus did not recommend procreation, as his objective was to help mankind to achieve spiritual transcendence. Let us add that the early Christians were willing to leave families entirely behind to spread the Word.

The sacrament of the bridal chamber is not a solo mystery. The Gospel of Philip records that Jesus “had a consort in Mary Magdalene, whom he used to kiss on the (mouth)”.

The sacrament of the bridal chamber would also find resonance in the widespread oral tradition to the effect that Jesus had taught “you enter the Kingdom of Heaven when male and female become one”.