Isn't celibacy actually a masochistic suppression of natural healthy impulses?

Judaism values a loving and healthy sex life for everyone, including rabbis. In fact there are several wee folk traditions which made sure that women's pleasure wasn't overlooked. :-)

There were RARE circumstances like Samson's Nazerite vows, but they were supposed to be extreme.

In other words, please take care in specifying which religion(s) you're talking about. It's suitably implicit in the question, but some the of the answerers are generalizing a bit too readily.

I think it is quite clear from nature that God does not intend for human beings to live celibate lives. He made men and women for each other.

I don't think celibacy is masochistic. In fact, I think it is the easy way out. It may be easier to feel close to God when we don't have family responsibilities, but I don't believe that is what He wants from us. He wants us to have children and participate with Him in the creation of life.

As a Catholic, I hope that soon priests will be able to marry.

Look into Martin Luther's view on the issue. They are quite right.

There are people out there for whom sex and sexuality hold no interest. They are rare. There are also those who chose to be celibate due to their life circumstances.

Celibacy in the Catholic church had nothing to do with faith, or anything Jesus did. It was imposed by the church in the 1500s in order to prevent priests from marrying and passing on church property and wealth to sons who might not want to be priests. So it was not a "holy order," it was just a way for the church to hang onto its loot.

That's one perspective. Another is an example of the power of the mind being developed to the point where what is thought to be "normal, natural and healthy" can be held in check when , if misused, it can create more chaos than order, it can become an obsession and addiction and it can lead to death if certain STD's are contracted and not treated.

So you see, it's all a matter of perspective.

Ruth, I would beg to differ. they were unlikely to be peodophiles before hand and the reason most of them seem to be gay is because they are forced into a cruel and unatural lifestyle through fear and guilt.

Celibacy is unhealthy, thinking that sex is unhealthy is unhealthy, the whole unhealthy thing festers and degenerates into awful self-loathing and repression... that's why priests end up being peodophiles. Because it's institutionalised and disgusting through and through.

Are you celibate? How do you know that the appetite subsides?

Celibacy is the giving up of a good thing for an even better thing

Celibacy, when practiced by religious men and women, become the ultimate sacrifice to show God that they are committed only to Him. When a priest takes his vows, it's like a marriage ceremony. He is pledging himself only to God. So, by staying celibate, he is keeping those vows.

Fasting and doing without are the greatest sacrifices that a human can do for God, so celibacy is among the greatest forms of worship and love for Our God.

All sins can be justified on the same basis. Isn't it natural to kill anybody who competes for the same resources?

The natural man is an enemy to God. He always has been and always will be.

No. Celibacy is a requirement of a believer who is not married.

Any other celibacy you are referring to is outside my belief system.

Pheonix, the priests are not "doing children because of" celibacy. They are pedophiles who became priests. There is a difference here. Pedophilia is not the natural result of celibacy, it is the result of the depravity of man.

I wouldn't know. I'm humping every girlcat in the neighborhood.