What does Divine design, Greek mythology, pregnancy, abortion and current medical research have in common? The myth of casual sex.

Sex By Design

In the grand sweep of history, we live in an amazing age. We also live in an absurd age. Absurd because some basics of life are now pressed with absurd assertions.

If all you knew about it was from the media, you’d think that sex is just a recreational sport. The trouble is, many don’t know much more about it than that and act accordingly. You see it in the widespread attitude and corresponding actions of “casual sex”. Little wonder when you realise entertainment’s grip on the minds of the populous.

So what was sex designed for? Let’s go back to the “manufacturer’s manual” and consider the original intent of it.

“You shall not commit adultery.“
Exodus 20:14

This means that sex was designed to be enjoyed within the covenant of heterosexual marriage. Any sex outside of marriage is a violation of design ie: sin.

So, what is marriage and what does it do? Jesus elaborates on this…

“And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Matthew 19:4-6

Another way I’ve heard it said is that “Sex is like glue”. It is not only the fusing of flesh but also of souls. It’s more than a mere physical act. Much more. That’s why one should pursue the preservation of it for marriage. That’s why the use of it outside of marriage gives away too much and fractures a person physically, emotionally and spiritually with each and every illicit encounter.

Some say that this standard for sex and marriage is old fashioned. Modern research has something to say about that.

Microchimerism

The year was 1979 and researchers are Stanford University were in for a shock. The shock? Discovering cells with Y chromosomes in a pregnant lady’s blood sample. Only men have Y chromosomes, so what’s going on?

Further investigation concluded that the cells containing Y chromosomes came from her baby son, who at the time was still in her womb. This launched a whole new field of research called Microchimerism.

Microchimerism is the where a small number of cells from a genetically distinct individual is found to be living in another. Its name comes from the Chimera, a fire-breathing hybrid monster from Greek mythology. Usually shown as a lion with the head of a goat on its back and a snake for a tail, it’s a creature with mixed parts. Turns out, this mixing happens in humans more than we expected and in more ways than we imagined.

The Gift Of Child

What’s so significant about a baby’s cells travelling from the womb into the mother’s body (incidentally, it also works in the opposite direction from the mother to the child)?

The significance is the fact that the baby’s cells can migrate to and repair his/her mother’s injuries, ultimately becoming a positive, enduring part of the mother’s body. Like the microscopic basis for a mother’s “pregnancy glow”, there’s a hypothesis that the baby’s foetal cells protect, defend and repair his/her mother’s body for the rest of her life. Like a life long gift, our intuition that mothers carry their children in their hearts and minds forever is more literal than we imagined. We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made.

These beneficial actions also highlight a tragic reality. A 2004 study demonstrated that microchimarism is most frequent in women with induced abortions. Aborted children literally continue to be a positive part of their mother’s lives even if they were not treated as such. This observation only serves to deepen one’s appreciation of the tragedy that is abortion.

Microchimerism And Sex

The above 2004 study also unearthed even more startling facts about microchimerism – Y chromosome cells are also found in women who never had sons. This led them to state the following in their conclusion…

Male microchimerism was not infrequent in women without sons. Besides known pregnancies, other possible sources of male microchimerism include unrecognized spontaneous abortion, vanished male twin, an older brother transferred by the maternal circulation, or sexual intercourse.

Of particular note is the fact that sex alone can be a source of microchiamerism. In other words, women can have the genetics of potentially all of their male sexual partners embedded into their body.
“Sex is glue”. The two indeed become one and a misuse of sex violates the body’s design in more ways than we imagined.

Implications

As profound as our current understanding of sex is, all of the above does leave one breathlessly wondering exactly how much more there is that we do not know. It is yet another demonstration that science done right, done with truth as its aim, points to God and positive living.

Women can literally carry in them all of their children and sexual partners. This is either divine or disturbing depending on one’s past with regards to sex and abortion. Pasts which are built on everyday decisions. Decisions which are made on the basis of one’s worldview.
For those who are on the other side of the wrong decisions, God is the God of renewal who makes all things new. For those who can look forward to enjoying sex as it has been designed, may this be a confirmation of the divine invitation to pursue its preservation for all of its sacredness and divine design.

Other articles in this series.

Images:

X&Y Chromosome & Baby in utero images from Internet
Chimera of Arezzo, National Archaeological Museum of Florence, Italy.