Lifestyle - 'Seven days of sex' for better marriage

Rev. Ed Young from Texas challenged his followers with a rather ‘hot’ idea to perk up things in their married lives— ‘Seven Days of Sex’.

Young, an author, a television host and the pastor of the evangelical Fellowship Church, issued his call for a week of “congregational copulation” among married couples on November 16, while pacing in front of a large bed. “Today we’re beginning this sexperiment, seven days of sex. How to move from whining about the economy to whoopee!” the New York Times quoted him as saying.

A week after the Sex Challenge Young’s 20,000 parishioners at the Grapevine branch watched a prerecorded sermon from Mr. Young and his wife, Lisa, on jumbo screens over a candlelit stage. In the video Young’s wife was seen wearing knee-high black boots and jeans and said that after a week of having sex every day, or close to it, “some of us are smiling.”

For others the weeklong sex dose helped in tackling with infidelities, addictions to pornography or other bitter hurts. “There’s been some pain; hopefully there’s been some forgiveness, too,” she said.

In fact, for Young a week of romping in bed wasn’t enough, he advised the couples to “keep on doing what you’ve been doing this week. We should try to double up the amount of intimacy we have in marriage. And when I say intimacy, I don’t mean holding hands in the park or a back rub.”

He claimed there are many barriers to an intimate sex life in marriage, including careers, exhaustion, outside commitments and “kids.” But, he claimed that following a sex routine would bring you closer to your spouse and to God. It will also help you perform better at work, leave a loving legacy for your children to follow and may even prevent an extramarital affair.

“If you’ve said, ‘I do,’ do it,” he said. As for single people, “I don’t know, try eating chocolate cake,” he said. “For some reason the church has not talked about it, but we need to,” he said, speaking by telephone on his way to South Africa for a mission trip.

He added that there’s no shame in marital sex, saying, “God thought it up, it was his idea.” He recalled that the sex challenge proved to be a little too much for some of his church members, who sat with arms crossed in uncomfortable silence. On the other hand, many in the audience gave him an enthusiastic applause.