Regarding your questions: by holiness in our Bahá’í teachings is
meant attachment to God, His Precepts and His Will. We are not
ascetics in any sense of the word. On the contrary, Bahá’u’lláh
says God has created all the good things in the world for us to enjoy
and partake of. But we must not become attached to them and
put them before the spiritual things. Chastity in the strict sense
means not to have sexual intercourse, or sexual intimacies, before
marriage. In the general sense it means not to be licentious. This
does not mean we Bahá’ís believe sexual relations to be impure or
wrong. On the contrary they are natural and should be considered
one of God’s many blessings. He does not know anything
about whether albumen and delicious food affect sex; this is a
medical question. Sex is a very individual matter, some people are
more passionate by nature than others, and might consequently
suffer more if forced to be continent. But when the world
becomes more spiritual there will not be such an exaggerated emphasis
on sex, as there is today, and consequently it will be easier
for young people to be chaste and control their passions. A man
of noble character and strong willpower, could certainly remain
faithful to his wife during a long absence!
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