What if I told you that sex outside or marriage is not a sin but was made to be believed to be a sin by former saints (such as Saint Augustine)?
Take for example the word Fornication. When we look up fornication in Strong’s Bible definitions or Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words we see that the orginal Greek and Hebrew meaning never said “sex outside of or before marriage”. Some modern dictionaries may translate the word differently but remember depending on what dictionary you will find many different definitions for the word. That is why it is always best to look up the orginal Greek and Hebrew meaning for the word.
Also when we look up all the verses that talk about Fornication (or Sexual immorality as some versions will say) we see 13 or so verses that mention sexual immorality mention it as something you should not do. The other seven verses show us what sexual immorality really means.
Numbers 25:1-5
Numbers 25:1-5
1 Corinthians 5:1
1 Corinthians 6
1 Corinthians 10
Jude 1:7
Revelation 2:14
Here’s a big hint: It has to do with sexual worship of foreign god’s (with the exception of 1 Corinthians 5:1 and Jude 1:7. This is sexual immorality because it goes against the “sex laws” in Leviticus 18).
Some may say, what about Matthew 5:27,28?
That is referring to strong desire for another man’s wife, to covet. The bible warns us against this (Exodus 20:17). Jesus has a higher standard that is to lust for another mans wife is as bad as committing adultery with her. Also, look up the word lust in Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Just has having anger for someone can lead you to murdering them (Matthew 5:21-26) lust for another mans wife can lead you to adultery with her.
What about the Old Testament?
The Old Testament is full of some 600+ laws that the Israelites were supposed to live by.
In Leviticus 18, we find the sex laws; if sex before marriage was a sin we should find it here. After relieving all laws I’m yet to see one that says sex before marriage is a sin. And as you read throughout the Old Testament there are several stories of people having sex with someone they are not married to and many times they are even considered blessed because of it.
In Genesis 38: 13-30 we read the story of Tamar who dresses up as a prostitute in order to seduce her father in law to have sex with her so she can have a child. She is considered blessed because of this. In Joshua 2 we read about Rahab the prostitute who in the New Testament is considered one of the “Who’s Who of faith” (Hebrews 11:31). How can someone who is living in sin by having sex with people she is not married to be considered one of the top faithful people? Unless sex is not a sin.
And in Judges 16:1-3 we read about Samson, he’s also considered a man of faith (Hebrew 11:31), who is obviously having sex with women he is not married too. Sure he did have a weakness for one beautiful woman who did lead to his demise, Delilah, but the funny thing is even after he would have sex with these women, he was not married to; he would never lose his God-given strength. He was told not to drink wine, cut his hair, and not to eat any unclean food, but never; not to have sex (Judges 13).
My conclusion is that nowhere in the bible does it ever say sex outside of marriage is a sin (unless of course it is part of a worship act to another God, Fornication).
If you can show me otherwise, feel free.
Note: Please don’t tell me your opinions or philosophies on the topic. If you cannot back up what you say with bible verses and research behind it please don’t post. thanks
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Yeah- in my youth group we used to have a week each year to focus on sex in the Bible and they would preach to us how premarital sex is a sin... I don't believe it is and I believe that the Bible can be interpreted in different ways as well. I've never looked as deeply at specific verses as you have, and now i really agree with you.
So even though you never had any bible verses to back up your claim, you have always believed, deep down, that premarital sex is not a sin?
We're allowed to have them.
Well. I'M allowed to have them.
Your (??) God says you can't.
Kinda like
"I can watch R rated movies, but YOUR mommy says you can't."
Or something.
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"
by whose authority are we allowed to interpret scripture according to our own philosophy? 2 Peter 1:20 teaches that that is expressly what we are NOT supposed to do. If all interpretations are okay, then at the same token none are. There cannot be many ways to one truth. When God says murder is wrong, do we make exceptions? Only when what the Bible teaches intefere with our desires do we question its veracity. This is dangerous. Either the bible is to interpreted as being inerrant or it is completely false.
"When God says murder is wrong, do we make exceptions?"
Depends what you define as 'murder' and what your different views are. Some people think that abortion is murder, others think the death penalty is murder, and others think that killing someone in self defense is murder. Yes, I realize they are all called different things by US law, but we're not talking about US law, we're talking about the Bible, which itself even says it's ok to kill people.
~C
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Because no one knows what it's REALLY saying.
Even Christians can't agree 100% on how to interpret the Bible. Look at all the variations of the Christian beliefs! Sheesh. If they can't even get it straight...
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"
This is an interesting topic, and I like your analysis of it. Unfortunately, I am far from being a Bible scholar, so I don't have any support one way or the other for you. I just think of sex as something special you'd only want to share with the person you were going to spend the rest of your life with.
~C
Visit my blog.
I notice you've left out Acts 15. Is there a reason? Remember when Paul met with Peter, Barnabas and the Elders in Jerusalem to resolve the issue of the Judaizing Christians? Do you remember what Paul and the Apostles wrote? in v 29 they said the spirit had only a few laws which still remained from the Mosaic; Abstain from things offered to idols, things strangled, blood, and sexual impurity, which is defined in Numbers and Leviticus. Also, In Galatians 5 we are told that sensous and sexually immoral people (defined earlier in Leviticus and 1 Cor 7) shall not inherit the kingdom of God. You said Rahab was blessed, which she was, but not because of her promescuity, rather because of her faith. Paul killed christians, and yet we read in Acts 9 that he was the chosen vessel of the Lord.
If I'm SENSUOUS I don't get to go to heaven? I've even been getting sex itself wrong.
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"
then don't bother responding. You're not adding anything to the argument.
Although I am not a Catholic or Christian and hence this issue does not directly pertain to me, I find it quite interesting. I do, however, attend a Catholic school, and for dialectical purposes shall try to provide a few counterpoints to your argument:
-Although not directly stated in the Bible, it is implied by the holiness and symbolism of the marital act. The conjugal act is a physical embodiment of the joining of two spirits, and through this act, life is brought forth. Picture, if you will, two pieces of paper brought together. They are not merely brought next to each other, but physically glued together, symbolically becoming one. If you were to rip these apart and try to glue each to another page, part of each would be left with the other. Even if we take the Bible and God out of this equation, premarital sex directly hurts, emotionally, psychologically, and often even physically, each of the participants. As God's image and creation, any hurt knowingly inflicted upon ourselves or others is a sin. “That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh.” (Ge 2:24).
-Throughout the Old Testament, God gave the Israelites laws as He felt they were ready, slowly preparing them for the coming of Jesus. This is why many of the laws seem archaic today: the fact that men were allowed to beat their wives, that it was not considered sinful to own a slave, or etc. God started the Israelites with simpler laws of sexuality, preparing them for the fullness of the truth, which would come with Jesus. Finally in the Gospels it speaks of the sin of lust, compared to the sin of adultery. Adultery is the sin of sex with anyone other than the husband or wife, and is shown here as a sin: Matthew 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Anyways, that's all I've got for now, hope you find it interesting :D
I'm not sure if you're a Catholic or not, but in Catholic teachings, a sin must a)go against God's will or a commandment, b)be done knowingly and intentionally. Therefore, if you have sex before marriage or steal a book, but don't know or believe that it is sinful, you have not committed a sin. According to Catholics that is.....
I believe that sex is a marital act, and that there is, in fact, no such thing as "premarital" sex. It's the whole "two becoming one" thing. In the Old Testament, some people didn't have wedding ceremonies before having sex, and it wasn't said to be wrong.
HOWEVER, adultery is *definitely* wrong. Rahab was not praised for being a prostitute. The Bible NEVER says that adultery is right. So, you're right when you say that sex is not a sin--it's a blessed action, when done in the right context.
Rahab and Samson were living in sin, but Rahab's *faith* saved her, and God had made a promise when it came to Samson, and I think that we all know that God doesn't break His promises. Thus, those examples are faulty. Nowhere in the Bible is adultery condoned. But "premarital" sex does not necessarily equate to adultery, and I don't think that it's always inherently wrong.
TxY
Well, you were considered married if you had sex in the presence of two witnesses. You could also become married if the man gave the woman some sort of monetary gift (like our engagement rings) in the presence of two witnesses. And then, of course, there was the actual signing of the marriage contract.
~C
Visit my blog.
Check out this link!
Its about the versions of marriage in the Bible:
www.religioustolerance.org/mar_bible.htm
If THAT is all considered to be in the bounds of marriage...I'm already married biblically to my boyfriend, that I live with, sleep with, eat with, pay bills with, and deal with his family.
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"