Where in the Bible does it say you cannot have sex before marriage? Please remember that “adultery” is the breaking of marriage vows, not pre-marital sex. And don’t get me started on “abstinence education,” because of all the people in the world, Christians are ironically the only ones on the planet who believe remaining a virgin has ever resulted in pregnancy. And are you honestly telling me Adam and Eve went through a wedding ceremony? I get that God could have presided over the ceremony, but everyone knows you at least need a witness.
Fornication is sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons to two persons not married to each other - pre-marital sex qualifies under this one.
ReplyDeleteFornication is usually included in a list of sins that get special mention.
As always, the issue isn't the law, but the heart of the matter. Adam & Eve were "married" by God - a witness is only required by law and they were not under the law at the time because it hadn't been given.
Except... the words "fornicate" and "fornication" are not defined in the NIV Bible, nor is either word even used once in that translation (which I know you use).
DeleteMoreover, when "fornication" is used (in the KJV) it is primarily in metaphor throughout the OT and in the NT, often in conjunction with discussions of marriage and divorce. Specifically, a man cannot put away his wife and marry another unless she commits fornication. Again, these are not instances where someone has had sex before a formal marriage and was then condemned for it; unless you want me to believe teenagers weren't having sex back then, I am led to believe that silence on a common matter constitutes tacit acceptance of it.
If anything, from my reading of the Bible's stance on sexuality, Christians should be trying to outlaw divorce, not mandating abstinence education in schools (or, ideally, they could just live their lives as Christians and leave the rest of us to live as we wish).
Joseph was going to divorce Mary quietly because he thought she was unfaithful to him and they weren't married. Divorcing quietly was a kindness he was going to show her because she could have been stoned for it.
DeleteNIV uses the word translated as sexually impure. Believe me, I've been called to task by church leadership about marriage purity (uncomfortable to say the least) and I've studied the scripture to know what it says on the matter. It doesn't say a lot about what is permissible, only what isn't.
The word in Greek is porneia, where we get our English word, porn. It generally means licentiousness (pertaining to sexuality), and living without restraint. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control, so we should not be subject to the will of our body, but our body subject to our spirit.
Since we are "joined" with one man or one woman, if we have additional sexual partners, then we are considered adulterers because in the eyes of God, we are married. Marriage is a covenant and always signed in blood (broken hymen); it can only be made once.