Fornication -what is it?

[Big_TJ]

I have been struggling with this for a while. There are several words that the denotative meaning is different from the connative meaning. One of such word is "fornication." From I was a boy, I was told that Fornication refers to "sex by two unmarried persons" In other words, "fornication" would be similar to "adultery"; the only difference being the martial status of who commits the act.

Now, according to Matthew 19:9, it is clear that a married person can commit "fornication" which immediately trash the either the Matthew 19:9 or the accepted meaning of Fornication (since they would contradict each other).

To combat this problem, many persons start using Fornication to mean "any sexual sin" thus making it an umbrella-like sin that has every sexual misconduct, including adultery, buggery, sex outside of marriage, cheating, homosexuality, bestality, incest, etc.

I have a few questions:
1) Where do we (especially) get the furnication to be an umbrella-like sin which include "all sexually-related" sins. Was this developed mainly because the usually accepted meaning for Fornication is seen as unreliable?

2) If Fornication was an "umbrella-like" sin that contains all other sexual-related sins, isn't it a bit curious why Adultery is a part of the 10 commandments but Fornication (which would include adultery) is not?

3) Why is it, biblically, that "sex by persons who are not married" is a sin? What is the "name" of this sin (just as "adultery is the name of the sin where a married person have sex with someone other than his/her partner)?

 

[Phasmid]

It's a type of arched ceiling.

 

[Big_TJ]

It's a type of arched ceiling.

what???

 

[DallasApple]

I think of fornicating as sex between unmarrieds.

Specifically between two that are'nt married to each other or anyone else.Two single people having sex.

Whats wrong with it?..Thats personal and up to you if there is somthign "wrong" with it or not..It can be "dangerous" physically and emotionally..it can cause harm..Or it can not and be a great experience..Or both at the same time..If that makes sense..

I was both harmed by it ...and eventually blessed by it..At the same time I harmed others by engaging in this as well as they were blessed..

Im sure I only confused you more..but that is my personal view and experience...

Love

Dallas

 

[Magic Man]

Fornication -what is it?

Good.

 

[DallasApple]

Good.

But if adultery does fall under the "umbrella of fornication" ..then you would have to say its "good" if your wife had sex with another man..

Love

Dallas

 

[ChristineES]

I was told once that if a married person has sex with an unmarried person that the married person is committing adultery while the unmarried person is committing fornication.

 

[Magic Man]

But if adultery does fall under the "umbrella of fornication" ..then you would have to say its "good" if your wife had sex with another man..

Love

Dallas

I would say it's the other way around. Fornication falls under the umbrella of "adultery". Fornication does not equal adultery. Frankls I don't think I have to worry about that anyway, but thanks for ruining a perfectly bad joke.

 

[UnTheist]

Good.

Nice one

 

[ChristineES]

Fornication would not be as bad as adultery since with adultery, someone is breaking the vows of marriage.

 

[DallasApple]

I would say it's the other way around. Fornication falls under the umbrella of "adultery". Fornication does not equal adultery. Frankls I don't think I have to worry about that anyway, but thanks for ruining a perfectly bad joke.

My pleasure..(sticking my tounge out at you blowing rasberries all over your face)

Love (only because I have to because I believe in God)

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

Fornication would not be as bad as adultery since with adultery, someone is breaking the vows of marriage.

Here's the twist..I have been told by some Christians that in fact it is as bad..Because you in fact have committed adultery on your future spouse prior to marriage..EVEN if the one you fornicate with is your future spouse..That you in fact have committed adultery on each other by sleeping with each other before you were married.. :yes:

Love

Dallas

 

[Khale]

From Answers.com:

Sexual intercourse between partners who are not married to each other.
WORD HISTORY The word fornication had a lowly beginning suitable to what has long been the low moral status of the act to which it refers. The Latin word fornix, from which fornicātiō, the ancestor of fornication, is derived, meant “a vault, an arch.” The term also referred to a vaulted cellar or similar place where prostitutes plied their trade. This sense of fornix in Late Latin yielded the verb fornicārī, “to commit fornication,” from which is derived fornicātiō, “whoredom, fornication.” Our word is first recorded in Middle English about 1303.

Fornication came about to be a blanket word for sexual immorality for the same reason that, today, the word "gay" primarily means homosexual. It was just extensions of the original term that slowly became widely accepted. Eventually altering the meaning of the word.

There may be a couple reasons why fornication is not mentioned in the ten commandments. First of all, at the time, sexual contact between two unmarried individuals was not as unacceptable as some would have you believe. Though certainly not lauded, there are documented cases of (at the very least) temple sanctioned prostitutes in the Judeo-Christian religion (more Judeo than Christian, but it would not be surprising to find cases in the latter.) Secondly, there may not have been a word for fornication at the time the ten commandments were created. This is, however, just a guess as I have no way to confirm this.

Biblically, at least within the old testament, sex between two persons who were not married was not considered a sin, per se. It just wasn't recommended. New testament-wise, you need to remember, that nearly the entirety of this testament was a series of opinions from practitioners of the early religion. One or two of them thought that it was sinful, so it became sinful.

 

[Smoke]

Fornication would not be as bad as adultery since with adultery, someone is breaking the vows of marriage.

The Bible doesn't say anything about marriage vows, and Jesus forbids his followers to take vows.

In the Bible, adultery only occurs when the woman is married; if a single woman has sex with a married man, that's not adultery. The reason adultery is worse than fornication is found in the tenth commandment: you shouldn't want your neighbor's property (including his wife) for yourself. The biblical concept of adultery depends on the concept of the woman as property.

 

[DallasApple]

From Answers.com:

Fornication came about to be a blanket word for sexual immorality for the same reason that, today, the word "gay" primarily means homosexual. It was just extensions of the original term that slowly became widely accepted. Eventually altering the meaning of the word.

There may be a couple reasons why fornication is not mentioned in the ten commandments. First of all, at the time, sexual contact between two unmarried individuals was not as unacceptable as some would have you believe. Though certainly not lauded, there are documented cases of (at the very least) temple sanctioned prostitutes in the Judeo-Christian religion (more Judeo than Christian, but it would not be surprising to find cases in the latter.) Secondly, there may not have been a word for fornication at the time the ten commandments were created. This is, however, just a guess as I have no way to confirm this.

Biblically, at least within the old testament, sex between two persons who were not married was not considered a sin, per se. It just wasn't recommended. New testament-wise, you need to remember, that nearly the entirety of this testament was a series of opinions from practitioners of the early religion. One or two of them thought that it was sinful, so it became sinful.

Yes..I see...I watched the "Ten Commandments" last night and those people were all fornicating!...so Moses went on top of the hill and came back with "thou shalt not committ adultery"..

Up untill then they were splashing around in the water kissing and hugging and having what appeared to be a pretty good time..

But Paul decided that its better to get married than burn with lust/desire...

Love

Dallas

 

[Khale]

Yes..I see...I watched the "Ten Commandments" last night and those people were all fornicating!...so Moses went on top of the hill and came back with "thou shalt not committ adultery"..

Up untill then they were splashing around in the water kissing and hugging and having what appeared to be a pretty good time..

Having never seen "The Ten Commandments" I can not comment on what they, or Moses, were doing. Still, I like the idea of Moses having led his people to what reads to be a water park.

But Paul decided that its better to get married than burn with lust/desire...

That's pretty much the gist of it. There were obviously reasons for why he decided what he did (he may have seen it destroying communities, or leading to sinful ways, or he may have been taken up in an idea at the time that celibacy was the only way to focus your energies on God,) but in the end they were his opinions on the matter.

 

[logician]

According to the dictionary:

"voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other. "

No mention of "sin" here.

 

[Charity]

Naturally your not going to find fornication listed as sin in the dictionary. Sin is sin no matter what word you use. Does God look on one sin as being less than another? I'm just trying to see how everyone feels about it. I've done things in my life when I was younger that I feel are wrong now. So I'm not pointing fingers at anyone, just trying to get opinions please.

 

[whereismynotecard]

I HAVE A QUESTION!!

My sister told me that people used to have to have a card in order to "fornicate..." In some country... I don't know... Anyway, it was a F.U.C.K. card: Fornication Under Consent of the King. And that is where that word came from, to mean secks... Is that true?? Or is it just a funny thing someone made up to explain where the slang came from??

 

[Smoke]

Is that true?? Or is it just a funny thing someone made up to explain where the slang came from??

It's not true. It's a good old Anglo-Saxon word, related to similar words in German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and for all I know Frisian and Icelandic, too.