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Is premarital sex a sin?
- Thread starter Doodlebug02
- Start date
McBell
Unbound
Could you please show, from the Bible, how the word "fornication" is defined?
The reason I ask is because it is my understanding (and my understanding may well be faulty or even flat out wrong) that other than in Mathew 5:28 there is nothing about sex before marriage being a sin.
It is also my understanding that the 'Biblical' definition of Fornication does not include premarital sex.
Though it does include idoltry...
Yup, for instance my patron goddess's views on sex are not nearly so restrictive. For both of us love is all that matters between those who wish to engage in sexual intercourse. Neither gender nor marriage license or any other piece of paper is nor should be necessary. All that matters is the love and mutual consent of all those involved.
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
I think that, before we can discuss the advisability of pre-marital sex according to Biblical tenet, we first have to define just what marriage is, according to the Biblical authors. I would be willing to bet that the ancient concept and practice of marriage was different than our post-modern concept and practice.
A better question might be to ask if we, as a culture, have grown beyond the need for marriage, as we have defined it. Perhaps the "paper on the wall" isn't truly the litmus test that determines whether one is, or is not, married.
A better question might be to ask if we, as a culture, have grown beyond the need for marriage, as we have defined it. Perhaps the "paper on the wall" isn't truly the litmus test that determines whether one is, or is not, married.
Doodlebug02
Active Member
You know, I don't think that sex outside of marriage is a sin. The reason being that modern Bible translators sometimes translate things wrongly. Take homosexuality for example. The modern Bible scholars clearly do not know for sure what the word arsenokoites means. For more information about that, you can do a search on the word arsenokoitai at ReligiousTolerance.org by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Conservative and liberal scholars disagree about how to translate it.
tomspug
Absorbant
I think that premarital sex is not a sin, as long as you never have sex with anyone else other than your first "lover". If it's not a sin to have more than one "lover", than it just really, really sucks to have to go through that.
McBell
Unbound
So all those in the Bible who had multiple wives....
Dezzie
Well-Known Member
ayani
member
here is what Jesus says in Matthew (quoting Genesis):
He answered, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? (Matthew 19:4-5)
Jesus makes clear that men and women are meant to be together, and to come together in marriage. He mentions the "two becoming one flesh" as occurring after the marriage.
it's a union that's emotional, physical, and spiritual. it's a bonding of the couple from "me and you" to "us". it also means that the husband and wife unite in sexual intimacy.
the Biblical sequence of how this happens is significant. it's not "the two become one flesh and maybe they get married, maybe not".
just because we don't believe or want to believe that something is a sin (or not right in God's eyes) doesn't make it so. pre-marital sex goes against God's clear plan for how man and woman should relate to one another intimately. if something is in opposition to God's plan or commandments, it's sin. all un-Godly sexual acts fall under the umbrella of fornication.
yes, nearly everyone is doing it. true, many people don't consider it a big deal anymore, and many churches these days are ok with it, too. but it's still a sin. human opinion doesn't dictate God's opinion.
He answered, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? (Matthew 19:4-5)
Jesus makes clear that men and women are meant to be together, and to come together in marriage. He mentions the "two becoming one flesh" as occurring after the marriage.
it's a union that's emotional, physical, and spiritual. it's a bonding of the couple from "me and you" to "us". it also means that the husband and wife unite in sexual intimacy.
the Biblical sequence of how this happens is significant. it's not "the two become one flesh and maybe they get married, maybe not".
just because we don't believe or want to believe that something is a sin (or not right in God's eyes) doesn't make it so. pre-marital sex goes against God's clear plan for how man and woman should relate to one another intimately. if something is in opposition to God's plan or commandments, it's sin. all un-Godly sexual acts fall under the umbrella of fornication.
yes, nearly everyone is doing it. true, many people don't consider it a big deal anymore, and many churches these days are ok with it, too. but it's still a sin. human opinion doesn't dictate God's opinion.
zippythepinhead
Your Tax Dollars At Work
Premarital sex=fornication=sin
McBell
Unbound
Verse please.
And no Mathew 19:4-5 does not state, clearly or otherwise, that pre-marital sex is against Gods plan.
Though I do take issue with the alleged clarity of Gods plan, that is for a different thread.
I can agree with this.
Oh, wait a second, are you talking the OT or the NT?
For the plans are different....
But wait, once again that is something for a different thread.
As does Idolatry.
Again, another topic for another thread.....
Draka
Wonder Woman
Perhaps someone should look into defining HOW a couple is suppose to marry. I highly doubt that the processes today are what was expected during the times of the biblical writings. It's not like they would have gone down to their local county clerks office and applied for a marriage licence and file a certificate and so on. Really, what is marriage except an acknowledged commitment between two people? For religious purposes the only thing to be added would be some kind of ceremony or ritual "bonding" or "vows" done "in the presence of" the deity believed in. That being the case...who is to say who is "married" in the eyes of "god"? Just because "Joe" and "Cindy" may not legally be married in the eyes of the government doesn't mean they haven't taken the steps that god requires of them for him to consider them a married couple does it?
McBell
Unbound
Seems to me there is a command from God to obey mans laws unless they contradict His laws.
Draka
Wonder Woman
But what if we have turned marriage into something which god never intended it to be in the first place? That it might not even be the same thing anymore?
Another thing to think on is if the government were to go the way of getting rid of marriage and turning completely to "civil unions" and leaving marriage to religion, then if a person's beliefs were that a simple ceremony "in the presence of god" in their livingroom were enough would that be okay? If a couple believed in god but neither had a church, but made personal vows to each other and did not persue a "civil union" would they still be considered married?
If marriage is a religious thing then whether or not a couple is legally married should make no difference and if marriage is a secular thing then no one should bat an eye over gays getting married. One or the other.
Doodlebug02
Active Member
Hmmm, I guess you are right. I suppose that the Bible does condemn premarital sex. Just because it may say sexual immorality instead of fornication doesn't mean that fornication isn't included in the definition of sexual immorality.
McBell
Unbound
I have no idea.
But since the Bible is most definitely NOT clear on the subject, you will have to wade through all the various "interpretations" you get.
I do not see why not.
Though I suspect it depends entirely upon the religion.
I dunno.
I can agree with that.
~Shocher emit~
Member
Well since you asked what the readers of this thread believe then I will offer mine.
Whether it be the Tanach/OT, or the Beriyth Chadash/NT, they both have the same plan and intent. One pulls from the other in all things. All laws spoken of in the entirety of both text are those laws spoken of in the Torah/First 5 books of the Tanach/OT. There is nothing new under the sun. When speaking of the laws of sexual immorality we need to look at the Torah. Specifically the book of Vayichra/Leviticus and chapters 18 and 20. Nowhere in Torah is there any instance of premarital sex being considered iniquity as you have asked for. There is nothing wrong with a man and a woman, or two women, to enjoy themselves sexually as long as they are both consenting/in covenant/in agreement to such and are not transgressing the sexual immorality laws which, again, are found in the Torah in the book of Vayichra/Leviticus chapters 18 and 20.