Sexual Sin vs Other Sin

[Tropicana]

To those who rather glibly say “Well, sin is sin; no sin is worse than any other,” I cannot help but respond with “Seriously?! What Bible are you reading anyway?”

According to the Scriptures and simple common sense, not all sin is equal. Some sins have more serious consequences than others. Yes, every sin can be equally cleansed by the Blood of Jesus Christ and that in an instant of true, heartfelt, complete, no-excuses-offered repentance. But the consequences of some sin, especially sexual, are very grave and have both long term and far reaching cost for the sinners, for the Church, for society, and even for creation. The effects of sexual sin are catastrophic.How catastrophic? Sex is a gift from God reserved for the sanctity of marriage. Immorality is a serious affront to God. It enters into the sacred mystery of conjugal love illegitimately, dangerously, and with reckless abandon. In doing so it takes what is sacred and makes it sordid. In the Old Testament the penalty was death. In the New Testament illegitimate physical intimacy causes the death of our intimacy with God, death of our place in the church, death of our reputation, death of our ministry, and death of our witness in the world. Sex can bring new life. Sexual sin always brings death. Yes, there can be resurrection, but that is a lot of damage to undo.Serious Consequences for the Individual

Proverbs asks of the person foolish enough to engage in sexual immorality, “Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?” Proverbs 6:27 (NASB) Break God’s laws and God’s laws break you. A one-time passion filled mistake is tragic; an immoral lifestyle is inexcusable. The more sin the greater damage and much more healing needed.Loss of Intimacy with God. It is very possible to be in sexual sin and continue in ministry, even doing so with a high degree of anointing. But it is impossible to engage in sinful intimacies with another person and continue to have an intimate relationship with God. It just won’t work. And eventually a lack of intimacy with God will affect anointing and ability for ministry.People in sexual immorality sometimes claim to be “spiritual” people. That may be all well and good, but whatever that nebulous word means, it does not mean you are in right relationship with God.Loss of Place in the Kingdom of God. This may be an ugly truth, but truth it is nonetheless. Those who engage in sexual sin have no part in the Kingdom of God. Period. “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Ephesians 5:9 (NASB) Hey, don’t blame me. I didn’t write the Book.Yes, you may lead worship and people may be blessed. You may preach, and prophesy with powerful effect. You may even read your Bible, pray, give and be faithful to church. All of these are good but none of them change this one simple truth. If you are engaging in immorality you have no part in the Kingdom of God. Death of our relationship with God and loss of place in His Kingdom is the serious consequence of choosing to worship at the altar of moral compromise.Still don’t believe me? Need further proof? “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NASB) “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8 (ESV) Sounds to me like a very serious consequence.Defilement of the Woman. It is impossible to “make love” outside of the bonds of holy matrimony. Love does what is best for the other person, and being defiled is not good for anyone. A woman’s natural instinct is to give herself completely to a man she loves. But a true man of God will rise to the occasion and protect the woman he loves, even from herself. In this he proves himself to be a worthy mate. No man of integrity will excuse himself by saying, “But she wanted it as much as I did.” A man of God will not engage in sexual sin.

1 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV)“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”

Damage to the Man. When a man void of Biblical ethics and simple integrity seduces a woman with whom he is not married he not only defiles the woman, he damages himself. Fornication stunts emotional growth. It gives a man too much too soon and delays his development into mature manhood. In every way is it best for a man to enjoy sex only within the lifelong covenant of marriage. It forces him to grow up, to accept responsibility for his actions. Sex outside of marriage is the pursuit of the immature teenager who wants what he wants when he wants it, not when it is best for him to have it and regardless of the consequences to himself and anyone else. And the woman who wants a reliable and mature man destroys the very thing her heart desires when she commits sexual sin with him. Don’t complain that he won’t grow-up when you are catering to and nurturing his adolescent ways.Disappointment for Both. There is a pure and holy joy when two virgins come together in conjugal bliss on their wedding night. Fornication robs her of the blessing of being a pure bride. It robs him of the joy of being a pure spouse. And if he does not marry her, it robs her future husband of what should have been his and his alone.

Serious Consequences for Society

Immorality among Christians contributes to the destruction of society. We are called to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13) and woe to us and to a sinful defiled world when we fail at this noble task. We lose both our mission and mandate. If we are “trampled underfoot by men” and become the brunt of Leno or Letterman jokes, it is our own fault.We will never win the world to Christ by compromise with evil. Yes, the world is full of rampant sexual sin. But nothing disappoints the ungodly more than Christians joining them in their licentious lifestyles. People lose confidence in a church whose members live like they do. It destroys their hope for a better life and a better world.There is nothing in life more expensive than sin. Imagine what society would be like if everyone simply obeyed the Ten Commandments. The cost of immorality is exorbitant.

Restoration

But sad to say, sometimes Christians do mess up. When faced with temptation we make horrible life destroying choices. Thank God those who have fallen can be restored, even those who have fallen into the utter horror of sexual sin. That restoration begins with recognition of the sin and its seriousness. Church discipline helps with this process. It continues with repentance - complete and total repentance that leaves no excuses and tolerates no justification. But since sexual sin affects the way we think and is highly skilled at justifying itself, that kind of repentance does not come easily, and rarely comes quickly.Restoration takes time. Just like a hammer will shatter a fragile clay pot, sexual sin shatters the inner man. With such deep damage the ministry of restoration takes time: time to fully understand the seriousness of the sin; time to have personal integrity restored; time for deliverance to be ministered, if needed, and it often is; time for soul ties to be broken; time for generational bondages and curses to be removed; time for a sullied reputation to be restored. A quick and easy restoration over the space of a few months fails to recognize the utter seriousness of sexual sin and the devastation it effects. It took a long while to get there; it will take a long while to get back. Let me explain why.Lies, lies, and more lies. All sexual sin begins with a lie. The lie says,

• “I simply must do this.”
• “My life will be better and more complete if I ‘have’ him.”
• “I did this and everything is ok!”

And lies beget more lies, and deeper deception.

• “I can do this and continue to be a Christian.”
• “This is no one’s business but my own.”

A lie is the root, sin is the fruit. Immoral people believe a lie, live a lie, and then lie until their whole life became a lie. It becomes unintentional and second nature. They receive a spirit of deception and manipulation and sometimes can no longer tell the difference between right and wrong. Leadership should not be shocked or take it personal when they make inquiries and sexual sinners look them straight in the eye and lie.Deliverance from the spirit of deception is a primary focus of ministry to those who have been in sexual sin. Even after deliverance learning to once again live transparently in a Spirit of Truth will take time. He has learned how to look good among fellow Christians, how still to “flow in the Spirit” in ministry, how to keep up appearances while safeguarding his sordid secret. These learned behaviors do not die automatically or easily.Walking With God. And when tempted it is so easy to slip back into old deceptive, defiling, and destructive ways. A Sunday repentance in an anointed service must be walked out in the cold light of Monday’s reality, and even more so in the fire and heat of a tired Friday night’s temptations. Too quick return to public ministry short circuits the healing and restoring process and teaches that appearance is more important than reality. In the pig pen one moment and in the pulpit the next, whether to lead worship or preach the Word, just does not work. Learning how to truly walk with God and live clean again is not a quick and easy process.Repentance to their Sexual Partner. For some the restoration kind of repentance may mean making a public apology to the church. It certainly means repenting to the one with whom they sinned sexually. What they did with them they did to them. They said “I love you” and then committed a totally unloving act. They interfered with the most primary and important relationship in another Christian’s life, their walk with God. And with their body they communicated the message that their sexual partner was not worthy of their best. Immorality is the act of ultimate dishonor.Remember, sin does not evaporate. Sexual sinners cannot just act like it did not happen. And marriage and a change of behavior do not justify or excuse the sin, nor does it nullify the need to repent to that person, even if the other person was a willing partner. This is especially true if the relationship began as adultery. A woman may love but will not trust a man who committed adultery with her. At some level she will believe, “If you were willing to sin with me, you may also sin against me.” Just saying “I will be faithful to you till death” does not restore trust. Flowers and cards and romance do not restore trust. The only thing that will restore trust is recognizing that the relationship began in sin - sin against God, sin against the church, and sin against each other. There was absolutely nothing good about their pre-marital sex-life. He has to repent to her and let her know that not only will he never be unfaithful to her, he did her inexcusable wrong in being unfaithful with her.With any sin, but especially with immorality, the more complete the repentance, the more complete the healing. And sometimes full repentance comes in stages.

http://kenranderson.com/articles/ser...sexualsin.html

[franksterr]

The Ten Commandments make no mention of Premarital sex being in anyway a sin..
The type of sexual activities that are sins (porneia) have been listed in Leviticus 18.



Deuteronomy 22
²² If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
²³ If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
²⁴ Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.
²⁵ But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:
²⁶ But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:
²⁷ For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.
²⁸ If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
²⁹ Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.



Deuteronomy 21
¹⁰ When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
¹¹ And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;
¹² Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
¹³ And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
¹⁴ And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

[Tropicana]

There are many things not mentioned in the 10 Commandments. I am not one of those Christians who believes that only what is in the 10 commandments and in red letters counts.

Deceive yourself if it give you comfort but the Bible is VERY clear that pre-marital sex is wrong.

[Tropicana]

Man people will go to any lengths to excuse their immoral behaviour. Same thing the gays are doing today.

It boggles my mind that these basics were not covered in Bible Knowledge classes in Jamaica:

Dr. Ben Witherington III responds:

As ought to be clear from 1 Cor. 7, virginity in a woman was highly valued before marriage. In that text she is called both the betrothed and a virgin. In early Jewish law if you had sex with a woman you were considered married to her or you had shamed her. See the story of Mary and Joseph. Porneiacan refer to all sorts of sexual sin including deflowering a virgin. What that whole discussion by your student ignores is: firstly, there was no dating or physical intimacy prior to an arranged marriage in the vast majority of cases. The notion of dating doesn’t exist in Jesus and Paul’s world. Second, honor and shame cultures placed a high value on sexual purity. Notice how prostitutes were stigmatized. Women were mainly blamed for sexual immorality. Finally Jesus gave his disciples two choices in Mt. 19—fidelity in heterosexual marriage or being a eunuch! This means no sex outside marriage.
Dr. Bill Arnold responds:

For the Old Testament side of things, it’s interesting that the only text your student interlocutor mentions is the Book of the Covenant stipulation that a man who seduces a virgin should pay her bride-price and make her his wife (Exod 22:16). What the student fails to observe is that the premise of this legal stipulation is that the man has, in fact, gotten the process reversed. He should have negotiated the bride-price, then married her, then had intercourse. The point of the law, as with many other laws in the Book of the Covenant, is that he has willfully done something wrong and must now make amends. The text the student is citing in your discussion actually supports your position, and not his.
Also, although perhaps not directly related to the question of premarital sex, the single most neglected datum from the OT related to marriage is Gen. 2:24-25. I never thought in my wildest dreams that this text would become controversial in our day, but it elevates the idea of heterogeneous marriage between one male and one female, regardless of how we conceptualize a state-defined and sanctioned certificate of marriage. The biblical concept is clear enough.
Dr. Lawson Stone responds:

The student’s claim that in the Old Testament it appears that, rather than sex being confined to marriage, it “leads to” marriage involves a number of errors, misinterpretations, and blind spots resulting from not hearing the OT in its own setting and voice.

 The fact in the OT is that a marriage was seen as naturally being “real” when sexual intercourse took place because sexual intercourse is the actual physical and emotional uniting of the man and woman. This is the origin of the tradition in the Roman Catholic church that a wedding not followed by sexual intercourse, i.e. not “consummated,” is incomplete and may be annulled. But this proposition is not reversible, that one can have sex and consider oneself married! The union created by sexual intercourse is real, and happens regardless of one’s legal state or even feelings of intimacy. This is why St. Paul warns that sex even with a prostitute still fuses the “john” to the prostitute as one flesh, and for a believer, implicates the Holy Spirit in an unholy union.

The Bible sees sexual union as the vital core of marriage, but this in no way implies that no concern existed for making sure such a union was lawful, sanctioned and blessed by God.

The importance of marriage as a social, spiritual and public covenant or contract is pervasive in the Bible, especially the OT. The world of the OT was a patriarchal society based on land and agricultural production. In such societies, and definitely in the world of the OT, the title to the land follows the male line of descent. In such cultures it is unthinkable that they would be indifferent to being as certain as possible who the father of a child was. This is the economic basis (there are other bases, of course) for demanding a woman be a virgin when she marries, since her children have the legal right to inherit the family property only if they are of her husband’s descent, or are adopted or otherwise claimed by the husband. Likewise, a man who sired children outside of marriage created a confusing legal situation regarding land title and inheritance. In the OT, the land as the promised gift of Yahweh is the concrete center, the focus of God’s revelation and Israel’s faith. Given that in the OT the land was promised to Israel by Yahweh in perpetuity, and that this promise would be negated if through improper marriage or begetting, the land ended up in the wrong hands, the OT writers clearly would not sanction sexual activity except in the confines of a public, exclusive, permanent covenant between the man and woman: marriage. This reality does not allow us to say that, since we are not a patriarchal and agricultural society, that we may dispense with the importance of a public covenant of marriage. Rather, it rebuts the claim that the OT does not insist on marriage before sex, and it provides the human context out of which the OT demand for faithfulness in marriage and celibacy outside it emerged.

 The key point, here, is not just the agricultural or economic one, but the fact that sexual activity exists in a total weave of life, relationships, economics and community. Marriage recognizes this.

Moderns, however, only think of sex individualistically as an act of pleasurable intimacy between the man and woman. They have no notion of sex as an act embedded in the social matrix, economic life, and trans-generational history of their community, to which they are accountable for all their actions.

The idea that extramarital sex is fine is only imaginable in the post-sexual revolution world of not just easy contraception and abortion, but a world in which no particular significance for society as a whole attaches to sex. In modern life, we don’t really have “intercourse” in the full sense of that word–we just copulate. Thus despite being a sexually saturated society, modern or post-modern life remains starkly devoid of sexual satisfaction.

The nature of marriage as a covenant in the OT uniting a man and woman, in the context of family, community and God, calls for public recognition. Unlike the privatistic piety of contemporary life, biblical faith was communal and public. A covenant in the Bible whether with God or between human parties, always assumes a prior history among the parties, a clear set of expectations in the relationship to be consecrated, and always culminates in a vow which is witnessed by the community. Given that the NT sees marriage between a man and woman as exactly analogous to the relationship between Yahweh and Israel, and then, Christ and the Church, abruptly withdrawing marriage from the realm of public covenant making rips up the fabric of the biblical revelation.

Exegetically, the appeal to Exodus 22:16, suggesting that sex “leads to marriage” rather than coming after, and thus not posing a barrier to a man and woman committed to each other exclusively, but not united by a marriage covenant, to have a sexual relationship is a strained and perverse reading of that passage. Exodus 22:16 can’t be interpreted as friendly to premarital sex merely because it only demands marriage or, alternatively, levies a fine on a man who has sex with a virgin before marriage.

he Hebrew term translated “seduce” (NASB) is crucial. The Hebrew פתה patah means “entice, seduce, persuade with hypocritical appeal, take (someone) for a fool, persuade by flattery, etc.” and the related noun is the word often used for the (morally censured) fool in Proverbs.

If sex prior to marriage was legitimate, the law certainly would not describe it with a Hebrew term uniformly used for illicit persuasion. So this was not just a guy and girl or an engaged couple who naturally consummated their relationship on the way to getting married. The text notes that the man “made a fool” of the girl. Nothing good there. This is why the law also provides for the possibility that her father will not allow the man to marry her, since he evidently does not constitute a suitable mate.



A second point on Exodus 22:16 is the penalty. Penalties mark violated realms. The man of Exodus 22:16 has in fact seized a privilege to which he was not legally entitled, took what was not legally his. He must therefore either marry the woman or, if the (wise!) father doesn’t want to marry his daughter off to a man who “made a fool” of his daughter, a monetary penalty is levied. Clearly this text has no idea of justifying or legitimizing any kind of sexual intercourse prior to marriage, but is a sanction enforcing marriage as the only setting for sexual union.



For what it is worth, I have for 35+ years informally looked for solid evidence of any culture that does not regulate sexual behavior in terms of marriage, and so far have not found one unless you count late 20th century USA. If one exists I would like to know about it.

Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa famously tried to claim this in one culture, but her research was subsequently overturned. 

It is true, and important, to recognize, that fornication is not punished as severely as adultery in the OT. However, we cannot conclude from this that fornication is somehow “okay” but adultery is wrong. Even though a less heinous offense, it clearly remains a serious sin.

Christians today, as heirs of a shallow, “cheap-grace” piety, have trouble with the idea of a scale of moral offense. We often hear the claim that some sin, usually not sexual, is “just as bad” as some sexual sin, and conversely, that sexual sin must be no worse than, say, breaking the speed limit. They tend to think all “sins” are the same, and assert a false moral equivalence among things thought to be sin. Thus, the church’s emphasis on sexual sin appears selective, harsh and hypocritical. This view, however, is based on a skewed reading of some of Jesus’ statements in the Sermon on the Mount in which he probes the motives of various acts, showing how one might avoid a technical infraction but still possess the unclean motivation that drives the act. This is not to assert moral equivalence between “thinking it” and “doing it.” This false equation of sins actually mirrors and distorts another truth. Theologically, there are no degrees of “lostness.”

Scripture clearly divides between life and death, following Christ and not following Christ, a narrow way and a broad way. We also rightly assert the futility of works to attain justification, thus all deeds are equally ineffective in securing our salvation. That fact, however, does not in any way imply that there are therefore no degrees of moral offensiveness or harm in different sins. Scripture and plain reason show that different sinful actions cause differing levels of harm. The fact that adultery draws the death penalty and fornication does not still doesn’t change the fact that it’s seen as a very serious sin. The very existence of the Ten Commandments, separating out a set of offenses from the other hundreds of laws and prohibitions we find in the Bible, implies gradations of harm and offense.

But why would sexual sin occupy such a central place in biblical ethics? This point is most fundamental: in scripture, sexual identity and conduct is wired directly into the central reality of human existence in the image of God.

The text of Genesis 1 gives us no explicit explanation of what the “image of God” actually means, beyond the definitions of the terms employed and the fact that in one verse, the author uses the Hebrew device of parallelism to elaborate on the statement, “in the image of God created he him (Adam)” with the statement, “male and female created he them.” By paralleling “image of God” with “male and female” and by using the word “create” twice (which is not used often in Genesis 1, by the way) the writer exalts human sexuality to a central place in human nature and links it to humanity being in God’s image. Thus sexuality unites humans both to the animal world in its reproductive function, but it also points to the uniqueness of humans, since for us, sexuality is tied to our being in God’s image (unlike the animals). This declares human sexuality to be sacred territory.

http://seedbed.com/feed/is-premarital-sex-a-sin-bible-scholars-respond/

[Tropicana]

Sex outside marriage is wrong...period!

Hebrews 13:4

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;

Jude 1:7

Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Exodus 22:16-17

“If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.

This provision is because he has defiled the woman by having sex with her without being married to her. It is not giving permission for pre-marital sex.

1 Corinthians 5:1

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.

Ezekiel 16:26-29
You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger. Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.


1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.


1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Deuteronomy 22:20-21

But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Leviticus 20:13

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Acts 15:20
But should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.


Matthew 1:18-20 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Deuteronomy 22:23-24

“If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

1 Corinthians 7:8-9

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

1 Corinthians 7:2

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

Deuteronomy 22:22 ESV / 27 helpful votes

“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

Colossians 3:5

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.


Ephesians 5:1-33

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ...

1 Corinthians 6:18

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

Matthew 5:28

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

1 Corinthians 6:13
“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.


Galatians 5:19

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,

Mark 7:20-23

And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Jeremiah 3:1
“If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the Lord.


Revelation 2:14

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

Revelation 2:20

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

1 Corinthians 7:1-5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Ezekiel 16:15-17

“But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.

Genesis 2:24

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Revelation 17:1-2

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”

[franksterr]

There are many things not mentioned in the 10 Commandments. I am not one of those Christians who believes that only what is in the 10 commandments and in red letters counts.

Deceive yourself if it give you comfort but the Bible is VERY clear that pre-marital sex is wrong.

Jesus said to love God with all thy heart soul and mind and to love thy neighbor as thyself is the summation of all the Laws and the Prophets.....if you truly understand this then you wouldl know that "to the pure all things are pure". - to all others they are given the Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments is like unto the constitution and the laws statutes and ordinances are the interpretation of said constitution.

The scriptures is very clear on the subject, premarital sex is not a sin...people guilty of sexual sins are usually stoned to death in the scriptures.
You are free to deny all the evidence I have so far provided which makes it abundantly clear where the bible stands on this issue.
The choice is yours to listen to the minister and pastors who want to twist the words in the bible to suit there own wishes and desires so that it may conform to today's western ideas of right and wrong. Or to see and understand what the ancient writers of the scripture was trying to accomplish here on earth.

Let me set the stage for you so to speak.
1. Women were property and had no free agency.
2. All marriages were arrange.
3. Dating and Romance was forbidden but not a sin.
4. The Man had to purchase his wife, from her father.
5. A virgin bride fetch a higher price.
6. Upon marriage the status of the woman changed not that of the man - hence man and wife not as it is today husband and wife
7. A man could have many wives, concubines and handmaidens.
8. A woman without a husband is fair game to all men - often results in a marriage or discord.
9. A widow and her inheritance belongs to her husband's brother or nearest male kin
10. Women could not own property or work without permission/consent given by nearest male kin.

Premarital sex was one of the few avenues left for women to escape prostitution and or penury, through premarital sex she could seduce a lover to marry her.....as we have seen in the case of Ruth and Tamar

[Tropicana]

This was written about America but I think it applies even more to Jamaica.

No nation is secure because of its wealth or its military. Behind every natural struggle there is a spiritual battle being fought (Ephesians 6:12). We as Americans are not blessed just because of our excessive financial ability nor because we have a strong military. We’re blessed only because our forefathers chose to honor God and root the foundations of our republic on godliness and spiritual values.When a nation honors God and His Word, the enemy is held at bay, and his schemes to hinder and to destroy are stopped. When a nation fails to honor God, that nation is left without protection, and becomes vulnerable to the attacks of Satan and of nations held in his grip.
In America today we are at a crossroads. Will we allow the Lord to bless us as a nation as He has so richly in the past, or will we choose our own path apart from Him? Deuteronomy 30:19 reads: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”
Because of our Judeo-Christian heritage, America has grown to be the most prosperous nation in history. The blessings that we have inherited from our forefathers will only continue as we choose to obey God as a nation, and choose to honor Him and His Word. God has a controversy with America today much like He had with Israel. Notice what God says to Israel in Hosea 4:1-6:
“Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge [Hebrew - a legal complaint] against the inhabitants of the land: there is no truth or knowledge of God in the land. (2) By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. (3) Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away. (4) Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; for your people are like those who contend with the priest. (5) Therefore you shall stumble in the day; the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother. (6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.”
I believe that this passage has a direct application for America today. And if we as a nation do not repent and obey, we stand to lose the blessings that God has so richly given. Disobedience costs dearly!
In verse 1, God said, “Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel.” We are encouraged not only to hear, but to be doers of the Word (James 1:22). The Word alone without obedience to it will not bring a person or a nation out of bondage! Jesus said that we would know the truth and the truth would set us free (John 8:32). We hear much, but often do little. We have multitudes of churches in every city in America, often on every street! Yet there is more disobedience than ever, and more flagrant violations of God’s moral law than ever. What’s the problem? We hear, but do not obey. And when we disobey, we cease to be the SALT and LIGHT in our society. Unbelievers only see and understand God when they see Him in us! And only in obedience is there blessing!
In verse 1, God also brought a charge, a controversy (KJV), or a legal complaint against Israel. He charged them for there being no knowledge of God in the land, for the lying, the stealing, the killing, the adultery, and the total lack of restraint in the land.
I believe that today God is also bringing a legal complaint against America. We began as a nation with God and the Ten Commandments as the foundation for our laws and conduct. Our founding legal documents are filled with references to God and to scripture. Many of our presidents were godly men who prayed before making decisions. The Bible was used as a school textbook.
But now we have left our foundations of faith in God and His Word. Moral decay has corrupted our culture from the leaders to the children! Abortion, murder, sexual sins, and every form of deception are practiced without conscience in our society.
When we ignore the knowledge of God (the Word), we exalt man and his beliefs in place of God, and the downward spiral to destruction begins. And that is what has happened in our postmodern culture. Everyone does what he or she thinks is right. People compare themselves with each other. “I’m not as bad as my neighbor. I’m not doing what they are doing.” And moral absolutes like the Ten Commandments are no longer a force in restraining behavior.
When the people within a nation compare themselves with each other instead of God, decline always follows. And God is calling the church in our day to radical change for the sake of our nation.
We’ll continue this teaching next month. God holds believers responsible for the ills of their nation, and now calls for us as Christians to repent of our sins so that He once again can bless us as He longs to do. I’ll leave you with this often quoted passage. Let’s obey it!
“If My people who are called by My name will HUMBLE THEMSELVES , and pray and seek my face, and turn from THEIR wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”(2 Chronicles 7:14)

https://www.victorychurch.nu/articles/righteousness_exalts_a_nation_part_1

[franksterr]

This was written about America but I think it applies even more to Jamaica.


No nation is secure because of its wealth or its military. Behind every natural struggle there is a spiritual battle being fought (Ephesians 6:12). We as Americans are not blessed just because of our excessive financial ability nor because we have a strong military. We’re blessed only because our forefathers chose to honor God and root the foundations of our republic on godliness and spiritual values.When a nation honors God and His Word, the enemy is held at bay, and his schemes to hinder and to destroy are stopped. When a nation fails to honor God, that nation is left without protection, and becomes vulnerable to the attacks of Satan and of nations held in his grip.

Really now
The founding fathers of America where mostly slavers.
They divide stated and church and our leading citizens eventually took God out of our schools
Deism was also very popular among them.....which is not exactly Christianity.

In America today we are at a crossroads. Will we allow the Lord to bless us as a nation as He has so richly in the past, or will we choose our own path apart from Him? Deuteronomy 30:19 reads: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”

Because of our Judeo-Christian heritage, America has grown to be the most prosperous nation in history. The blessings that we have inherited from our forefathers will only continue as we choose to obey God as a nation, and choose to honor Him and His Word. God has a controversy with America today much like He had with Israel. Notice what God says to Israel in Hosea 4:1-6:

I am not sure if America is more prosperous than Ancient Egypt or Rome.
America is probable more based on Egypto-Greco-Roman Values than it is on Judeo-Christian values
Many Americans were left out of those inherited blessings receiving instead the curse of racism.

“Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge [Hebrew - a legal complaint] against the inhabitants of the land: there is no truth or knowledge of God in the land. (2) By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. (3) Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away. (4) Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; for your people are like those who contend with the priest. (5) Therefore you shall stumble in the day; the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother. (6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.”

I believe that this passage has a direct application for America today. And if we as a nation do not repent and obey, we stand to lose the blessings that God has so richly given. Disobedience costs dearly!
In verse 1, God said, “Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel.” We are encouraged not only to hear, but to be doers of the Word (James 1:22). The Word alone without obedience to it will not bring a person or a nation out of bondage! Jesus said that we would know the truth and the truth would set us free (John 8:32). We hear much, but often do little. We have multitudes of churches in every city in America, often on every street! Yet there is more disobedience than ever, and more flagrant violations of God’s moral law than ever. What’s the problem? We hear, but do not obey. And when we disobey, we cease to be the SALT and LIGHT in our society. Unbelievers only see and understand God when they see Him in us! And only in obedience is there blessing!
In verse 1, God also brought a charge, a controversy (KJV), or a legal complaint against Israel. He charged them for there being no knowledge of God in the land, for the lying, the stealing, the killing, the adultery, and the total lack of restraint in the land.
I believe that today God is also bringing a legal complaint against America. We began as a nation with God and the Ten Commandments as the foundation for our laws and conduct. Our founding legal documents are filled with references to God and to scripture. Many of our presidents were godly men who prayed before making decisions. The Bible was used as a school textbook.
But now we have left our foundations of faith in God and His Word. Moral decay has corrupted our culture from the leaders to the children! Abortion, murder, sexual sins, and every form of deception are practiced without conscience in our society.
When we ignore the knowledge of God (the Word), we exalt man and his beliefs in place of God, and the downward spiral to destruction begins. And that is what has happened in our postmodern culture. Everyone does what he or she thinks is right. People compare themselves with each other. “I’m not as bad as my neighbor. I’m not doing what they are doing.” And moral absolutes like the Ten Commandments are no longer a force in restraining behavior.
When the people within a nation compare themselves with each other instead of God, decline always follows. And God is calling the church in our day to radical change for the sake of our nation.
We’ll continue this teaching next month. God holds believers responsible for the ills of their nation, and now calls for us as Christians to repent of our sins so that He once again can bless us as He longs to do. I’ll leave you with this often quoted passage. Let’s obey it!
“If My people who are called by My name will HUMBLE THEMSELVES , and pray and seek my face, and turn from THEIR wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”(2 Chronicles 7:14)

https://www.victorychurch.nu/article..._nation_part_1

Righteousness will strengthen your nation from within, by building a cohesive union of will, it may even shave the potential number of enemies you have.
But should your enemy not share your value and is motivated by pure greed and or covetousness only knowledge of war can save you.....Neither God nor Righteousness will avail.

[franksterr]

The idea that God will lift a nation from out of poverty or danger is Naive.....the experience of the Middle Ages also called the "Dark Ages" has long ago answered that question with the Renaissance also called the "Age of Enlightenment"
It is better to put your just in sound (tried and [found] true) economic and political policy....

[Tropicana]

The founding fathers of America where mostly slavers.

That is a WHOLE other discussion. What do you think the so-called "founding fathers" of Jamaica were. Take your pick whether we are talking Jamaica under the British or under the Spanish.

The nation was founded in sin whether we are talking about slaving (which is outside the scope of this discussion), rape, fornication, adultery, pillaging...take your pick.

Do you not think that all of this wicked behaviour has an impact on a society and how it evolves? There are consequences.

Happy to join a discussion about America and slavery. I have already tried in vain tried to start discussions about:

- Black people who owned slaves in Jamaica
- free light skinned women (quadroon, mustee) shunning free Black and light skinned men and fornicating with white men during slavery and post-emancipation - de same light skin oomen dat onoo (meaning many Black Jamaican men) workship today.

Take your pick. No one was interested in discussing these topics so please don't drag them in here now to derail this discussion.

[evanovitch]

The idea that God will lift a nation from out of poverty or danger is Naive.....the experience of the Middle Ages also called the "Dark Ages" has long ago answered that question with the Renaissance also called the "Age of Enlightenment"
It is better to put your just in sound (tried and [found] true) economic and political policy....

true....Man needs to work with Jah to achieve all that he can achieve....sin is but absent from the Will of Jah....fullstop

[franksterr]

That is a WHOLE other discussion. What do you think the so-called "founding fathers" of Jamaica were. Take your pick whether we are talking Jamaica under the British or under the Spanish.

Wrong....One does not consider the British rulers of colonial America as its founding fathers but rather those who fought for and won its independence - most of whom were slavers

The European (Spanish or British) colonist who invaded and conquered Xaymaca (Xamaica) were slavers. The subsequent country was a Colonial vassal state of the British empire....Crown Colony - Jamaica
In the case of Jamaica, The founding fathers of modern independent Jamaica were not slavers but emancipators.

The nation was founded in sin whether we are talking about slaving (which is outside the scope of this discussion), rape, fornication, adultery, pillaging...take your pick.

I disagree with the notion that Jamaica was founded in sin.
None of Independent Jamaica's Laws support the enslavement of human beings with it's tacit and covert support of rape fornication adultery and pillaging.

Do you not think that all of this wicked behaviour has an impact on a society and how it evolves? There are consequences.

The two greatest contributors to Jamaica's current state of affairs is Unfair Trade (international Racism) practices financial and otherwise and Interventionist Policies of Western European Countries.....Which has led to widespread poverty and ignorance in Jamaica.

Now most of the things you describe as wicked in Jamaica are usually hidden and private and or up on till recently were primarily isolated incidents or affairs.....whilst in American these same behaviors have been a multi-billion dollar wholesale industry for decades in the public domain.

Happy to join a discussion about America and slavery. I have already tried in vain tried to start discussions about:

- Black people who owned slaves in Jamaica
- free light skinned women (quadroon, mustee) shunning free Black and light skinned men and fornicating with white men during slavery and post-emancipation - de same light skin oomen dat onoo (meaning many Black Jamaican men) workship today. [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/I][/COLOR]

Any free person could own slaves so long as he or she could afford to..
Having white skin was and is sought after because.......The System affords many privileges to white or light skinned individuals that are denied to black or dark skin peoples.

Take your pick. No one was interested in discussing these topics so please don't drag them in here now to derail this discussion.

Your article drag them in so if anyone is derailing this discussion its you

[franksterr]

true....Man needs to work with Jah to achieve all that he can achieve....sin is but absent from the Will of Jah....fullstop

True.....so long as we agree that Jah is an indwelling spirit in Man, closely allied with his conscience but not limited to.

[Tropicana]

My article was a direct response to your comments and questions and an attempt to derail the discussion.

This discussion is about sexual sin and it's fallout compared to the fallout from other sin.

[blugiant]

My article was a direct response to your comments and questions and an attempt to derail the discussion.

This discussion is about sexual sin and it's fallout compared to the fallout from other sin.

just curious did awl dem oyinbo rapists commit sin wen dem raped enslaved oomen given dat de bible defended slaveree?