1 Corinthians 7:36? (page 4)

Brother Apostate

What if they have sex, thus getting married, and not liking it.....lol Will they be stuck together forever, knowing from the start something's wrong?

Great question. It's one that I've struggled with. I can only say my conclusion is this- take the time to know the potential mate, feel that a lifetime together is "in the cards", have the mutual commitment and take it seriously before having sex (scriptural marriage). In today's day and age, it is unfortunate that things don't always work out the way we'd like, but when such "divorces" occur, they will be a lot less frequent than they will be without taking the above steps prior to sex (marriage). As someone who has been through many relationships/marriages, that is the best explanation I have. BA PS- Edited to add- Also, you need to discuss EVERYTHING, including sexual desire, frequency, likes/dislikes, gentle/rough, kinky/not, etc, BEFORE having sex, that way, you shouldn't be in for a disappointment afterwards! Honesty and trust is what it's all about!

coolhandluke

i think the brother apostate explination makes sense. this has given me lots of food for thought. lots. i mean if this is the case there is no fucking way i should have been disfellowshipped. it doesnt really matter now but the first person that i had sex with was the person that i got disfellowshipped over. further, we refer to each other now as ex husband and ex wife because that is how seriously we took it. she still to this day means a great deal to me. fuck.

JH

Fornication VS Adultery in the bible.

As JW's, unless I didn't understand correctly, fornication meant having sex before marriage, and Adultery was sex with someone else once married and still married.

So, if you're right saying that once they had sex back then, they were automatically married, what was their definition of fornication VS adultery? These 2 words aren't the same thing.

Brother Apostate

JH,

I answered that above:

It encourages careful, responsible behavior, as opposed to casual sex with a different partner on a regular basis (fornication), or sexual relations with others outside the existing marriage (adultery).

BA- Cheers

inkling

i think the brother apostate explination makes sense.

I agree that BA;s interpretation is a practical take on the passage that makes sense to our modern sensibilities, but just because a interpretation is appealing does not mean it is accurate. The only thing we should be asking as responsible amateur scholars is what did the WRITER intend, not what sounds good to us today. MANY translations choose this passage to read as advice directed to the FATHER of the virgin, not the person actually getting married. In Bible times, wasn't there drastically limited freedom of personal choice when it came to getting married? A girl was property of her father until HE chose to sell her to a man. It would seem this is PARENTING advice, not courtship advice. [inkling]

Burger Time

The fact is that in the OT it doesn't make having sex before marriage a serious offense. If you took someone's virginity you were married as BA has pointed out over and over again. I would think this has something to do with some of the gnostic teachings on Virginity which was infiltrating the Christian congregation (probably wrong though). I am sure many felt that you could not be pure unless you were still a virgin. Here Paul was just saying that it didn't really matter and ones shouldn't argue over such petty things as the Corinthians did. My two cents anyways.

Notice verse 25-28: Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

So it wasn't so much about sex as it was just about the belief that if you got married you were some lower in the ranks. Much like today how single pioneer bethelites always get so much praise from dubs.

Also verse 1 can be translated as "it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman". Backing up what BA was saying.

Lou_Cypher

So, if 2 people have intercourse before they are married the apostle paul was stating that was not a sin.

To clarify, scripturally, once the man and the woman have sexual intercourse, they have become one flesh, and so at that point they are married.

Now, if afterwards, one partner has sexual union with another, they are guilty of the sin of adultery / fornication.

The obvious exception would be in the case of divorce.

BA

OH MY GOD! I AM MARRIED MANY MANY TIMES! ANOTHER SIN! I say... my penthouse in hell must be almost ready!

ferret

Question ..if marriage took place by just sleeping together, How could you get a divorce ? By just sleeping with someone else.

Narkissos

This text has been discussed recently on http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/150961/1.ashx

Sexual intercourse is definitely central to marriage, but I don't know of any culture where they are simply equated. The Bible texts cover a number of cultural settings (from the Assyrian to the Roman period) but its references to marriage always involve formal individual and family agreement (often implying financial exchange), community recognition and celebration. In the Torah when a man has intercourse with an unengaged virgin they are not married de facto. The father of the girl can agree to "give her in marriage" against the "bride price" -- or not. If an engaged virgin has intercourse that doesn't "marry" her to her lover. She's considered adulterous to the man she was promised to (even though she had no sexual intercourse with him). So "sexual intercourse = marriage" is a gross oversimplification (I suspect from the use of Genesis 2 in 1 Corinthians 6, applying "being one flesh" to the intercourse with a prostitute; but "being one flesh" in this context obviously refers to sexual intercourse, not marriage).

Brother Apostate

Question ..if marriage took place by just sleeping together, How could you get a divorce ? By just sleeping with someone else.

Again, good question, similar in substance and answer to JH's queston above. Ancient Biblical divorces were proven by means of a "divorce certificate", yet Christ disapproved of this practice. Ideally, again ideally, sexual intercourse (marriage) should never be casually engaged in, as I've elaborated on earlier in this thread. The scriptural foundation of divorce is, for students of scripture, a question most difficult to answer. While it is clear that adultery seems to be the only scriptural grounds for divorce, is this "adultery" only in the physical sense? That is one of the important questions. The other is, can one who sins can do so without "practicing" sin? If one made a regulatr practice of having intercourse with different partners, they would clearly be "practicing" the sin of fornication, or if they had an "open marriage", or otherwise remained "married" to one partner while engaging in sexual; intercourse with others, they would be practicing adultery. By way of analogy, if one defended oneself from death by taking their opponent's life, would that make them a murderer? Yet, if one lusted after bloodshed, seeking out situations where they would have to "defend themselves", wouldn't that be a "practice", making that one a murderer?. After pondering these questions/thoughts, I think it is reasonable to conclude that, from a scriptural perspective, the key is to exercise restraint, not taking sexual relations/marriage lightly(as I have pointed out previously), our goal should be to live in monogamy with our partner for a lifetime. Having said that, living in a miserable marriage where there comes to be a serious lack of love, and/or idolatry by placing material or other needs over love for partner, etc, all lead to a withering of the love the marriage should have been founded on, and lead to what we all know as divorce. So it all comes down to taking it seriously before you "go there", making a heartfelt commitment beforehand, yet realizing that our imperfections may laed to the dissolution of the marriage bond. In the end, we will all answer as individuals for our actions. BA- Realistic.

1 Corinthians 7:36?

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