Is premarital sex really a sin?

[Valjean]

Wasn't it OK for old testament men to have sex with slaves and servants?

Sin is that which creates social disruption or something a culture has no institutions to deal with.

Religion, propriety and law are indistinguishable in primitive societies, so purely practical injunctions, applicable only to a particular tribe, well, or oasis, sometimes become entangled in universal, biblical edicts.
Because sex tends to create children, because children are important items of property among Bedouins, and because Bedouin tribes have no cultural institutions to deal with out-of-wedlock births, strict regulations arose to prevent any chance of out of wedlock children. These, inevitably, became entangled in religion, and have been passed down to cultures where the original, practical reasons for the rules no longer apply.

Some "sins" are nothing more than historical artifacts.

 

[Mister_T]

But, as you'll notice, Paul also admonishes women to abstain from sexual immorality in that sentence as well. I'm sure women didn't visit hookers.

Maybe not (but that is debatable), but they definitely could become hookers.

I suppose if you want the NIV to be the first and last source for your bible reading (the word fornication isn't listed) and you want to keep premarital sex out of the definition of 'sexual immorality' then, what else can I say? It's just going to continue to boil down to interpretation.

I don't adhere to any religious doctrine, so me wanting the NIV to be my first and last source for Bible reading would be pointless. I'm merely pointing out the loopholes of what I feel is dogma. There is evidence for supporting monogamous, premarital sex not being condemned.

Everything that is considered to be adultery and sexual immorality is clearly outlined. For such an important sin, shouldn't have it been outlined in Proverbs or in the Gospel? If anything, it would be mildley hinted at by Paul and even that is in question. I'm just going by the proof that's in the pudding.

It's my guess you won't find too many Christian preachers who will be real excited about condoning premarital sex however.

It is one of many of what I feel to be, absurd beliefs held by mainstream Christianity. I'm not expecting them to be reasonable or rational when it comes to acknowledging dogmas.

 

[Buttercup]

There is evidence for supporting monogamous, premarital sex not being condemned.

Now, that evidence I'd be interested in hearing. Because back in the days when I could have used it, I sure as hell could never find it. :no:

Lay it on us, Nick!

 

[Mister_T]

Now, that evidence I'd be interested in hearing. Because back in the days when I could have used it, I sure as hell could never find it. :no:

Lay it on us, Nick!

I think I did already.

Show me a passage where fornicators were smited by God?

 

[Buttercup]

I think I did already.

You showed scripture evidence for condoning premarital sex? Uh, I don't think so.

Show me a passage where fornicators were smited by God?

I don't recall any passages where shoplifters are struck by god but that doesn't make it right.

 

[Mister_T]

You showed scripture evidence for condoning premarital sex? Uh, I don't think so.

Where did I say condoned? I just said it wasn't condemened.

I don't recall any passages where shoplifters are struck by god but that doesn't make it right.

So there aren't any passages where God tells you not to steal and if you do, you'll be punished? You might want to check that again.

 

[Buttercup]

Where did I say condoned? I just said it wasn't condemened.

You slippery little eel, you!

So there aren't any passages where God tells you not to steal and if you do, you'll be punished? You might want to check that again.

You said, 'smited' by god....which means struck down right then and there. Is every sin committed by man listed in the bible? At some point it does come down to your own conscious and obviously premarital sex is ok between you and god.

Tell me though....do you really think the writers of the bible wanted their kids to have sex before marriage?

 

[Mister_T]

You slippery little eel, you!

You said, 'smited' by god....which means struck down right then and there.

Well then, that was my misunderstanding of the word. God does say that they will be punished though, which is what I meant.

Is every sin committed by man listed in the bible?

Since it is supossedly the handbook for living a pure and holy life, I would imagine so.

At some point it does come down to your own conscious and obviously premarital sex is ok between you and god.

I totally agree.

Tell me though....do you really think the writers of the bible wanted their kids to have sex before marriage?

I'm not sure what they wanted for their kids back then, and to be honest I don't care. I don't think much of people who treat their children like property by selling them to others.

 

[ChristineES]

In the OT, fornicators were told that they had to get married if they were caught. I remember reading this but I can't remember exactly where. It says nothing about "smiting" them that I recall.

 

[dawny0826]

What does the Bible imply by "marriage"? Could the marriage simply be a personal commitment, or must it be a social event? Is there a specific ritual involved?

That's a good question and I'm not sure I have a great answer for it.

My assumption is that a couple was married when they underwent whatever ritual (religious and/or legal) was available at the time.

 

[logician]

What is "sin" in one culture may not be in another. In any case I don't believe in a religious concept of sin as something that committing keeps you out of a supposed heaven, or sends you to an eternal hell. Wrong acts usually have ramifications according to man's laws, those consequences we must live with.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

It depends more on your view of sin, rather than your view of sex.
Sex from my point of view is only sinful in certain circumstances ...
When Your actions could Hurt some one else.
when it is not a mutually desired act.

In these examples it is not the sex that is the sin, but the harm you are doing.

 

[kmkemp]

The red-letter words of Jesus:

Matthew 5
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

 

[Reverend Rick]

I love all these folks who think they can just pick and choose what they are going to do and some how believe they can challenge a God if they are confronted.

 

[MoonWater]

I love all these folks who think they can just pick and choose what they are going to do and some how believe they can challenge a God if they are confronted.

The thing is we really have no way of knowing what God is like until we meet him. So personally I'd rather live my life being true to myself and what I feel is "right" then live my life trying to fit a particular mold that God may or may not want me to fit. Many claim that we can know God through holy texts. Personally I think the closest we can get to knowing God in this life is to listen to our hearts instead of words from an old book.

 

[Sunstone]

The thing is we really have no way of knowing what God is like until we meet him. So personally I'd rather live my life being true to myself and what I feel is "right" then live my life trying to fit a particular mold that God may or may not want me to fit. Many claim that we can know God through holy texts. Personally I think the closest we can get to knowing God in this life is to listen to our hearts instead of words from an old book.

This makes tremendous sense to me.

 

[MoonWater]

This makes tremendous sense to me.

Precisley why I follow it. I like to think of it being akin to spokes on a wheel. Many paths all leading to one center. Many choose to follow the same path while others construct their own. We have many paths because no one knows what is at the center, until we get there that is. And each path is different, having it's own requirments, rules, standards, or expectations whether they are set by you or by whoever carved the path before you they are there and must be followed if one wishes to follow that path. Same as one must follow the laws of their country if they wish to live their as a full citizen with all their rights and what not. I am not expected to follow the rules, regulations, and expectations of say the country of south africa or turkey because I am not living in either of those countries. Why should I be expected to follow the rules, regulations, and expectations of a religion that I am not a part of? Why should I be held to (for example) Christian or Muslim standards if I am neither Christian nor Muslim?

 

[Doodlebug02]

I have decided that premarital sex is a sin. It is clearly condemned by the Bible.

Act 15:20 DRB But that we write unto them, that they refrain themselves from the pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood.

Act 15:29 DRB That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication: from which things keeping yourselves, you shall do well. Fare ye well.

Act 21:25 DRB But, as touching the Gentiles that believe, we have written, decreeing that they should only refrain themselves from that which has been offered to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication.

Rom 1:29 DRB Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness: full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity: whisperers,

1Co 6:13 DRB Meat for the belly and the belly for the meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord: and the Lord for the body.

1Co 6:18 DRB Fly fornication. Every sin that a man doth is without the body: but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

 

[Bathsheba]

Is premarital sex really a sin? The Bible condemns sexual immorality but not premarital sex. I personally do not believe that premarital sex is a sin. What do you believe?

The Bible has been written by men, it is a work of fiction. The concept of sin is all about control, men wanting to control you. The people that love the idea of sin and talking in moral absolutes are control freaks. They talk as if they "know” which is incredibly ridiculous and often arrogant. These egomaniacal know-it-alls love to spout off the so-called will of god claiming that they have a special knowledge that only they are privy to because of something that sets them apart (LAUGH OUT LOUD - GET OVER YOURSELF). The arrogance is mind boggling. Pack your bags people, the control freaks wanna take you on a guilt trip.

 

[Darkness]

If you believe it is a sin, why is it evil?