Why are Monks and Priests Pure and Celibate?

[Hugh of Borg]

In my opinion I think it must be due to the passages in the Bible which state that "Only Pure and Virginal Men will be Saved" and "Only Pure and Virginal Men can stand before the Lord" and also that supposedly after the Apocalypse, the Pure and Virginal Men will become the Kings of the Earth.
But they do have a problem, because if ALL the Men on Earth became Pure and Virginal then the human race would die out. So maybe that is why they do not TELL Men to be Pure and Virginal but they simply set the example.
A kind of I'm alright Jack kind of attitude.
Do you think sex with women is Wrong? When you hear words like the Original Sin and the Forbidden fruit?
If not then why are there so many passages in the Bible telling Men to be Pure and Virginal?
Making it sound like you will only get to Heaven and you can only stand before The Lord if you have not had sex with a woman.

 

[Vinayaka]

Did you mean to limit this to Christianity?

 

[Tarheeler]

We expect our rabbis and religious leaders to be married and have families. We're all commanded to live and be part of life.
I'm not aware of any commandment, in my Bible, that commands a man or woman to stay celibate for life.

 

[roger1440]

In my opinion I think it must be due to the passages in the Bible which state that "Only Pure and Virginal Men will be Saved" and "Only Pure and Virginal Men can stand before the Lord" and also that supposedly after the Apocalypse, the Pure and Virginal Men will become the Kings of the Earth.
But they do have a problem, because if ALL the Men on Earth became Pure and Virginal then the human race would die out. So maybe that is why they do not TELL Men to be Pure and Virginal but they simply set the example.
A kind of I'm alright Jack kind of attitude.
Do you think sex with women is Wrong? When you hear words like the Original Sin and the Forbidden fruit?
If not then why are there so many passages in the Bible telling Men to be Pure and Virginal?
Making it sound like you will only get to Heaven and you can only stand before The Lord if you have not had sex with a woman.

What are you quoting?

 

[Sunstone]

So called holy men through out history and the world over have denied the beauty of the earth, and especially the beauty of women. In my opinion, that makes their holiness deeply problematic. I expect a genuinely holy person to be able to deal with all aspects of life without denying or running away from any.

 

[siti]

I'm not aware of any commandment, in my Bible, that commands a man or woman to stay celibate for life.

Try Revelation 14:4 - not a command as such but a basis for judgement? To me (as a non-believer in any case) this was obviously intended (along with almost the whole of Revelation) to be figurative. But if you want to avoid lifelong celibacy then you presumably must also take the final battle, hell...etc. etc. as figurative.

 

[lostwanderingsoul]

I think that many people think that because there is no evidence that Jesus ever married then priests and other religious workers should do the same. However, the Bible says that a bishop should be the husband of one wife so why the Catholic church says bishops must be unmarried is questionable. Like many other things, they prefer to follow their own traditions over the teachings of the Bible.

 

[sayak83]

In my opinion I think it must be due to the passages in the Bible which state that "Only Pure and Virginal Men will be Saved" and "Only Pure and Virginal Men can stand before the Lord" and also that supposedly after the Apocalypse, the Pure and Virginal Men will become the Kings of the Earth.
But they do have a problem, because if ALL the Men on Earth became Pure and Virginal then the human race would die out. So maybe that is why they do not TELL Men to be Pure and Virginal but they simply set the example.
A kind of I'm alright Jack kind of attitude.
Do you think sex with women is Wrong? When you hear words like the Original Sin and the Forbidden fruit?
If not then why are there so many passages in the Bible telling Men to be Pure and Virginal?
Making it sound like you will only get to Heaven and you can only stand before The Lord if you have not had sex with a woman.

In India priesthood does not require celibacy, only asceticism does. The idea is that you are giving up all entanglements with society and day-to-day life in order to stand outside of it, to not have any self-interest whatsoever. That's the idea. But there is no requirement to do this.

And the ascetics can be women.

 

[Augustus]

In my opinion I think it must be due to the passages in the Bible which state that "Only Pure and Virginal Men will be Saved" and "Only Pure and Virginal Men can stand before the Lord" and also that supposedly after the Apocalypse, the Pure and Virginal Men will become the Kings of the Earth.

In theory, for priests at least, it also incentivised them to act in the interests of the Church rather than in the interests of their families. Those who needed to safeguard their family's future are much easier to manipulate, blackmail or threaten and much more likely to fall into corrupt ways. It also had a role in preventing the Church from becoming captured by hereditary dynasties.

 

[Glaurung]

Monastics are ascetics, these are people who have chosen to dedicate their lives to God in an extraordinary way. Obviously marriage and family are incompatible with the religious state. As for priests, they are expected to be celibate only in the Latin Rite. The basis for this are the rather clear injunctions in the New Testament by both Christ and Saint Paul that the celibate state when done for the sake of God is superior to being married. (Not that being married is at all a defect for the Christian). Also considering feudal Europe, it prevented the priesthood from becoming hereditary. (Although certain families did dominate the higher clerical ranks at times anyway).

 

[siti]

In theory, for priests at least, it also incentivised them to act in the interests of the Church rather than in the interests of their families. Those who needed to safeguard their family's future are much easier to manipulate, blackmail or threaten and much more likely to fall into corrupt ways. It also had a role in preventing the Church from becoming captured by hereditary dynasties.

Hmmm! That didn't work out too well did it? In any case, the very first "Bishop of Rome" was married - see Matthew 8:14-15, Mark 1:29-31, and Luke 4:38-41. Presumably then, given that both Christ (Matthew 19:11-12) and Paul (1 Corinthians 7:25) elevated celibacy as the ideal, Peter was less than an ideal candidate - but presumably the best they could find at the time.

 

[Glaurung]

Hmmm! That didn't work out too well did it? In any case, the very first "Bishop of Rome" was married - see Matthew 8:14-15, Mark 1:29-31, and Luke 4:38-41. Presumably then, given that both Christ (Matthew 19:11-12) and Paul (1 Corinthians 7:25) elevated celibacy as the ideal, Peter was less than an ideal candidate - but presumably the best they could find at the time.

Technically speaking, celibacy has never been absolutely required for the priesthood. It's a disciplinary ideal, not a doctrine.

 

[psychoslice]

When you suppress your natural sexual urges you are really nothing more than a masochist.

 

[siti]

Technically speaking, celibacy has never been absolutely required for the priesthood. It's a disciplinary ideal, not a doctrine.

Technically speaking perhaps, but in practice, with some exceptions, it has been the standard since the Second Lateran Council in 1139. And whilst the current Pope has opened the way for discussion, the latest authoritative official statements confirm the requirement of celibacy for the priesthood.

"This synod strongly reaffirms what the Latin Church and some Oriental rites require that is, that the priesthood be conferred only on those men who have received from God the gift of the vocation to celibate chastity" ~ Pope John Paul II, summarizing in 1992 the deliberations of the 1990 Synod discussions on the matter of celibacy and the priesthood. (my bold)

 

[Rival]

Try Revelation 14:4 - not a command as such but a basis for judgement? To me (as a non-believer in any case) this was obviously intended (along with almost the whole of Revelation) to be figurative. But if you want to avoid lifelong celibacy then you presumably must also take the final battle, hell...etc. etc. as figurative.

Jews don't accept the Christian Scriptures.

 

[ajay0]

Here is the perspective of Swami Vivekananda , a Hindu monk , in this regard which might help to clarify the issue...

The Yogis say that that part of the human energy which is expressed as sex energy, in sexual thought, when checked and controlled, easily becomes changed into Ojas, and as the Muladhara guides these, the Yogi pays particular attention to that centre. He tries to take up all his sexual energy and convert it into Ojas. It is only the chaste man or woman who can make the Ojas rise and store it in the brain; that is why chastity has always been considered the highest virtue. A man feels that if he is unchaste, spirituality goes away, he loses mental vigour and moral stamina. That is why in all the religious orders in the world which have produced spiritual giants you will always find absolute chastity insisted upon. That is why the monks came into existence, giving up marriage.

 

[siti]

Jews don't accept the Christian Scriptures.

Well spotted! I hope there is no law about not reading posts carefully before you reply.

In fact, I suppose, the Jewish priesthood was, by definition, a dynasty - but surely there are indications in the prophets that that dynastic exclusivity would end? Even suggestions that non-Jews would become "priests" and that "eunuchs" (presumably those who were so for the sake of "the Lord") would be blessed (Isaiah 56:1-11)?

Jeremiah (a priest and prophet) was, by all accounts, celibate - but obviously Hilkiah (Jeremiah's father) wasn't.

So maybe it wasn't that different - in principle, though admittedly a world apart in practice.

Perhaps the Christian "Revelator" simply built on these prophetic notions and "perfected" the ideas into an ideal model of pious chastity that was unrealistic and, for the most part (for most - even faithful - men), unattainable in practice. Perhaps it was never intended to be attained in practice anyway!

 

[Glaurung]

Technically speaking perhaps, but in practice, with some exceptions, it has been the standard since the Second Lateran Council in 1139. And whilst the current Pope has opened the way for discussion, the latest authoritative official statements confirm the requirement of celibacy for the priesthood.

"This synod strongly reaffirms what the Latin Church and some Oriental rites require that is, that the priesthood be conferred only on those men who have received from God the gift of the vocation to celibate chastity" ~ Pope John Paul II, summarizing in 1992 the deliberations of the 1990 Synod discussions on the matter of celibacy and the priesthood. (my bold)

Yes, but I was responding to your observation concerning Saint Peter. That Saint Peter was married is neither a contradiction or a scandal.

 

[loverofhumanity]

In my opinion I think it must be due to the passages in the Bible which state that "Only Pure and Virginal Men will be Saved" and "Only Pure and Virginal Men can stand before the Lord" and also that supposedly after the Apocalypse, the Pure and Virginal Men will become the Kings of the Earth.
But they do have a problem, because if ALL the Men on Earth became Pure and Virginal then the human race would die out. So maybe that is why they do not TELL Men to be Pure and Virginal but they simply set the example.
A kind of I'm alright Jack kind of attitude.
Do you think sex with women is Wrong? When you hear words like the Original Sin and the Forbidden fruit?
If not then why are there so many passages in the Bible telling Men to be Pure and Virginal?
Making it sound like you will only get to Heaven and you can only stand before The Lord if you have not had sex with a woman.

Here is the answer from Baha'u'llah on that topic.

“He that wedded not (Jesus) found no place wherein to dwell or lay His head, by reason of that which the hands of the treacherous had wrought.

“So fierce was the opposition which He, the Essence of Being and Lord of the visible and invisible, had to face, that He had nowhere to lay His head. He wandered continually from place to place, deprived of a permanent abode.”

Bahá’u’lláh.

 

[Jedster]

In my opinion I think it must be due to the passages in the Bible which state that "Only Pure and Virginal Men will be Saved" and "Only Pure and Virginal Men can stand before the Lord" and also that supposedly after the Apocalypse, the Pure and Virginal Men will become the Kings of the Earth.
But they do have a problem, because if ALL the Men on Earth became Pure and Virginal then the human race would die out. So maybe that is why they do not TELL Men to be Pure and Virginal but they simply set the example.
A kind of I'm alright Jack kind of attitude.
Do you think sex with women is Wrong? When you hear words like the Original Sin and the Forbidden fruit?
If not then why are there so many passages in the Bible telling Men to be Pure and Virginal?
Making it sound like you will only get to Heaven and you can only stand before The Lord if you have not had sex with a woman.

I was a member of a monastic order(not Christian btw) for 8 years. This was several decades ago.
I joined because I believed(at that time) that I could become closer to God in that way. I had no belief that everyone had to be celibate; it was a life style choice for me.
I was 26 . I had no trouble being celibate as I had had a plentiful sex life from my teens and been married and divorced. I had no lingering desires that needed to be fulfilled.
I eventually left the order and the whole group I was involved with.

Losing my virginity again was great....oops I'm going off topic.

BTW welcome to RF