The Reason for Sexual Morality/Immorality

[Patrick]

It's been awhile since anyone has posted such a provacative topic, so I figured we're overdue ! As many of you know, I have a great deal of respect for the Bible, but I'm also not afraid to question it.

My question is why such a strong influence on sexual purity (especially in the New Testament)? Why does the Bible include fornicators and homosexuals in the list of those who will be damned? What does the Biblical word fornicator even mean? And the biggest question of all: why is something that is such a natural instinct (especially in men) condemned so harshly? It would seem to me a little sin (except in the case of rape and some of the more far-out sexual things) compared to many other things in the World.

I have a few theories. Perhaps it's because if you're not careful, sex can easily consume a person's life. It gets in the way of more noble pursuits much like a small drinking problem could, but nothing more than that.

[dlectronic]

Jesus said, "Love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength" in Matthew 22. Sexual sins seem so harmless on the outside, but they absolutely crush our ability to fulfill our calling as Christians, namely love.

Fornication entails casting our eyes on things of the world, rather than the Lord, thus hindering our ability to love God in the most full manner. It also causes us to view brothers and/or sisters (everyday friends, if you will) as objects from which pleasure can be derived. And indeed, fornication can hinder our ability to love our spouse properly; he or she can become (as with the brother/sister thing) an object of self-satisfying lust.

Gah... Death to lust.

[Maarten]

Nov 25, 2010 1:57:57 GMT -5 Patrick said:

Why does the Bible include fornicators and homosexuals in the list of those who will be damned?

Fortunately, the Lord is gracious enough so that even fornicators and homosexuals can be saved and do not have to be damned .

Nov 25, 2010 1:57:57 GMT -5 Patrick said:

why is something that is such a natural instinct (especially in men) condemned so harshly?

Hmm, well, I believe we are born sinful, so we shouldn't trust our 'natural' instinct without question.

[Patrick]

Nov 26, 2010 13:21:26 GMT -5 Maarten said:

Nov 25, 2010 1:57:57 GMT -5 Patrick said:

Why does the Bible include fornicators and homosexuals in the list of those who will be damned?

Fortunately, the Lord is gracious enough so that even fornicators and homosexuals can be saved and do not have to be damned .

Why is sexual sin such a serious crime to begin with? I guess my bigger question is why does every sin, no matter how large or small, carry the same weight: eternal damanation. Why couldn't God have different punishments for different sins? In the case of things like sexual sin or alcoholism, shouldn't the natural consequences one experiences on Earth be enough? Especially for things so free from malice.

[Ferd Berfel]

The punishment is all the same because all sin is the same. Every sin, "big" or "small" in the eyes of man is still an act of rebellion against God.

Sexual sin is a sin because it violates the designs that God has put together for marriage. We can see that design at work in the very beginning of the Bible, between Adam and Eve.

"Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24, NKJV)

This same thing is reiterated in Ephesians 5:22-33. In this passage, God (through the words of Paul) lays out the entire design for the way marriage is supposed to work, between a husband and a wife.

The basic idea is that sex binds us to another person both physically and spiritually. It represents the most powerful bond that two people can have together; literally, it makes the two as one flesh.
Read in 1 Corinthians 6:13-20:

"...Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you now know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For 'the two,' He says, 'Shall become one flesh.' But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's."

The idea is simple. As believers, we are one spirit with Christ. If we are wantonly having sex outside of marriage (in direct violation of God's design) we are sinning directly against our own bodies and our spirits, which are the temples of the Holy Spirit.

[Patrick]

Nov 28, 2010 17:47:01 GMT -5 Ferd Berfel said:

The punishment is all the same because all sin is the same. Every sin, "big" or "small" in the eyes of man is still an act of rebellion against God.

It still doesn't make sense why a person should be eternally punished. In all honesty, most things that the New Testament calls out as damnable sins are nothing more than simple trip-ups due to human nature (powerful human nature in the case of "sexual immorality").

It's not an act of rebellion; it's a person scratching at an itch that cannot go away. You can't blame a person cause he itches. With men (and I'm sure most of us men would acknowledge), the sin of lust is as second-nature as an itch. How can God hold a person in eternal contempt for something he cannot help?

[Muffy]

Deuteronomy 20:14

Deuteronomy 21:10-14

Judges 5:30

Exodus 21:7-11

Dear God I ask that you touch these people in ways unseen.