What age range was 1 Corinthians 7:9 intended for?
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I just wonder with the purity movement, and their emphasis on being a virgin before marriage, where does that put the person who has had sex or the person who has been divorced? Instead of pushing purity, they should have been pushing marriage even if you're not a virgin. In hindsight, I now wish I had gotten married in my 20's. Would have saved me years of struggling with being single.
I would rather have the church push purity than marriage, if they have to push anything. Marriage is not really within our control, when or who we will meet, etc. Staying chaste is more within our control.
It also depends I guess on a person's expectations for a marriage partner. Some want a "soul mate" type person, I don't think meeting such a person is within our control. Others take a more pragmatic and also probably unromantic approach, meaning any decent Christian person is the same more or less so you just pick one of them, get married and stay committed.
It also depends I guess on a person's expectations for a marriage partner. Some want a "soul mate" type person, I don't think meeting such a person is within our control. Others take a more pragmatic and also probably unromantic approach, meaning any decent Christian person is the same more or less so you just pick one of them, get married and stay committed.
"This is what the LORD commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their father’s tribal clan. " Numbers 36:6
Who you marry is your choice. GOD does not make that decision. Virginity was important at the time of Jesus, it is not today. No one cares if the person they marry is a virgin. At the time of Jesus it was put on the women, not the men.
Who you marry is your choice. GOD does not make that decision. Virginity was important at the time of Jesus, it is not today. No one cares if the person they marry is a virgin. At the time of Jesus it was put on the women, not the men.
It is stigmatized because nowadays there is something predatory about this I would say in most cases. A guy chasing a high schooler now says a lot about him, including that he is selfish because he is interrupting a girl's education. In the old days, Biblical times, etc. standards were different. Probably any girl 16 plus was already betrothed or married, so a man needed to look for someone who was younger. So back then, it was less likely the guy was a predator.
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Paul’s mindset was about how to avoid sin and teaching others how to avoid sin. Paul was clearly less concerned with the niceties of marriage and more interested in how it can be leveraged to help individual church members. Thus, Paul viewed marriage as a utility that people could take advantage of to help them, but otherwise said they should just not get married at all.
Paul saw marriage as unnecessary, believing that those who are married will concern themselves less with the things of God and more with the things of their wife. While family is important, they aren’t more important than God and Paul seems to think they could be an unnecessary distraction. So I don’t see that Paul would have encouraged others to become infatuated with their spouse or obsessively in love with them.
That’s why he said marriage can be used for sex, but afterwards knock it off and get back to praying and serving God.
Paul saw marriage as unnecessary, believing that those who are married will concern themselves less with the things of God and more with the things of their wife. While family is important, they aren’t more important than God and Paul seems to think they could be an unnecessary distraction. So I don’t see that Paul would have encouraged others to become infatuated with their spouse or obsessively in love with them.
That’s why he said marriage can be used for sex, but afterwards knock it off and get back to praying and serving God.
Speak for yourself. When I was single, I cared if the woman I married as a virgin. My wife probably did, too. We had both waited until marriage.
My wife and I have had that conversation before-- would you remarry if I died, and what kind of person we'd want around our kids. At the time, I said I would probably remarry. If I did remarry, i would want to marry a virgin or a widow who had only been with her husband.
I wouldn't want to marry a woman who is 'one flesh' with another man. I am not saying someone else cannot marry someone who has fornicated or committed adultery. But I personally would not want to because it wouldn't feel right to me personally as far as my personal tastes and desires go. Also, statistically, previous sexual partners besides the husband correlated with a much higher rate of 'marriage disruption.' If someone has never had sex before marriage, sleeping with someone besides one's husband/wife is a big deal. I'd imagine sleeping with someone outside of marriage is a big deal for a widow/widower who has remained faithful. But if sleeping around was a lifestyle habit before marriage, I wouldn't want to be the victim of someone who fell back into a bad habit.
If finding a virgin or sexually moral widow meant living in Indonesia again, where I spent many years, and where it seems like virginity before marriage is much more common since there is a stigma attached to either male or female losing it outside of marriage, that would be okay with me. I speak the language, and have spent many years there.
It could be you have too narrow a view of 'the purity movement.' I am not sure about it, because I have never been to a church that used the term to describe what they are doing. But I would imagine there are churches that teach and promote marriage, teach fornicators to marry rather than to fornicate, and standard Biblical doctrine on the issue.... in addition to opposing certain aspects of the dating culture.
My wife and I have had that conversation before-- would you remarry if I died, and what kind of person we'd want around our kids. At the time, I said I would probably remarry. If I did remarry, i would want to marry a virgin or a widow who had only been with her husband.
I wouldn't want to marry a woman who is 'one flesh' with another man. I am not saying someone else cannot marry someone who has fornicated or committed adultery. But I personally would not want to because it wouldn't feel right to me personally as far as my personal tastes and desires go. Also, statistically, previous sexual partners besides the husband correlated with a much higher rate of 'marriage disruption.' If someone has never had sex before marriage, sleeping with someone besides one's husband/wife is a big deal. I'd imagine sleeping with someone outside of marriage is a big deal for a widow/widower who has remained faithful. But if sleeping around was a lifestyle habit before marriage, I wouldn't want to be the victim of someone who fell back into a bad habit.
If finding a virgin or sexually moral widow meant living in Indonesia again, where I spent many years, and where it seems like virginity before marriage is much more common since there is a stigma attached to either male or female losing it outside of marriage, that would be okay with me. I speak the language, and have spent many years there.
It could be you have too narrow a view of 'the purity movement.' I am not sure about it, because I have never been to a church that used the term to describe what they are doing. But I would imagine there are churches that teach and promote marriage, teach fornicators to marry rather than to fornicate, and standard Biblical doctrine on the issue.... in addition to opposing certain aspects of the dating culture.
That's the emphasis in I Corinthians 7. And Paul's concern with the Corinthians mentioned in II Corinthians was to present them as a chaste virgin for Christ. He saw marriage as a way to help prevent the sin of fornication. But that is not all Paul wrote on the subject. He also wrote that a husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church, to love her as his own body, and applied 'two shall be one flesh' of marriage to the mystery of Christ and the church. There is a mystery there in the marriage and the sexual aspect of it.
But there is a bit of a difference between 'love your wives' and 'marry someone you are madly in love with'.
But there is a bit of a difference between 'love your wives' and 'marry someone you are madly in love with'.
I don't want any grown men chasing my high school daughters around. But I also realize it's not a sin for a man to marry a teenage girl.
If their dads are cool with it and they are cool with it, it's okay, I guess, even if society frowns on it. Just from the perspectives of ethics, I think a girl should be physically mature enough to have children.
I occasionally hear comments on TV that imply it is wrong for 60+ year old men to marry 20-something-year-olds who are of the age legal adults. I don't see a moral problem with it. There are practical issues like who would raise the kid if he died.... and why she'd be attracted to a guy so old, and what will it be like for her in 20 years, when she is 45 and he is 85. But I don't see it as a sin issue. I'd be more concerned about someone divorcing his wife and marrying another and committing adultery or marrying her that is divorced and committing adultery, or with fornication. Those are sin issues. Some of those who seem to think this is morally reprehensible are probably women approaching middle age who have difficulty finding a partner who didn't try in their 20s.
If their dads are cool with it and they are cool with it, it's okay, I guess, even if society frowns on it. Just from the perspectives of ethics, I think a girl should be physically mature enough to have children.
I occasionally hear comments on TV that imply it is wrong for 60+ year old men to marry 20-something-year-olds who are of the age legal adults. I don't see a moral problem with it. There are practical issues like who would raise the kid if he died.... and why she'd be attracted to a guy so old, and what will it be like for her in 20 years, when she is 45 and he is 85. But I don't see it as a sin issue. I'd be more concerned about someone divorcing his wife and marrying another and committing adultery or marrying her that is divorced and committing adultery, or with fornication. Those are sin issues. Some of those who seem to think this is morally reprehensible are probably women approaching middle age who have difficulty finding a partner who didn't try in their 20s.
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