The sin of refusing sex

This is thoughtful, sweet, and everything, but it is 100% self centered around your perspective. This comment is extremely selfish on the other end of the scale and this very argument can be turned right back on you.

Sin is about offending God. What about the sin of the wife who does not love her husband as Christ loved the church? What about the vows to honour and respect? If you love them and want their best, does holding back what they want despite, the wishes of your partner, show love? Is your husband tired, lonely, stressed or overwhelmed? Be considerate. Help where you can and care about him. These are biblical mandates. Maybe it is time to look at your responsibilities towards your husband as an act of love for God. I am not sure how impressed God is with any of his children stomping their feet and demanding their rights. Love your neighbour/husband as you love yourself.

But you are literally doing in this comment exactly what you're slamming men for. We are BOTH called to honor and respect each other. You make it sound here like it's all on the guy to read and react the right way to everything YOU want. Just my pov.

You are correct, there is no excuse for marital unfaithfuness....but how does a person deal with a spouse who is unloving and wants to settle for a sexless marriage...they aren't mutually deciding...one is deciding...so what's the role of the other spouse? And how do they continue to guard themselves so they don't fall?

There are a lot of reasons why a person does not want sex in general. One reason is that the person is basically sexless/asexual and does not really desire sex. John Piper, a very famous conservative pastor, has said that sexual desire is not necessary for a good marriage. If a spouse is sexless, the other spouse if he desires sex a lot is basically out of luck. However, I believe the sexless spouse should compromise a bit (as he/she already knew that sex was part of the marriage deal) or perhaps the partner who desires sex should spend more time arousing the spouse. But what happens is that the spouse who wants sex is not really interested in someone who doesn't enjoy sex, so it is the chicken or the egg issue. The other issue is that men equate sexual desire from wife as a form of love and respect and get offended otherwise, however as John Piper suggests this is not true.

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/i-feel-no-sexual-attraction-should-i-still-pursue-marriage
https://www.christianpost.com/news/...marriage-its-about-covenant-keeping-love.html

on the verses around this it says 'its is good for a man not to touch a woman' But it does not say 'it is good for a woman not to touch a man'.
I would say its actually on the wife to lovingly keep in touch with her husband and the whole thing about consent is, that if its the wife that decides yes or no. If she doesnt want to be touched by her husband, shes allowed to leave him and he must let her go. But this is not so she can touch another man who is not her husband...she must be reconciled with him. if they are happy to live together without sex and STILL love each other that is actually possible! Because bodies do wear out and get tired.

I think for women whose bodies are a more fragile and delicate, constant use or pregnancy isnt beneficial...remember, this is flesh! women get old before their time if they are always having baby after baby. It takes its toll on the body.

I mean sure if you live on a huge farm and need to have lots of children because there are no other workers to work the land sure...(and you have the finances and resources to support many children) then go for it. But having lots and lots of children isnt easy on most couples in todays world.

Yikes! The passage teaches no such things. And a single man who meets a woman who thinks she will have a right, Biblically, to just leave her husband, should not marry that one.

The passage gives certain commands from the Lord to wives.

1. Let NOT the wife depart from her husband.
2. But and if she departs, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband.

It definitely does not teach that it up to the wife to decide whether to stay together or not, or have sex or not, and that that is okay.

Having babies is presented as a positive thing in the Bible, though Eve was told that He would greatly her pains in childbearing. Genesis says to 'Be fruitful and multiply.' Paul wrote, 'she shall be saved through childbearing' (which I take as likely a reference to the Seed promise, but which still presents child-bearing in a positive light.) One of the requirements for a widow to be on the list included godly lifestyle and good works like 'if she have raised children.' Sure, it takes a toll on the body, but bearing children is also a noble and good thing and it is the result of the blessing that we have them.

And when women get old, they stop having babies, and if they married young, their husband's bodies are old, too.

I would have thought if you were thinking about having lots of babies in today's world you might have brought up that birth control is a thing in today's world, too.

well actually the passage teaches if she doesnt believe, she can leave.
same for the man.

A lot of women seem to marry when they are not believers, I think anyone whos young and gets married probably has not even come to faith and they dont truly understand what marriage means or faith for that matter.

Men also marry when they dont believe.

Its a shame but it happens. They are not called to bondage in this case, plus its pretty bad for one party to believe and the other to not. Thats an unequally yoked marriage. If you can tolerate it, or are pleased to dwell, as it says in the Bible, then stay, If its not pleasing to dwell, then you can leave. In most cases, it will NOT be pleasing to dwell with someone who is abusive for example.

well, its seems christians dont like to talk about birth control, because they then have to deal with things like DIAPHRAGMS, spermicides, condoms, hormone patches, IUD, vasectomies, hysterectomies the pill, both morning after and regular and abortion. Not to mention IVF and adoption for those that want babies but cant physically have them.

if someone is wanting a conversation about that then there ought to be more threads about it. but it seems pretty clear that many christians are totally against abortion as a form of birth control but they are not willing to discuss the alternatives.

Oh wonderful, so now we're justifying statutory rape with scripture?

seems like it.

Terrible.
Husbands, learn how to love your wives, not rape them.

One of my sisters whos now married says when she doesnt want the hassle of sex, she wears pyjamas, because wearing a nightie is an open invitation.

Im like TMI. But there you go. Thats marriage.

The Bible says to let the unbelieving depart, not that it is okay for the unbeliever to do so, or to leave the unbeliever.

Glad am single like the prophets in old testament.

of course, as I said, TMI.
poo, vomit, blood, snot, saliva and other bodily fluids are part of marriage too. Its not just the men who fart in bed.

exactly
so theres no rule that says you have to have sex with an unbeliever in marriage. You can just live with them.

if you are a believer and your unbelieving spouse doesnt want to have sex with you, then tough, accept it. You cant FORCE them to have sex with you. Maybe they just dont want to. Not everyone wants to have sex all the time.

also, during your period, you might not want to. as it will be very messy. dont be unreasonable about it.
Also, its probably NOT a good idea to have sex in front. of other people. or video yourselves doing so.

You can say NO.

The Bible says not to defraud one another. Why wouldn't the same principle apply when one is married to an unbeliever? Cutting an unbelieving spouse could be a strategy to make 'the unbeliever depart'-- by not being a good spouse in one area of the marriage. But what kind of witness is that. Peter told wives whose husbands did not obey the word to submit to them also.

That is a different topic. There are a lot of tough situations that arise in marriage with an unbeliever who does not share 'common ground' of faith in the word of God, but why the negative attitude on this topic.

Gentiles were driven out of the land for a long list of sins including uncovering a woman's nakedness during her time of uncleanness.

Ummm. Yuck. There are a lot of sinful things married couples could do related to sex, such as adultery/swinging. I would hope most Christian readers would not interpret Paul's instructions on sex to encourage sex in front of other people and other weird stuff like that.

Not everybody is into that sort of thing.

That is funny. Marriage is the union of two becoming one, not sex. You don't become one with sex just because you temporarily physically connect.

Notice Paul's interpretation of two becoming one flesh in relation to sexual intercourse:

I Corinthians 6
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

If it applies to prostitutes that two are one flesh, shouldn't it also apply to marriage, which God has ordained?