THE GUY ANSWERS<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\nThe questioner lives outside the United States, reminding us this affects all devout Christians and Jews (also adherents of Islam and other non-biblical faiths) coping with the \u201cnew morality\u201d promoted in entertainment media and western society more generally. The discussion typically treats \u201cpremarital sex\u201d among teens and young adults, but Anne is a \u201cmature woman\u201d who believes the Bible teaches sex without marriage is sinful but asks whether that\u2019s true.<\/p>\n
The New Testament writers \u201cregularly advised chastity,\u201d writes Yale Divinity School\u2019s Harold Attridge. A couple dozen passages denounce \u201cporneia,\u201d the Greek term for sexual misconduct. We know this identifies behavior apart from adultery (in which one or both partners are wed to others), because 1 Corinthians 6:9 and Hebrews 13:4 separately assail both adultery and \u201cporneia.\u201d The term is crucial because shunning \u201cporneia\u201d was one of the minimum Jewish moral laws applied to new Gentile converts by Christianity\u2019s first policy council (circa A.D. 50, depicted in the New Testament Book of Acts, chapter 15). <\/p>\n
In classical Greek texts, \u201cporneia\u201d typically refers to prostitution. However, experts on New Testament usage tell us it covers a wider range of misdeeds that they translate as \u201cfornication\u201d (sex between unmarried partners), \u201cunchastity,\u201d or simply \u201csexual immorality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Christians\u2019 Jewish heritage underlies the Jerusalem Council and the many New Testament condemnations, the Hebrew Scriptures (that is, Christians\u2019 \u201cOld Testament\u201d) and Jewish tradition undergird the experts\u2019 interpretation. Whatever we make of a thorny legal passage like Deuteronomy 22:13-29, it means \u201cconsensual sexual intercourse between singles is censured,\u201d according to Conservative Judaism\u2019s \u201cEtz Hayim\u201d commentary. Notably, sex without marriage was deemed so momentous that the couple was required to wed.<\/p>\n
The rules became stricter and more detailed in rabbis\u2019 later applications of biblical law assembled in the Talmud. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rabbi Louis Jacobs observed in \u201cThe New York Times Library of Jewish Knowledge\u201d series that \u201cthe Rabbis sternly disapprove of extramarital sex. The sex relationship between a man and an unmarried woman is called \u2018fornication\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Many Talmud dictates regulated physical contact between unmarried Jewish men and women in order to avoid such temptation. A modern-day ruling from the rabbinical conference of Judaism\u2019s liberal Reform branch affirms that \u201csexual relationships between single adults were prohibited\u201d throughout Jewish history, so despite contemporary \u201cloose standards, it would be appropriate to do everything within our power to encourage higher standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Religious tradition continues to shape behavior. A survey for \u201cPremarital Sex in America\u201d (Oxford University Press, 2011) found that among white, unmarried U.S. college graduates under 23 who consider themselves \u201creligious,\u201d 63 percent of women and 52.4 percent of men said they were virgins, compared with 14.5 percent and 15.4 percent respectively among those who were not religious. The book\u2019s co-authors, Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas and Jeremy Uecker of the University of North Carolinia, remark that most young Christians recognize \u201ceven a generous reading of relevant biblical texts won\u2019t favor having a series of non-marital sexual partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
No doubt the traditional morality is highly counter-cultural, ridiculed, widely ignored, and difficult to observe. <\/p>\n
A May Gallup Poll showed 63 percent of adult Americans deem relations between an unmarried man and woman \u201cmorally acceptable\u201d (which contrasts with the mere 6 percent who find adultery acceptable). Yet an Old Testament professor, the late Canadian Anglican R.K. Harrison, insisted that God provided the Bible\u2019s strict sexual morality in order to ensure humanity\u2019s \u201cphysical, mental, and moral health.\u201d<\/p>\n
QUESTIONS FOR THE GUY?<\/strong> Leave them in our comments pages.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANNE ASKS: Do we have to get married to have sex? What does the Bible teach? THE GUY ANSWERS: The questioner lives outside the United States, reminding us this affects all devout Christians and Jews (also adherents of Islam and other non-biblical faiths) coping with the \u201cnew morality\u201d promoted in entertainment media and western society […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1275,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,71,49,4],"tags":[2565,2564,608],"class_list":["post-113160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judaism","category-same-sex-marriage","category-sex","category-social-issues","tag-extramarital-sex","tag-premarital-sex","tag-richard-ostling"],"yoast_head":"\n
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