covetousness is the root of most sins- even just imagining wrong thoughts about relations with others is a sin- cultivating wrong thoughts is a sin- dwelling on wrong thoughts is a sin- and can be the sin of adultery- even though the physical act is never done- according to Christ-
Adultery is just the end result of coveting
And pastors are among the worst offenders of this commandment.
Him, you meant.
And stay away from creeping on teenage kids. What you described isn’t adultery. Just awful theology.
this won’t be a popular thread. FReepers love their porn.
bkmk
Some couples who marry without God’s ordainment or who cohabitate, such couples are lost, uneducated in biblical teaching, without wisdom, they don’t know what they are doing, their children can also be lost which is the whole point.
My reading is that Godly marriage is not to create vast numbers of children but to make Godly children.
The consequences of wandering outside the strictness of this prescription are well known. Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and their conflicts and relations, I view as consequences of going outside God’s strict regimen. Jacob and his wives, same thing along with many more examples.
Ok, so I know and likely you know what God requires here.
But humanity is so imperfect there must be some vehicle for bringing some couples that have wandered back to the path of righteousness. Their errant marriages must be washed away, they most be freed from sin, they must be given a clean slate.
Then again there is the moral hazard of devolving into ‘anything goes’, ‘promiscuous free love’, to outright debauchery where it may seem everyone’s mother is a slut, or worse the mother was never known.
There seems to be no doubt that a man and a woman who truly care for each other are and will be healthier together than apart.
But then, what about their souls?
The general problem may be intractable.
Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)
God hates divorce.
American society has a 50% divorce rate.
I believe strongly the high divorce rate of American society is highly correlated with a drifting away from biblical teaching and morality. The results and consequences are devastating, unGodly children, spiritual confusion and emptiness, porn, demolition of virtue.
The Roman Catholic Church does not allow divorce nor remarriage. The RCC is very strict. Yeah ok RCC, what about Nancy Pelosi and other so-called Catholics? Don’t get me wrong, I love the RCC and its incredible priests who have literally saved entire generations of people, but many young catholic people run away from their Church because of the hypocrisy they see. They are too weak or immature to do anything about it or to see that humanity, even within their Church, is never perfect.
The Orthodox Church frowns on divorce but allows remarriage if an Orthodox priest is persuaded the new marriage will be respected, that the couple to be remarried have paid penitence, and the couple will strive “to do better.”
I like the “try and do better” spirit.
The “try and do better” prescription is of course, not always effective.
Rabbis, Pastors, and Priests should be called upon to assist all persons to “try and do better.” I think in general they do but in this day and age they could use a little butt kick in that direction. Rabbis, Pastors, and Priests should “try and do better” to help others “try and do better.”