Posted on 12/15/2004 3:35:31 PM PST by walden
I only came to faith a couple of years ago, so my knowledge of the bible is still very lacking, which is why I'm asking these questions. My question is, is there any biblical indication that certain sexual practices (for example, oral sex) are forbidden between a married couple? What does the bible say about sex within marriage? It would help me a lot if folks responding could cite chapter and verse.
Thanks!
Time to post a book, Askel!
I'm afraid to look ....
It's right up your alley, toots.
Why not read the book.
Well, I AM reading the book, but it's heavy sledding. I've read the NT several times over, but have been stuck in the OT for months.
If my question offends you, feel free to not answer. ;)
Yes. Gen 38:9-10.
He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name.And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing:
Here is an excellent article discussing the Scriptural teaching: The Sin of Onan Revisited.
So is ok to spill seed when you aren't doing your brother's wife?
Did you try reading the definition of "sodomy" in the dictionary?
Read Hebrews..the marriage bed is un-defilable.
Deut 25:5 When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother:6 And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel.
7 But if he will not take his brother's wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband's brother refuseth to raise up his brother's name in Israel: and will not take me to wife.
8 And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife:
9 The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother's house:
10 And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.
Death was not the punishment for simply violating the levirate law. Also, if that was his offense, there would be no need for the Bible to explain what method he used to get around it.
My question is, is there any biblical indication that certain sexual practices (for example, oral sex) are forbidden between a married couple?
1 Corinthians, Chapter 72: Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
3: Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
4: The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
5: Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.The Epistle to the Hebrews, Chapter 134: Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
True, although later on that story, when the father-in-law has sex with that same woman, he gets her pregnant, which is a form of incest. Yet, he is not struck dead. The woman also lives, although in theory she should die as she did these things knowingly. Strange story.
I would recommend three Christian books to get started with.
1. 'The Gift of Sex' by Penner
2. 'Intended for pleasure' by Wheat
3. 'Sacred Romance' by Tommy Nelson
As for oral sex, these books cover that area.
Song of Songs 4:16 has this to say about oral sex (there are other references as well):
"Awake, north wind, and come south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrence may spread abroad. Let my lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits"
In other words, oral sex is not prohibited. The New Testament says that the marriage bed is undefiled. There is great freedom in the area of sexual expression within marriage. One Christian writer has summed it up this way. As long as it doesn't involve pain, pornography or other people; AND both husband and wife are agreeable, the is nothing prohibited.
You will hear some people say that Onan sinned when he "spilled his seed", but the real sin of Onan was his disobedience to a command of God. The spilling of his seed in that instance was merely the form of the disobedience. In the kJV there is even a reference to the beloved (wife) tasting the seed of the lover (husband). The Penner book states that whatever objection one might have to oral sex, it can't be supported by scripture.
Also, don't be fooled by those who say Song of Songs is merely an allegory about God's relationship to his people. There is simply too much in there that cannot be 'allegorized'.
As an example, read Song of Songs 8:14 "Come away, my lover (husband), and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains."
The NIV foot note says "Display you virile strength and agility for my delight". No way can one allegorize this passage.
The Tommy Nelson book mentioned in an earlier posts talks about the fact that the New Testament was actually written in the common language of the people, and the term associated with that greek form of language is the root word for the word vulgar. IOW, it is OK to use common slang words with your spouse when taling about sex. In other words, what the beloved (wife) in SoS 8:14 is saying to her lover (husband) is "FMN".
Let's give him a break, he did say he was new to the faith. I agree that reading both the OT and NT is a worthwhile endeavor. However, even people who've read it from cover to cover dozens of times don't have it all committed to memory. I bet even Billy Graham looks things up now and again.
There's nothing wrong with telling this poster where to look to find the answer.
Hogwash. Show me a quote from ANY Christian prior to 1900 that agrees with this nonsense.
Its only the sex obsessed 20th century "christians" who make such a claim, because everyone for 19 centuries prior to that, including ALL the protestant reformers, believed just the opposite of what you claim here.
As for the "Song of Songs" condoning marital sodomy, be it oral, anal, mastubatory or contraceptive, again Show me a quote from ANY Christian prior to 1900 that agrees with this nonsense.
Its only the sex obsessed 20th century "christians" who make such a claim.
As far as Christian guiidelines for marital sexuality, the bottom line is this:
Anything goes, but only IF, in the end, you could get pregnant as a result.
Oral stimulation prior to sexual intercourse is OK for foreplay. Same with just about anything else.
But according to all Christian history except the last 100 years, any type of sex that precludes contraception when its all said and done, is sodomitic in nature.
See the writings of Luther, Calvin, and the other reformers regarding the Onan incident if you need further proof.
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