[NYer]

Ping!

[stefanbatory]

Wasn’t the Apostle Peter married? If not, how did Jesus heal his mother-in-law?

[trisham]

Yes, Saint Peter obviously married at one time, but does that mean that he is married at the time of his apostolic call by Jesus? There are women who pass away before their mothers and before their husbands.

**********************

It was rather common for women to die in childbirth until as recently as what? Less than a hundred years ago?

[RJR_fan]

A Calvinist historian made an interesting point in his book Who Owns the Family? The Jewish folks encouraged their "best and brightest" to become rabbis. They then matched their sharpest young men with the best available young wives, taking up collections if necessary to provide the dowry. Rather than squeezing maximum use out of one life, they opted to amortize that ministry across multiple generations.

In our experience, God's glory is magnified by projects that might take generations to fulfill. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, for example, was a seventh-generation Baptist preacher. My beloved mentor, Calvinist scholar/writer Rousas John Rushdoony, came from a pulpit dynasty 1,500 years old. Ever since the Gospel came to Armenia, a Rushdoony had seen to it that a son or nephew was trained to take his place in the chain of witness. (both of his grandfathers, BTW, were martyrs.)

Something about normal robust human sexuality images God's nature in a way that singleness doesn't. "In the image of God created He them. Male and female created He them." The affectionate interplay of familial relationships derives from the interactions of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity.

Some have the extraordinary vocation of living single. However, clerical celibacy also owes a great deal to the neoplatonic disdain for the created order.

[SnakeDoctor]

One of the greatest battles in Christianity today is the defense of marriage. How can we simultaneously believe that marriage is a sacred union, before God Himself, and demand that clergy not participate in that which is supposedly sacred?

SnakeDoc

[Just another Joe]

Ultimately, continence - celibacy — receives its supreme value from the fact that Jesus chose it for Himself and for His Mother Mary.

The author lost me right there.
Jesus may have chosen celibacy for himself but for his mother?
Didn't Mary go on to bear other children after Jesus was born?

[Welcome2thejungle]

One theory for the institution of priestly celibacy was that the early Church experienced a problem with priests handing over Church property two their sons thus fostering a culture nepotism within the Church. I also read that the first 40 or so Popes were married as well. And that the institution of celibacy was formally implemented by the Council of Trent to correct the abuses. In other words, celibacy was used to combat nepotism, abuse, and scandal.

[Sloth]

The final word:

"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach... One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)" -- I Timothy 3:2, 4-5

"...ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly." -- Titus 1:5-6

[VidMihi]

This seems to me a rather strange discussion. I think it is commonly accepted that most of the Apostles were likely married, that thirty nine popes were married, that many good priests historically and currently have been and are married, etc. etc.
Many of these comments seem to come from those who want to “control” the lives of others. who want to “decide for them - the priests - what is right and what is wrong”

Why not ask what would be good for the people of God at a time when there is such a shortage of priests, why not even ask the priests themselves, who have served the church what they think would be best - maybe there is a message in the 40,000 priests who have married and most of whom would still be willing to serve the church. But then maybe the bishops would lose some control - wives being what they are.

Seem to me that those who are not priests ought to stop telling priests how they are to live. They are not children.

[Snurple]

The apostle Peter who (if Im not mistaken) is considered to be the first pope (by the Catholic church) was a married man. No where in the bible does God command men not to marry.