There are many valid reasons that it may be a good thing to remain a virgin until later in life. Forgoing sex proves that one is disciplined enough to delay gratification for the sake of a greater good. It allows one to concentrate one’s efforts on one’s work and perhaps achieve greater professional success than one would if one were constantly scheming about how to bed one’s next partner, and it virtually guarantees that you’ll never catch an STD. If you’re a believing Christian, Jew, or Muslim, it gives you the security of knowing that you’re protected from committing any number of soul-damning sexual sins. If you’re an intellectually oriented atheist or agnostic, it frees you to live a life of the mind without becoming enslaved to the passions of the body. If you’re a human being with a living, beating heart, it saves you from the messiness, tedium, and soul-crushing heartbreak that so often accompanies romantic relationships.
Linking sex to lifelong, committed, married love—the very bond that much of the sexual revolution was intent on severing—can make sex truly wonderful.
Daniel Ross Goodman, “The War Against Abstinence: Blockers, American Pie, and the Last Great Sexual Taboo.”
7 comments:
Or better yet, remain celibate as the Apostle Paul recommended in 1 Corinthians 7 (unless one has extreme difficulty controlling sexual urges). It is much easier to serve the Lord that way.
I disagree. It is no easier to serve the Lord single than it is married. And there is evidence that Paul had been married.
Correction. What I should have said is that celibacy is a more honorable vow than marriage. One does not sin in either case, though.
Jesse,
Again, you err. Celibacy is NOT more honorable, and you will not find such a statement in Scripture. It is just a different state of sexuality.
Again, you err, buddy o' pal.
"So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage DOETH BETTER." (1 Corinthians 7:38, emphasis mine).
"But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: 33 but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. 34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. 36 But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry."
Read your Bible again,
Show me where he says celibacy is "more honorable" than marriage.
And Paul was making a general statement; many husband/wife teams have been outstanding missionaries, e.g.
The context of this passage is disputed as to its meaning, as can be seen from various translations. I don't know what version you cite here (KJV?), but try looking at other English translations and commentaries which seem to not be sure whether the virgin is fiancee or a daughter, etc.
You also have to consider the context of the times when severe persecution was taking place and they thought the end was nigh. Marrying would lead to worrying about the safety of the wife.
NOWHERE in scripture will find celibacy taught as more honorable than marriage. Marriage is the foundation of society and an analogy of Christ and the Church (you won't find any spiritual analogy of importance of celibacy)
Well, those are certainly valid points, and I knew all that regarding marriage. But I simply commented because I was not quite sure what 1 Corinthians 7:38 meant.
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