What is So Bad about Fornication?
"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is without the body: but he who commits fornication sins against his own body." 1 Corinthians 6:18
Fornication consists of sexual relations outside of marriage. The Bible says it is a sin. Jesus gave it as the one and only reason for divorce, Paul said, "flee fornication", and Joseph ran out of the house when Potipher's wife grabbed him and tried to sleep with him.
But our society no longer holds to Biblical teaching. Just the other night I learned that a famous college listed as one of the rules for its dormitories: Students may not engage in sexual activity in the room if there is a third party present. Would you want your child to attend this school?
Why does God condemn fornication throughout the Bible? What possible harm can come from two consenting adults who are not married engaging in sexual relations? (I am not going to address the issue of adultery now.)
Let me start by saying, if God tells me not to do something, that is enough of a reason not to do it whether I understand or not. People would do well to say "what God?" before they say, "why God?"
Having said that let us set about answering the question, "what's so bad about fornication?" Why does God consider it evil?
For one thing it is unhealthy. It is quite clear having sexual relations with multiple partners exposes a person to the danger of disease. People who "play the field" put themselves in great peril. When they sleep with someone they are, in effect, sleeping with everyone that person has slept with. Most people who engage in sexual intimacy with casual acquaintances do not do a careful investigation of the sexual history of their partners.
Having sexual relations is not just a physical act, but an emotional one. There is definitely something wrong if that is not the case. Once it is done it can not be undone. Once it is done a part of you belongs to someone else. When you marry, your spouse will have to share the knowledge of you with every person you have known. That is not good because we are to be one flesh when we marry. Memories can have a diluting effect even though they may be slight. Also, a broken heart usually results when an uncommitted relationship is consummated sexually but not emotionally. If you can not tell your sexual partner, "I am yours," it is best not to be intimate.
Fornication can and does lead to pregnancy quite often. It is the leading reason so many babies are aborted. People use abortion as a means of birth control. All those babies, poor little innocent human beings slaughtered, why, because of a lack of commitment and a heart not for God. No child should grow up in a home where neither parent loves the other enough to say "Everything I have is yours." That is what marriage is; one flesh. Have you met daughters who detest and loathe their fathers because they are not there? It makes it very difficult for many of them to deal with relationships ever after. That's a result of fornication. Poor girls, poor boys without a responsible father to show them that being a father is a great responsibility and is the price a man should gladly pay for loving a woman.
Finally, fornication invariably leads to spiritual illness. You can not be at one with God if you are in disobedience to Him. When a person lives in sin it destroys his prayer life. Without an intimate bond with God a person's spiritual ship will sink for sure. We need Him every hour. That's what so bad about fornication. It comes between us and God. And let us always remember God's laws are given for our protection and benefit.
Will our society pay for its wanton disregard of Scripture? It is already paying a very heavy price through broken single parent families, poverty, children raising themselves with far less chance of success, higher crime rates, and so on. Everyone is suffering.
God is right. He is always right. Fornication is unholy and wrong. It may seem appealing at the time but very soon it loses that appeal and turns to bitter and bitter waters. And it inflicts so much harm on the children. We are better off being obedient to God -- always and in all things!
David Brandon
"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is without the body: but he who commits fornication sins against his own body." 1 Corinthians 6:18
Fornication consists of sexual relations outside of marriage. The Bible says it is a sin. Jesus gave it as the one and only reason for divorce, Paul said, "flee fornication", and Joseph ran out of the house when Potipher's wife grabbed him and tried to sleep with him.
But our society no longer holds to Biblical teaching. Just the other night I learned that a famous college listed as one of the rules for its dormitories: Students may not engage in sexual activity in the room if there is a third party present. Would you want your child to attend this school?
Why does God condemn fornication throughout the Bible? What possible harm can come from two consenting adults who are not married engaging in sexual relations? (I am not going to address the issue of adultery now.)
Let me start by saying, if God tells me not to do something, that is enough of a reason not to do it whether I understand or not. People would do well to say "what God?" before they say, "why God?"
Having said that let us set about answering the question, "what's so bad about fornication?" Why does God consider it evil?
For one thing it is unhealthy. It is quite clear having sexual relations with multiple partners exposes a person to the danger of disease. People who "play the field" put themselves in great peril. When they sleep with someone they are, in effect, sleeping with everyone that person has slept with. Most people who engage in sexual intimacy with casual acquaintances do not do a careful investigation of the sexual history of their partners.
Having sexual relations is not just a physical act, but an emotional one. There is definitely something wrong if that is not the case. Once it is done it can not be undone. Once it is done a part of you belongs to someone else. When you marry, your spouse will have to share the knowledge of you with every person you have known. That is not good because we are to be one flesh when we marry. Memories can have a diluting effect even though they may be slight. Also, a broken heart usually results when an uncommitted relationship is consummated sexually but not emotionally. If you can not tell your sexual partner, "I am yours," it is best not to be intimate.
Fornication can and does lead to pregnancy quite often. It is the leading reason so many babies are aborted. People use abortion as a means of birth control. All those babies, poor little innocent human beings slaughtered, why, because of a lack of commitment and a heart not for God. No child should grow up in a home where neither parent loves the other enough to say "Everything I have is yours." That is what marriage is; one flesh. Have you met daughters who detest and loathe their fathers because they are not there? It makes it very difficult for many of them to deal with relationships ever after. That's a result of fornication. Poor girls, poor boys without a responsible father to show them that being a father is a great responsibility and is the price a man should gladly pay for loving a woman.
Finally, fornication invariably leads to spiritual illness. You can not be at one with God if you are in disobedience to Him. When a person lives in sin it destroys his prayer life. Without an intimate bond with God a person's spiritual ship will sink for sure. We need Him every hour. That's what so bad about fornication. It comes between us and God. And let us always remember God's laws are given for our protection and benefit.
Will our society pay for its wanton disregard of Scripture? It is already paying a very heavy price through broken single parent families, poverty, children raising themselves with far less chance of success, higher crime rates, and so on. Everyone is suffering.
God is right. He is always right. Fornication is unholy and wrong. It may seem appealing at the time but very soon it loses that appeal and turns to bitter and bitter waters. And it inflicts so much harm on the children. We are better off being obedient to God -- always and in all things!
David Brandon
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