Fornication

Occasionally, unbelievers attack this site, accusing GodSaidManSaid of profiting from people’s insecurities and superstitions via the Gospel.  They accuse us of money raking.

A media rep was quite impressed the first time she visited GodSaidManSaid.  She asked how we were going to capitalize on it.  I answered that we weren’t.

A question came from an Australian believer during a recent marketing campaign in that country.  He asked, “What are your intentions for Australia?”  We answered, “Dear brother, we’re just fishing.”

In regard to profiteering, it should be known that GodSaidManSaid has no paid employees.  GodSaidManSaid pays no rent, no light bills, no heating bills, nor does it incur miscellaneous expenses such as faxes, copies, computer equipment, or the like.  Other than internet and corporate accounting expenses (which represent a very small amount), all monies donated to this ministry are spent on the advertising of this website.

In the business field, there is the term, “R.O.I.,” which stands for “Return On Investment.”  Those who donate to GodSaidManSaid should be extremely happy about their R.O.I.  The cost to generate one visit to this website is about 17¢.  The cost to generate one visit to “Further With Jesus,” where souls are surrendered to Jesus Christ, is approximately $6.00.  We know of no other ministry (although there very well may be some) that returns a better R.O.I. when you consider that a blood-bought soul is the most valuable commodity in the universe.

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GOD SAID, Genesis 2:22-24:

22  And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

GOD SAID, Acts 15:20:

But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

GOD SAID, I Corinthians 6:18:

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

GOD SAID, Galatians 5:19-21:

19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

MAN SAID: We are simply animals—the highest level on the evolutionary chain.  Sexuality is an animal instinct and totally natural.  Marriage is an archaic, religious construct, and the religious restraints of the Bible are just superstition.

Now THE RECORD.  Recent e-mailers to GodSaidManSaid raised questions concerning sex before marriage and cohabitation—living together before marriage.

It is important to remember that God’s commandments in His Holy Bible are inerrant.  They are “true and righteous altogether.”  Inherent within each commandment is a blessing or a curse.  Disobey, and the problems of making the wrong decision will become evident.  It’s the simple principle of reaping what we sow.  I highly encourage you to attend the short five-part series on this website, titled “Life Series.”  It will surely be worth your time.

Premarital sex is Biblically known as fornication, which can also mean any manner of illicit sex.  The passage in Galatians, quoted above reads, “...they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”  If you have or are now participating in fornication, repent and turn from it, lest it be your doom. 

To many, the threat of eternal damnation isn’t strong enough to turn them from the lust of the moment.  But as in all of God’s commandments, disobedience yields at least two layers of hurt and woe: one here and one later.  This article, cataloging the wages of sin, will be just one more proof that God is, that He authored the scriptures, and that He will hold all men accountable to it at a soon-coming Judgment Day.

Premarital sex, and in particular premarital cohabitation, yield substantial devastation.  In the 1960s and 1970s, about a half million men and women were living together outside of wedlock.   By the year 2000, the number had risen to five million.  Researchers estimate that 50% of Americans cohabitate and about 40% of these cohabitating homes have children involved.  It is astounding to me to read the reference to George Barna’s research that 60% of Americans believe the best way to create a successful marriage is premarital cohabitation. 

Kerby Anderson, a highly accredited author of several books, ranging from Genetic Engineering to Family and Sexuality, holds degrees from Oregon State University, Yale, and Georgetown.  He is a nationally syndicated columnist and the National Director of Probe Ministries International.  Several of the following excerpts are from his article, “Cohabitation:”

Contrary to conventional wisdom, cohabitation can be harmful to marriage as well as to the couples and their children. One study based on the National Survey of Families and Households found that marriages which had prior cohabitors were 46% more likely to divorce than marriages of noncohabitors. The authors concluded from this study and from a review of previous studies that the risk of marital disruption following cohabitation "is beginning to take on the status of an empirical generalization."

Marriages are held together by a common commitment which is absent in most, if not all, cohabiting relationships. Partners who live together value autonomy over commitment and tend not to be as committed as married couples in their dedication to the continuation of the relationship.

One study found that "living with a romantic partner prior to marriage was associated with more negative and less positive problem solving support and behavior during marriage." The reason is simple. Since there is less certainty of a long-term commitment, "there may be less motivation for cohabiting partners to develop their conflict resolution and support skills."

Couples living together, however, miss out on more than just the benefits of marriage. Annual rates of depression among cohabiting couples are more than three times higher than they are among married couples. Those who cohabit are much more likely to be unhappy in marriage and much more likely to think about divorce.

Women in cohabiting relationships are more than twice as likely than married women to suffer physical and sexual abuse. Another study found that women in cohabiting relationships are nine times more likely to be killed by their partner than are women in marital relationships.

Cohabitation is especially harmful to children. First, several studies have found that children currently living with a mother and her unmarried partner have significantly more behavior problems and lower academic performance than children in intact families. Second, there is the risk that the couple will break up creating even more social and personal difficulties. Third, many of these children were not born in the present union but in a previous union of one of the adult partners (usually the mother). Living in a house with a mother and an unmarried boyfriend is tenuous at best. Legal claims to child support and other sources of family income are absent.  [End of quote]

The June 8, 2007Reuters headline reads, “Study: Relatively new STD eclipses gonorrhea,” and the sub-headline reads, “Infection prevalence was 11 times higher in cohabiting couples, study finds.”  Portions of that article follow:

NEW YORK—A relatively new sexually transmitted infection has surpassed Neisseria gonorrhea in prevalence among young adults in the U.S., according to a new study.

Mycoplasma genitalium was first identified in the 1980s. It can cause inflammation of the urethra (the urinary passage from the bladder), in men, and inflammation of the cervix and the lining of the uterus in women, possibly leading to infertility. However, it seems many cases of the infection are symptom-free.

In the current study, researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, tested 1714 women and 1218 men between the ages of 18 and 27 years participating in Wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Results of the study are published in the American Journal of Public Health. The investigators found Mycoplasma genitalium infection in 1.0 percent of the participants. In contrast, the prevalence of gonorrhea was 0.4 percent. The prevalence of chlamydia infection was 4.2 percent.

The prevalence of Mycoplasma genitalium infection was 11 times higher among individuals living with a sexual partner, seven times higher among blacks and four times higher among those who use condoms during sex.  [End of quote]

The spread of STDs around the world, which is a result of disobeying God’s command of chastity, is absolutely devastating.  When God’s Word is rejected, expect the wages of sin. 

C. Everett Koop, M.D., former U.S. Surgeon General, said:

When you have sex with someone, you are having sex with everyone they have had sex with for the last ten years, and everyone they and their partners have had sex with for the last ten years.  [End of quote]

Statistical calculations show that someone who has had eight sexual partners has actually been exposed to the deeds and actions of 255 people.

Those who do not turn and repent of their fornications pay here and pay later, and later is eternal.

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:22-24:

22  And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.           

GOD SAID, Acts 15:20:

But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

GOD SAID, I Corinthians 6:18:

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

GOD SAID, Galatians 5:19-21:

19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

MAN SAID: We are simply animals—the highest level on the evolutionary chain.  Sexuality is an animal instinct and totally natural.  Marriage is an archaic religious construct, and the religious restraints of the Bible are just superstition.

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Anderson, K., “Cohabitation,” www.probe.org

Cohan, C.L. and Stacey Kleinbaum, "Toward A Greater Understanding of the Cohabitation Effect: Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Communication," Journal of Marriage and Family 64(2002), 180-192.

DeMaris, A. and K. Vaninadha Rao, "Premarital Cohabitation and Subsequent Marital Stability in the United States: A Reassessment," Journal of Marriage and Family 54(1992), 178-190.

Greeley, A., Faithful Attraction (New York: Tom Doherty, 1991), 206.

Nock, S., "A Comparison of Marriages and Cohabiting Relationships," Journal of Family Issues 16(1995), 53-76.

Reuters, “Study: Relatively new STD eclipses gonorrhea,” 6/8/07

Robins, L. and Darrel Reiger, Psychiatric Disorders in America (New York: Free Press, 1990), 72.

Shackelford, T.K., "Cohabitation, Marriage and Murder," Aggressive Behavior 27(2001), 284-191.

Stets, J.E., "Cohabiting and Marital Aggression: The Role of Social Isolation," Journal of Marriage and Family 53(1991): 669-680. 

Thompson, E., T. L. Hanson, and S.S. McLanahan, "Family Structure and Child Well-Being: Economic Resources versus Parental Behaviors," Social Forces 71(1994), 221-242; Rachel Dunifon and Lori Kowaleski-Jones, "Who's in the House? Effects of Family Structure on Children's Home Environments and Cognitive Outcomes," Child Development, forthcoming.

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