Proverbs 5:1-18 - Relations with an immoral woman lead to bitterness (v4), dishonor (v9), poverty (v10), grief (v11), destruction of flesh and body (v11 - as in sexually transmitted diseases), and even death (v5). All of us have heard of people who have experienced some or all of these as a result of sexual promiscuity.
People think venereal diseases can be avoided by "safe sex" or cured by modern medicine. If so, why are many such diseases at all-time highs? And why do we continually hear about the dangers of AIDS? Despite politically correct views, the fact is that AIDS is essentially a sexually transmitted disease. Those who avoid illicit sex and illegal drugs have little need for concern.
The solution: stay far away from those who are sexually promiscuous (v8), and rejoice with the wife of your youth (vv 15-18).
Proverbs 6:32-35 - Adultery leads to wounds, dishonor, and reproach. It causes jealousy, fury, and vengeance, which cannot be appeased. This occurs when people violate marriage vows, but it also occurs among people in trial marriages and homosexual relationships. [7:21-27]
Such conduct often brings a burden of guilt to a relationship, which manifests itself in many ways. We may be angry for no apparent reason or unable to express affection freely. When we know our spouse has done this outside marriage (even if they did it with us), we may wonder if he/she will do it again, or with how many others they have done it.
Matthew 19:9 - Sexual union outside marriage is so serious that it is the only grounds for which God will permit the one who is pure to divorce and remarry.
Those who practice chastity before marriage and sexual faithfulness in marriage, need not be concerned about problems of promiscuity. There are reasons why God has restricted the sexual union to marriage. Obeying his plan is always best.
Marital commitment provides a stable relationship for raising children.
Genesis 1:26-28; 2:24 - God created male and female, told them to have children (reproduce), and said man should be "one flesh" with his wife. One reason God restricted the sexual union to marriage is that this gives children a family with both a father and a mother to raise them.
Proverbs 1:8 - Children should hear the instructions of their father and not forsake the law of their mother.
The fundamental concept throughout Scripture is that children should be raised in a family consisting of a father and mother who train and provide for them (Ephesians 6:2-4; Luke 2:48-51; Genesis 4:1,25; etc.). Marriage, with a lifetime commitment of husband and wife, provides the stable, loving relationship that children need.
Sometimes circumstances beyond our control take away father or mother, but these should be viewed as tragedies. Any relationship, which runs the risk of conceiving a child without the benefit of both a father and a mother to raise it, is irresponsible, unloving, and immoral.
Since the sexual union is the means God designed to conceive children, it follows that having this union outside of marriage can and often does result in children born out of wedlock. Such conduct is irresponsible, unloving, and immoral. Yet, a significant portion of children today are born out of wedlock. No child should ever have to fear that his parents would choose to risk his being born or raised in such an immoral, irresponsible circumstance.
Marital commitment provides the needs of old age.
Because marriage is a lifetime commitment, it provides a permanent relationship of companionship and love, even into old age.
Romans 7:2,3 - Husband and wife are bound to one another as long as they live. Those who are true to their marriage vows, will have a spouse to live with, until death parts them. Few things in life are more beautiful than a couple that continues to love and care for one another into their older years.
Young people, who choose promiscuous or homosexual relationships, have no such companionship. They may pass from partner to partner, living for the moment, with no thought of the consequences for old age. Likewise, people who divorce without Scriptural cause, have no right to a companion in their older years. People, who are not true to their marriage commitment, have no reason to expect others to be committed to them.
Likewise, parents who raise children in a committed family, will have children to care for them in their older years.
Ephesians 6:2,3 - Honoring parents includes caring for them in their old age.
1 Timothy 5:4,8,16 - When parents become elderly, especially when they are widowed and their marriage companion is gone, their children should see that their needs are met. (Cf. Matt. 15:4-6; Ruth 4:13-15; John 19:25-27.)
This is called "repaying" the parents. But if parents bring children into the world without a committed family relationship with both a father and a mother to love and care for them, what reason do children have to be committed to them in their old age? If such children learn to care for their parents, it won't be because the parents set a good example of caring for them.
The true beauty of the sexual affection is experienced only in true marriage.
1 Corinthians 7:2-5 - To avoid fornication, man and woman should marry and then should give one another the affection that is due. You do not have authority over your own body to enjoy this affection, except with your committed marriage spouse.
In a committed marriage, the sexual union becomes the ultimate expression of affection, love, and companionship. By reserving this relationship only for our lawful spouse, we are telling them, "I love you so much that I have chosen you to be the only person in the world in which I will engage in this most intimate expression of love." This makes sexual affection the incredibly special bond of love that God intended it to be.
Surveys have repeatedly shown that couples who remain true to their marriage commitment express much greater satisfaction with sexual affection.
Like everything else that God created for good, when people pervert it, they cannot fully enjoy its benefits. People, who practice casual, recreational sexual activities, will never, ever enjoy the true beauty of sexual affection, and most will never even understand what they missed. The brief, passing pleasure such people enjoy can never measure up to committed marital bliss.
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