A Christian reviews a new book claiming sexual contradictions in the Bible make it irrelevant.
Jennifer Wright Knust, Baptist pastor and professor of Religion at Boston University, makes a number of shocking and unorthodox claims in her new book. She writes: “Looking to the Bible for straightforward answers about anything, including sex, can only be a disappointment. When read as a whole, the Bible provides neither clear nor consistent advice about sex . . . If one biblical writer condemns those who engage in sex before marriage, others present premarital sex as central to God’s plan. Just about every biblical commandment is broken, and not only by biblical villains . . . It is therefore a mistake to pretend that the Bible can define our ethics for us in any kind of straightforward way.” Ouch. As someone who strongly believes that the Bible is God’s word to his people, Knust’s assertions really stung.
People say prayer brings married couples together, but what about unmarried ones?
To pray together, or not to pray together: that is the question. For married couples of faith, the decision is a bit more obvious. They have clever adages in support of the idea, such as “The couple that prays together stays together,” as well as a whole host of surveys, books, and websites singing the praises of how prayer can strengthen a relationship. It’s enough to even make an Atheist consider it. But what about couples who aren’t married, yet are in serious dating relationships? Should they pray with their significant others, or is couple’s prayer an intimate activity that is better suited for marriage?
After a lifetime of competing messages about premarital sex I embraced my faith and decided to wait.
As a teenager, I had secretly assumed that many of these restrictions were out-dated and unnecessary, thus I decided to try and intellectually prove that premarital sex fit into that category. Over a period of months, whenever I had free time I would dive into the index of my Bible and search for all the verses that said anything at all about sex. I read over them carefully, searching for a loophole—some fact, some story, some statement that I could pluck up and use as my justification.
Brigham Young University researchers say abstaining from sex makes for better marriage.
Couples who wait 'til "I do" to do it might be happier with the quality of sex and enjoy a stable, happier marriage than couples who have sex before they take their vows. So says a new study which appears in the Journal of Family Psychology.
A five-year marriage with no sex: the true story of a divorced virgin.
How I became a divorced virgin: "I was twenty-nine, single again after a five-year marriage, and a virgin. When I met my now ex-husband Mike, I had just turned 21. We met at small Catholic liberal arts college, and even though I no longer believed in Jesus, the Saints, the Bible, God, really any of that. I was a virgin then, and I was a virgin when we divorced."
In July’s Good Housekeeping issue, the Jonas Brothers’ mom, Denise, took it upon herself to publicly discuss her sons’ sexual desires. And you thought your mom was embarrassing.
Is sex sacred or have casual sex and sexual imagery in our culture rendered it meaningless?
Anyone born in the last fifty years has been met with increasingly sexy advertising and entertainment. At the same time, premarital, extramarital and so-called "casual" sex are also on the rise. But, as recent film Zack & Miri Make A Porno questions, is sex ever just "f*cking" or does it always have meaning, despite what our sexually liberal culture might lead us to believe?
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon held off on the premarital sex.
According to the old gossip train, Mariah Carey made Nick Cannon wait until they were properly wed to have sexual relations. This tactic is best exemplified by "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" by the Georgia Satellites. Clearly, he was OK with it, otherwise he'd just have hit some other little jump off and not sweated it. Weird times with celebs.
What do The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, and Jordin Sparks all have in common? None of them are getting laid. According to each of the stars, they are A-okay with it. In fact, they’re promoting their virginity by sporting the ever-so-trendy purity rings, which stand for abstinence. (I wonder if Bristol Palin was wearing hers before she got knocked up?)
