Major index for the research on sexuality and the Bible and Liberated Christians. God make every detail of our sexuality and said it was very good. God make every detail of animal sexuality and said it was good. http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/index6.html

http://www.libchrist.com

http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/index6.html

Christian Lesbians http://www.christianlesbians.com

Lot more web sites on Christian Lesbians http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/christianlesbian.html

Whenever someone want to tell you that sexuality or nudity is evil, make sure you put up big question marks because God’s designed sexuality or nudity in every detail and said it was very good. Some men teaches shame and guilt over nudity and sexual enjoyment and God said it was very good.

http://www.libchrist.com/bible/contents.html

http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/index6.html

Part of: http://www.delphi.com/libchrist http://www.delphi.com/libchrist/messages/?msg=198.1

Adultery Biblical Discussion - From: ERIK24201 Apr-3 4:01 PM

I was taught many years ago by a Jesuit friend the importance of proper translations. I wish I had more to go on, but I'll tell you what I remember.

The term adultery did not mean what we refer to it today. We still use it today in different forms to mean different things.

Something Unadulterated means not changed or pure, it does not mean that we didn't have sex with it.

Part of: Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology --- Part of :Immorality, Sexual

..." A man was NOT considered an adulterer if he engaged in sexual relations with a female slave (Gen 16:1-4), a prostitute (Gen 38:15-18), or his wife's handmaid with the spouse's permission (Gen 16:4). Nor was a man deemed to be in an adulterous relationship if he happened to be married to two wives."

Having many wives and many concubines also was NOT adultery.

(The New Living Translation ) 2 Samuel 12:8 I (God) gave you (David) his (Saul's) house and his (Saul’s) wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more.

Also Mt 5:28 is greatly misunderstood and misused. (The New Living Translation) Matthew 5:28 " But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart." God’s plan was for all people be 100% nude and He made us with a sexual drive to desire sex. He is not even talking to Christians and it is a major contradiction to God's design of human nature. People take it out of context and misunderstand the setting and context. But they read it at face value and do not research the true context. If they only read it at face value then the following verses to cut off your hand and pluck out your eyes, so why don’t they do that too. This is explained on web page: http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/lustmt528.html

Also Fornication is greatly misunderstood, misused, and taken out of context. http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/fornicationdefine.html

2 Cor 10:5 has been taken out of context almost every time I have heard it used in a sermon. They use this verse against sexual imagination and sexual thoughts, but this in context has nothing at all to do with anything sexual. Sexual thoughts and loving sexual imaginations are 100% normal, natural and healthy for all humans being to enjoy. They use this verse to try to put a major guilt trip on people. If you read the NLT version you can see more of the context. Also if you read the chapter before and after you can see clearly what the correct context is for this verse.

KJV 2 Cor 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (This verse has been taken out of context for years. It is about false teaching. The NLT does a better job keeping it in context.)

Always keep in mind that: in Genesis that God made everything and said it was Good. God designed the animal kingdom and is not hung up with their sexuality. We can learn a lot about God by studying how he made and designed the animal kingdom, including the animal sexuality and patterns of living. Animal still believe God when He said it was Good. Animals are not ashamed of their nudity or sexuality as are humans. When God said it was good, that also includes every detail of our sexuality, our bodies, our sex organs, our sexual fantasies, our nudity, our sexual enjoyment was all built in to our sexual design. All designed by a pure and Holy God. Just like the animals, Adam and Eve were not given a list of sexual do's and don't. God was not hung up with our sexuality. Human nature is good, not evil, it the "sin principal" part that is bad. The unloving, unkind, unforgiving, uncaring, selfish, prideful, greedy part. God is love. The whole law can be roll up into, love God, love others, as you love yourself. Today, we are under the Law of Love.

HOW CHRISTIANS DEVELOP THEIR BELIEFS ABOUT SEX http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_sex1.htm

http://www.libchrist.com

http://www.libchrist.com/bible/contents.html

http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/index6.html

What is the definition of fornication? http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/fornication.html

Matt. 5:28 is totally misunderstood and taken out of context. "look at a women with lust...adultery" http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/Lustmt528.html

Adultery? What are the different Bible definitions? Pro--Con of adultery. (Many links) http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/adultery.html

Survey Christians-- what % have had an affair? What % had sex before marriage? Adultery, What is it in the Bible? It is not what we teach today? http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/Adulterythefamily.html for more check http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/adultdefine.html

After much research and study on Christian Lesbians and the Bible, many Churches and theologians, including many non-gays, have changed their minds and negative attitude toward women who love women.

Christian Lesbians http://www.christianlesbians.com

Lot more web sites on Christian Lesbians http://inkaboutit.homestead.com/christianlesbian.html

The creator of all things. "God is love"

The most important command is, "Love God and not any other deities, love others as you love yourself."

Jesus new command, "Love one another as I have loved you."

"Love covers a multitude of sin"

The whole law is roll up in one thing," "Love God and not any other deities, love others as you love yourself."

1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

"13 So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love."

But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13: 1 - 13

New Century Version

1 Corinthians 13: 1 - 13 -

1 I may speak in different languages of people or even angels. But if I do not have love, I am only a noisy bell or a crashing cymbal. 2 I may have the gift of prophecy. I may understand all the secret things of God and have all knowledge, and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing. 3 I may give away everything I have, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing if I do not have love.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. 5 Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. 6 Love is not happy with evil but is happy with the truth. 7 Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always remains strong.

8 Love never ends. There are gifts of prophecy, but they will be ended. There are gifts of speaking in different languages, but those gifts will stop. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will come to an end. 9 The reason is that our knowledge and our ability to prophesy are not perfect. 10 But when perfection comes, the things that are not perfect will end. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I stopped those childish ways. 12 It is the same with us. Now we see a dim reflection, as if we were looking into a mirror, but then we shall see clearly. Now I know only a part, but then I will know fully, as God has known me. 13 So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.

Eze 20:27 - "Therefore, son of man, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: Your ancestors continued to blaspheme and betray me,

Jer 3:20 - But you have betrayed me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband," says the LORD.

3:6During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what fickle Israel does? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree.

(3:13Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to follow me. I, the LORD, have spoken!'")

3:7I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me. But she did not come back. And though her faithless sister Judah saw this,

3:8she paid no attention. She saw that I had divorced faithless Israel and sent her away. But now Judah, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.

3:9Israel treated it all so lightly - she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been greatly defiled.

3:20But you have betrayed me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband," says the LORD.

Jer. 3:23Our worship of idols and our religious orgies on the hills and mountains are completely false. Only in the LORD our God will Israel ever find salvation.

Part of: http://www.thefamily.org/dossier/books/book5/main.htm

. G. Rattray Taylor, commenting on this characteristic in Sex in History, generalizes that "Since repression always stimulates what it sets out to repress,

The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior, published in the US in 1993, was described as "the first broad-scale scientific national survey since Kinsey." That report revealed that forty-four percent of "very religious" people and fifty percent of "religious" people, and fifty-nine percent of "slightly religious" people admitted they had sex before marriage. "Very religious" people slightly outscored "religious" people fifty-seven percent to fifty-six percent in their personal agreement with the statement, "Sensually, I feel that sex is deliciously sensuous" (Janus, 1993: 252, 255). Another surprising discovery made by these scientists was in response to the question "I've had extramarital affairs." Thirty-one percent of people in the "very religious" category indicated they had at least one affair, whereas only twenty-six percent of those people who thought of themselves as simply "religious" said they had been involved in extra-marital sex. Forty-four percent of the "non-religious" responders admitted to extramarital sex (op. cit., 249).
It is said that the French reformer, John Calvin (1509-1564), was particularly preoccupied with adultery, and made references to it in almost every matter he discussed. G. Rattray Taylor, commenting on this characteristic in Sex in History, generalizes that "Since repression always stimulates what it sets out to repress, one is not surprised to learn that his (Calvin's) sister-in-law was taken in adultery in 1557 and that his daughter suffered a like fate five years later" (Taylor, 1970: 164).
It seems that Episcopalian Rev. Leo Booth could not agree more. In his book, When God Becomes a Drug: Breaking the Chains of Religious Addiction and Abuse 1991), Booth points to Eric Fromm's theory that sexual taboos create sexual obsessiveness and perversions. He also notes:

Jimmy Swaggart preached some of his most scathing sermons against sex immediately following his liaisons with prostitutes (Booth, 1991: 72).

Although I do not agree with Rev. Leo Booth when he labels most Bible-quoting, Jesus-preaching Christians as being "God addicts," I can still agree with some of his views on sex and sexuality.

I believe that God created sex and made it pleasurable to us for a reason; not just to procreate, but as a means of physically expressing spiritual unity. To insist that it is dirty is an abuse of God's gift, and from that abuse springs more abuse: guilt, shame, humiliation, fear (op. cit., 75).

Booth is of course not alone among the outspoken clergy within the Episcopal church. Bishop John Shelby Spong is another very notable player in the unfolding sex-and-spirituality Christian conundrum. Bishop Spong receives praise even in the respected National Catholic Reporter, a respected Roman Catholic publication. In reviewing Bishop Spong's book Living in Sin?, they conceded that "John Shelby Spong is a brave churchman. He has the guts to tell it like it is!"--And what is it that the Episcopal Bishop Spong is telling the world that is so significant and takes so much courage?
Bishop Spong suggests that there is much ambiguity in the Bible concerning sex. To take just one example, adultery in the Bible was defined as sex with a married woman. The marital status of the man was irrelevant. If the woman was not married, then having sexual relations with her was not adulterous. Women, Spong points out, were considered the possessions of the primary male in their lives and he quotes the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis chapter 38 and the story of the Levite's concubine in Judges chapter 19.

Traditional "Morality" -- A Myth?

Bishop Spong notes that in the Bible the prevailing marital pattern of the times was not monogamy but polygamy. In fact, moral patterns ascribed to Bible times actually were never the way those who call us to reaffirm "traditional morality" think they were. In his book Living in Sin?, also favorably reviewed in Time magazine, Spong brings this fact out clearly. Marriage, for example, was not ever universally required to legitimize sexual activity even in western Christian society. It was not until the Council of Trent in 1565, that the Church declared that a Christian ceremony was necessary in order to have a valid marriage. He adds:

Marriage does not make sex Holy, the quality of the relationship does (Spong, 1989: 65).

The Bible's view on relationships and sex is further demonstrated in the passages which mention how the patriarch Abraham on two occasions in order to save his own life offered his wife Sarah, first to the Pharaoh (Genesis chapter 12) and later to King Abemelech (Genesis chapter 20). His son Isaac, following in his footsteps, later offered his wife Rebecca to the same or similarly named Philistine king (Genesis chapter 26)! Spong mentions that in some nations of the western world, older and sexually experienced women were expected to initiate young post-pubescent boys into the mysteries of love-making. This would prepare a young man to be a gentle and effective lover with his virgin bride.

In his book Beyond Moralism, Spong protests: The original prohibition against adulterous relationships came from a people who continued to practice polygamy for many years after their covenant at Sinai. Monogamous marriage is not the original context of the injunction. This commandment was presumed to have been given in the wilderness around the year 1250 B.C.E. Yet 300 years later Solomon, with his 300 wives and 700 concubines, reigned as king in the land whose law proclaimed, "You shall not commit adultery." (In Living in Sin?, Spong adds: "What does adultery mean when one man (Solomon) can possess an unlimited number of women for his own amusement? How can an injunction based on these premises be used to define morality today?")

The patriarchal society in which this law was both interpreted and applied did not regard sexual intercourse between married men and unmarried women as an adulterous offense. A story in chapter 38 of Genesis told of Judah's affair with Hirah, an Adullamite who was described only as a friend, even after he had had three children by her. In chapter 21 of Judges, the men of Benjamin seduced first and married second. A man was found guilty of adultery only if he took another man's wife. Adultery was primarily an offense against another man's marriage, not against his own. . . . If a married man avoided married women, he could have as many sexual affairs as he wished and still not violate this commandment. . . . (Also) Sexual behavior with foreign women encountered while traveling or captured in war . . . was not governed by these laws (Spong, 1986: 89-90).

Eric Fuchs, is a Swiss Protestant pastor. He has been director of the Protestant Study Center in Geneva and is now head of the ethics department of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. In his book, Sexual Desire and Love: Origins and History of the Christian Ethic of Sexuality and Marriage, he devotes almost ninety pages to a chapter entitled, "Christianity and Sexuality: An Ambiguous History." One point he makes is that some sexual conduct can be very very harmful and hurtful. The Old Testament certainly does not hide these dangers. Improper sexual conduct can lead to murderous violence as told in the astonishing story of Judges chapters 19-21, where the inhabitants of Gibeah abused the concubine of the Levite from Ephraim. Since that incident transgressed the most sacred laws of hospitality, of heterosexuality and of respect for even the concubine of one's neighbor, it led to collective violence and destruction of almost the entire tribe of Benjamin.
Fortunately, the Old Testament also contains an abundance of beautiful examples of the creative use of human sexuality being wonderfully used for the good of God's people. As Eric Fuchs puts it:

The exemplary couples amongst the patriarchs demonstrate how sexuality, ordained as a benediction of God on life, becomes creative with regard to history and love (Fuchs, 1983).

There is the story of Esther who captured the heart of a heathen king and saved her people from destruction. Then there was Ruth, the Moabite widow who wooed the wealthy Boaz and became an ancestor of Jesus. And of course there was the stunning beauty of Abraham's half-sister and wife, Sarah, that more than once was used to save the life of that revered patriarch. Or the love of Joseph for Mary his young pregnant-by-another, wife to be, to cite a few examples.

Tough Questions for Christians -- Just Where do we Draw the Line?

In, Beyond Moralism, Bishop Spong poses numerous sexually challenging questions for Christians to answer: What is the basis for sexual morality for Christians in this age? Is there an area between the ideal and the immoral where sexual relations between consenting unmarried adults could be viewed in some way other than as destructive or wrong?

Is abstinence the only choice a Christian ethic can tolerate for widows, widowers, unmarried adults, or divorced people?
Half the population in our culture is engaged in serial polygamy--several marriages over the course of a lifetime with one partner at a time and numerous children related to one another by step-parents and half parents. More than forty percent of the households in America are now single-parent or single-person households. . . . How can the commandment "You shall not commit adultery" be approached within the actualities of the twentieth century?
If fullness of life is the goal of the Christian gospel, sexual abstinence may not always serve that goal. . . . Are some sexual relationships beautiful, life-giving, beneficial, even though they are not lived out inside the marital bond? Surely the answer . . . is yes (Spong 1986: 96, 99, Preface p. xi, 97, 104). (Emphasis added.)

Lev. 18:6 "You must never have sexual intercourse with a close relative, for I am the LORD.

Lev. 18:7 Do not violate your father by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your mother; you must never have intercourse with her. 8 Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your father's wives, for this would violate your father.

18:12Do not have intercourse with your aunt, your father's sister, because she is your father's close relative. 13 Do not have sexual intercourse with your aunt, your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative. 14 And do not violate your uncle, your father's brother, by having sexual intercourse with his wife; she also is your aunt.

18:16Do not have intercourse with your brother' s wife; this would violate your brother. 17"Do not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter or marry both a woman and her granddaughter, whether her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter. They are close relatives... 18"Do not marry a woman and her sister because they will be rivals. But if your wife dies, then it is all right to marry her sister. 19"Do not violate a woman by having sexual intercourse with her during her period of menstrual impurity. 20"Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor's wife.

Part of: Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology --- Part of :Immorality, Sexual

Genetic Pool

"For modern observers, however, the greatest danger by far would have resulted from the pollution of the genetic pool because of inbreeding. The bulk of the relationships prohibited by the legislation involved first and second degrees of consanguinity, that is, parent-child and grandparent-grandchild incest. Coition within the forbidden degrees of family relationships generally results in genetic complications when offspring are produced. Recessive genes often become dominant and endow the fetus with various kinds of diseases or congenital malformations. This seems to have been the force of the Hebrew tebel [l,b,T], a word that occurs only in Leviticus 18:23 and 20:12. It comes from balal [l;l'B], meaning "to confuse, " and conveys aptly the genetic upheaval that occurs in many cases of inbreeding, since God's rules for procreation have been upset. Only in a few instances does close inbreeding produce beneficial effects by removing recessive lethal genes from the genetic pool. (This may have happened in the case of ancient Egyptian royalty.) Nevertheless, even in such instances, inbreeding diminishes the energy and vigor of species that are normally outbred, and reinforces the wisdom and authority of the Mosaic legislation."

Divorce

"In New Testament times, only the man was able to institute divorce proceedings. It was in reality, however, a rare occurrence, and at that mostly the prerogative of the rich, since poor men could not afford another dowry or "bride price" for a subsequent marriage. The accused woman was protected under the law to the extent that her husband's accusations had to be proved. Thus some scholars have seen the Matthean explanatory clause as indicating immorality as the sole ground for divorce, following the contemporary rabbinical school of Shammai, and not for some purely frivolous cause, as the school of Hillel taught. If this explanation is correct, Jesus was addressing a Jewish controversy that had no bearing on God's marriage ideals in the age of grace, and which Mark and Luke consequently ignored because the exception did not apply to their audiences of Christian believers."

Jas 3:17 -But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Tit 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

Ro 14:20 - For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.

1Jo 3:3 - And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

2Co 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Ga 6:15 - For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.

1Co 10:23 – All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

Acts 10:13 Then a voice said to Peter, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat." 14 But Peter said, "No, Lord! I have never eaten food that is unholy or unclean." 15 But the voice said to him again, "God has made these things clean so don't call them 'unholy'!" 16 This happened three times

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