Does the Bible specifically condemn paedophilia at any place?

Question

Just wondering after the most offensive question I've ever seen:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20060815065710AAtvjE7&r=w#NbUvWzK1UjlDEc0YrG1b

Which condemns people for homosexuality and _not_ for paedophilia.

It got me thinking. I've never actually heard people tossing out quotes from Leviticus or elsewhere on the topic of having sex with children.

Is it in there? Or did God overlook it?

So the Bible that tells you not to wear mixed fabric or how to plough your field, the Bible whose scant references to homosexuality you good Christians are so fond of quoting at any given time; this 'guide to life', this 'model of behavour'...

Never does anything more than 'play around the issue' of paedophilia? For God's sake you people are answering me that 'fornication' is a sin.

Is it an equal in your eyes to 'fornicate' with an adult and to 'fornicate' with a child?

I have never been more disgusted or ashamed...

Answer 1

The Bible, Christ, and human decency all cry out at the abuse ofchildren. I believe that the abuse of children is far worse than any other kind even that of rape of a woman! This is truly disgusting.
Genesis 21:16
Let me not look upon the death of a child.

Genesis 33:14
I will lead on slowly according to the pace of the children.

Deuteronomy 4:10
... that they may teach their children also

Deuteronomy 6:7
...and you shall teach these words

I Samuel 3:8
Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy.

I Samuel 16:11
There remains yet the youngest.

Psalms 8:2
... out of the mouths of babes and infants

Psalms 22:9
Thou didst keep me safe upon my mother's breasts.

Psalms 27:10
My father and my mother have forsaken me.

Psalm 68:5
Father to the fatherless

Psalm 103:13
As a father pities his children...

Psalm 128:3
Your children shall be like olive shoots around your table.

Psalms 129:1
Sorely have they afflicted me from my youth.

Psalms 131:2
... like a child is quieted at its mother's breast

Proverbs 10:1
A wise son and a foolish son

Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children.

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go.

Proverbs 31:8
Open your mouths for the rights of all who are left desolate.

Ecclesiastes 12:1
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born.

Isaiah 11:6
And a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 49:20
The children shall say..."The place is too narrow for me. Make room for me..."

Isaiah 49:25
I will save your children.

Isaiah 58:7
Hide not yourself from your own flesh.

From the Talmud

Nedarim 81a
And be needful (mindful) not to neglect the children of the poor

Zohar 1.227b
A blessing of a parent's children is his own blessing.

From the New Testament

Matthew 2:16
Then Herod... killed all the male children... two years old or under.

Jesus

Matthew 7:9
Who would give a son a stone instead of bread, etc.

Matthew 18:2-6
Whoever receives one such child receives me... Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin... better he be drowned in the... sea

Matthew 23:37
How often would I have gathered your children... as a hen gathers her brood under her wings?

Mark 7:27
Let the children first be fed.

Mark 9:37
Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

Mark 10:13-16
Let the children come to me; do not hinder them.

Luke 18:17
Receive the Kingdom of God like a child.

John 21:15
Feed my lambs.

The Epistles

I Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child I spoke like a child, I thought like a child...

Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4
Parents, do not provoke your children to anger.

James 1:27
Religion that is pure... is this: to visit orphans... in their affliction
Personally I believe the sin of Pedophillia is the worst of any sexual sins. Mistreatment of children is definitely the lowest. I hope the hottest and worst places in hell are reserved for such as these. May God forgive me for my judgement of them. The harm they do can never be erased. :"Suffer the little children to come unto Me."Jesus said.

Answer 2

OK first off they are pedophiles and it would be pedophillia. Second yes the Bible condems it. That is right in the Ten Commandments. Properly translated it says Thou Shalt Not Fornicate, NOT Adultry but FORNICATION. So since you can't marry a kid you would be fornicating and therefore it is against the Ten Commandments, just as homosexualty is wrong just by that. Also in the New Testment is says that people who commit unnatural sex acts, ok not the exact wording but basically the wording, won't get through the gates of Heaven. So that would keep them out. The Bible also says that Christians are to follow the laws of the land. Well that is illegal so once again it is wrong.

Answer 3

If you are a Christian, then the Bible is not the only source of guidance. There are other places to find help with questions.

Prayer, Holy Ghost, spiritual leaders and fellowship.

I would say that the Bible does not SPECIFICALLY codemn it.

But what is your exact definition of Paedohilia? What is a Child? Is it someone under 18 years of age or 8 years of age? Some countries have girls that are married at 12 years of age (Trinidad), and I would consider a 12 year old girl as a child in the USA.

So is someone commiting paedophilia if they marry a 12 year old girl?

Answer 4

There is no direct mention in the Bible about pedophilia but that does not mean that this is something that we cannot address with timeless principles that come out of Scripture. One concept that we could look to is the sin of "fornication" and this word has the same idea in both the Hebrew and the Greek. The Greek word is "porneia" and we get the English word "porno" from this word and one can recognize that it is the basis for the word "pornography." The word in Scripture refers to any illicit sexual activity and therefore this would include the abhorrent acts of a pedophile, including the gathering and trading of graphic sexual pictures of young children. People who involve themselves in this type of activity usually graduate from looking to actual actions that bring harm to children. Fornication is something that is present on the lists of the "lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16-21) and also on the list of the evil things that come out of the heart of man apart from God (Mark 7:21-23).



Pedophiles are people who fall under the characteristic of one "without natural affection." (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:2). The phrase "without natural affection" is translated from one Greek word and it means inhuman, unloving and unsociable or one who acts in ways that are against the social norm. This would certainly describe a pedophile.

Answer 5

The Old Testament teaches us about the Promise of God, while the New Testament brings forth the fulfillment of that Promise in the form of Christ Jesus.

Christ brought forth the salvation of all believers and leaves behind the living Church comprising the religious and lay people, under the counsel of the Holy Spirit, whom we seek through prayer.

The Bible is not meant to be an exhaustive cookbook on how to live life. You do that and it will either be obsolete the minute someone invents something new or mankind will suffocate the progress of life itself. Take for example the early Church which tried to linked everything directly to the Good Book and insisted that the theory of the earth revolving around the sun is blasphemous.

Jesus teaches us to love each other as he has loved us. He also taught us that not one part of the old law is to be forsaken.

Just ask yourself, where is the love in taking the innocence and natural happiness of young children through sexual and other abuse? The answer will naturally form in your heart and mind, without your having to insist that it has to be stated in the Bible, word for word. Prayer and counsel is the way.

We no longer have Prophets in our Age because Christ gave us the message of Love and everlasting Salvation, and the Holy Spirit to grant us Counsel, Strength and Wisdom to discern the answers to the challenges in our ever changing world.

Answer 6

Not only that, but are you married to the child? The last time I checked fornication is still considered sin! Also, there is a law of the land that we are instructed to follow and in the US, it's a crime.
For the answer about Lot and his daughters, they were not children- they had husbands and they got their father drunk in order to lay with him. He didn't even realize what had happened!
Read Gen19:30-36

Answer 7

I just picked up a student bible I have (yes I actually own many bibles as they contain family genealogies) and the word pedophile is not in the index. I also scanned Deuteronomy where a good deal of the laws are and see nothing that has that context.

I don't particularly think children were looked at the same way then as they are today. If you read many of the stories and look at the 'laws' as given it would seem that children are given more status as property of their parents and not actual human beings in their own right. Sad.

Answer 8

Jesus spoke about the harming of children when He spoke to the issue of harming one when He said it would be better that a mill stone were hung around your neck and you were thrown in the lake or whatever. If, what you do to a child, harms that child, you will have to answer for it. If pedophilia harms a child, then that is the thing. It is a question a person would have to ask themselves.

Answer 9

Jesus said let the little children come to me. He said, such as these are the kingdom of heaven. He said, It would be better for this person if they hurt a child to have a millstone hung around his neck and cast into the sea. So if you think there are strong words for homosexuality there are stronger ones for those that would hurt children.

Answer 10

There is no direct mention in the Bible about pedophilia; but that does not mean that this is something that we cannot address with timeless principles that come out of Scripture.

One concept that we could look to is the sin of "fornication" and this word has the same idea in both the Hebrew and the Greek. The Greek word is "porneia" and we get the English word "porno" from this word and one can recognize that it is the basis for the word "pornography." The word in Scripture refers to any illicit sexual activity and therefore this would include the abhorrent acts of a pedophile, including the gathering and trading of graphic sexual pictures of young children.

People who involve themselves in this type of activity usually graduate from looking to actual actions that bring harm to children. Fornication is something that is present on the lists of the "lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16-21) and also on the list of the evil things that come out of the heart of man apart from God (Mark 7:21-23).

Pedophiles are people who fall under the characteristic of one "without natural affection." (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:2).

The phrase "without natural affection" is translated from one Greek word and it means inhuman, unloving and unsociable or one who acts in ways that are against the social norm. This would certainly describe a pedophile.

In addition, there is a principle that can be taken from Jesus' words about children. Jesus used a child to teach His disciples that child like faith is what is necessary for entrance into the kingdom of heaven and that the Father has concern for all of His "little ones" (Matthew 18:1-14). Although the faith as of a child is the context of the following verse, it is not a stretch to use it as a basis for a principle about the treatment of children. "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:10, King James Version). The word "offend" in the Greek has the idea of causing one to stumble, to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall, to entice to sin, to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey, to cause to fall away, to cause one displeasure at a thing, or to make indignant.

These definitions of the word "offend" can easily be applied to the actions of a practicing pedophile. The fact that an offence against a child is seen as something that is so serious also lends weight to this application. Of course this principle can be applied to a wide range of child abusive actions and it seems to really make the case against any one who would bring harm to a child.