2007-03-20 08:25:48 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Who let all the parrots loose?
Unlike most answerers I assume that if you know the quote about how it's better not to marry, you would also know the quote about marriage being preferable to burning, which by the way is not an answer to your question.
My interpretation is that Paul was talking primarily to church leaders and ministers, not to ordinary laymen. He thought that celibacy would make a rabbi, priest, minister, etc., closer to "God".
2007-03-20 08:33:22 · answer #1 · answered by Sweetchild Danielle 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Weird this just came up in another question lol.
What Paul said was that when a man has a wife, his attention is concerned with her, and I suppose ultimately, his children. But a single man can focus his concentration on God. So in a way, it is better, because God can do mighty things through this man, as he has no concerns other than those of God.
But to specifically answer your question, why conservatives are married if Paul said that ..... remember, God also told Adam and Eve "be fruitful and multiply". He is also the one who set up the institution of marriage so it is also blessed of God. I mean, someone has to have the kids and populate the earth eh? lol
2007-03-20 08:38:41 · answer #2 · answered by arewethereyet 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1 Corinthians 7 is a great resource for answering this question, if taken in it's correct context. At the time Paul was writing the book of Corinthians there was a lot of persecution and he stated that it was better to be single so that the believer could focus on their walk with the Lord, however it is very clear that if a man "can not contain" his sexual drive then it would be "better to marry that to burn."
I think that it was always God's design for a man and a woman to be together (as each has something about them that completes the other) (Genesis 1) and that if both are serious about their walk with the Lord then they could help each other grow closer to Him (and thus grow closer to each other).
2007-03-20 08:35:53 · answer #3 · answered by attacksheep74 2 · 1⤊ 3⤋
He said it's better to remain single than to pollute the rite of marriage by cavorting about in sexual sins. The Scripture says, "For if they cannot contain (their passions, love for each other and etc. ) LET THEM MARRY. For it is better to marry than to BURN." You didn't read that quote from Paul thoroughly enough, that's all.
2007-03-21 06:47:50 · answer #4 · answered by bigvol662004 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Don't take the verse out of context. Paul was advising men not to marry because of the current circumstances that they were in. He was not admonishing marriage in general. He didn't think it wise to marry in light of the crisis at that time.
2007-03-20 08:39:39 · answer #5 · answered by Apple21 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Paul condescended to remark that marriage was OK - at least, preferable to the alternative of certain damnation - for the "weak," i.e. people who don't suffer from the same brand of neurotic sexual degeneracy as Paul.
If they were really first-rate, they would NOT marry - clearly, according to the Word!
Probably they DO realize that they are "poor sinners," too "weak" to ignore biology, so they marry to escape damnation, trusting in the "Precious Blood of Jesus Christ" to wash them clean of the evidence.
2007-03-20 08:32:47 · answer #6 · answered by jonjon418 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
context.
Paul's opinion was that most married people didn't commit enough to God, more to sexual pleasure, so marriage can be a distraction. Paul also said it's better to marry than burn with passion.
really, he just wanted more dedication. he wasn't saying it's better to remain single. it's your choice anyway...
2007-03-20 08:32:58 · answer #7 · answered by Hey, Ray 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I will tell you why, infact I said it in my last reply to you---about how it is better to marry than to burn with lust...
being human we are attracted to the opposite sex. Of course! We are made this way.
God blesses a godly marriage--and God made many of us to marry--but marriages have so many problems too, and many marriages fail to leave God at the center, and they get wrapped up in eachother and fall away....That is why Paul says this-- because he knows when you are single, you are relying on God alone, and are closer to God. But once someone is in your life, you begin to fill your life with them and worry about them, and want to please them....instead of God. Does that make sense?
1 Corinthians 7 says:
It is good for a man not to marry.[a] 2But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
2007-03-20 08:39:27 · answer #8 · answered by Mandolyn Monkey Munch 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Get your Bible out and finnish reading that chapter!
2007-03-20 14:58:40 · answer #9 · answered by Pamela V 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because most of us can't deaden our body members. It is better to marry than to commit fornication.
2007-03-20 08:29:40 · answer #10 · answered by Mike 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋