Pope Francis

First of all sex is not dirty or filthy, it is a beautiful gift meant to increase the love of spouses and conceive and raise children. That is pretty awesome.
You keep saying no one was unmarried in the ancient world. John the Baptist wasn't, whole sects of people weren't, and others too. I do think it was different than the norm and that is why Jesus mentions being celibate for the Kingdom and maybe why His family was worried about Him. Or maybe it was discussed in the hidden period of Jesus' life. The reality is that everything points to Him being unmarried.

The bible claims there used be unicorns, people lived at the same time as giants, Jonah was swallowed by a whale and survived, Moses parted the Red Sea, the earth stopped spinning for a day, Jesus and Peter walked on water, the earth is 6,000 years old, and I would argue that it says that the world is flat. If you can believe all of that, I see no reason to doubt Jesus was celebate.

Quote: FrGamble

First of all sex is not dirty or filthy,

Tell that to the Catholic women I've
met all thru my life who were taught
just that by the Church. That's exactly
the reason Jesus has to be a virgin,
and priests have to be celibate. Sex
is a filthy act, beneath the truly holy.
Nothing that feels that good can
possibly not be a sin.

"Outside of marriage sex is sinful. God made it very certain that the marriage bed must be kept pure (Hebrews 13:4). Sexual activity outside of marriage is called fornication."

That's ridiculous. It's like saying eating
dinner indoors is fine, but eating it
outdoors is a sin. A man made ritual,
like marriage, doesn't change the
sex act. Sex is just another bodily function.

Quote:

it is a beautiful gift .

It's a natural function in all mammals,
not a 'gift'. What is a gift, though,
is your ability to twist and turn things
to make one thing seem like another,
and that thing over there to look
like something else. You have the
gift of deflection and disorintation
that would make a used car salesman
proud.

Quote: Evenbob

It was for the Jews at that time. It
was unheard of for a rabbi to be
unmarried at 30. You're the one ignoring the
facts to push your church's agenda.
A married Jesus flies in the face of
everything your Church teaches. It
would mean Jesus had (gasp) SEX!

You can't have that, Jesus doing something
so dirty and filthy. The myth has to be
perfect, he has to have unattainable purity.
Silliness personified.

Jesus didn't marry and have children because He didn't want to leave anything behind. Especially a lineage.Which is also why I dismiss things like the shroud of Turin or any other artifact (including his corpse).

I do think that the Ark of the Covenant may still be around. It's an interesting subject.

Quote: pew

Jesus didn't marry .

Prove it. You can't because it's a
mystery, nobody knows. Logic
says, of course he was married,
all rabbi's were married in those
days. Jews were slaves to custom.
Fantasy says he wasn't, and that's
the bedrock of Xtionity, fantasy.

Jesus specifically rejected the title Rabbi. Jesus was a breaker of tradition. I really don't think you have a leg to stand on. You also don't understand the Church's teaching on sex or marriage. You are a mess.

Quote: Evenbob

"Outside of marriage sex is sinful. God made it very certain that the marriage bed must be kept pure (Hebrews 13:4). Sexual activity outside of marriage is called fornication."

That's ridiculous. It's like saying eating
dinner indoors is fine, but eating it
outdoors is a sin.

That could be the worst analogy I have ever heard! Sex like eating is not changed where it takes place but rather what or who it is done with. Sex with your spouse is fine, but sex with anyone else is not. It really isn't that hard to understand. It's like saying eating food is fine, but eating glass and old tires is a sin. I think you can understand that.

Quote:

It's a natural function in all mammals,
not a 'gift'.

What other function do you know of that can bring such mutual pleasure and a new life into the world. It is an amazing gift.

Many Catholic marriages were recorded when girls were nine and sometimes markedly earlier.

First of all dates of birth were not always known or provable, Irish priests selling nine year old girls as "maid servants'' clearly was profitable for the church but not illegal as the age of consent to marriage was nine. In the UK, it was eleven somewhere around the late 1200s.

So all this discussion of pedophilia is hardly relevant since the church had ruled that a girl as young as nine was entitled to a dowry.

I don't think priests are respected any more than a cop is. People just acknowledge theautority.

Quote: FrGamble

Sex with your spouse is fine, but sex with anyone else is not.

It depends on who you talk to.
For you it's not, for many it
causes not a single bit of regret
or consternation. Sex with single
women is how you prepare for
sex with your wife.

And then there's this:

"Study the bible and you'll find that premarital sex is not a sin in the bible. This sin is created by Church doctrine. The early church twisted the word fornication to mean sex before marriage. The word fornication actually means 'having sex with a pagan temple prostitute'. The early Church fathers redefined the word fornication to mean all sex outside of marriage. This is how the doctrine that premarital sex is a sin started."

"The Greek word for “fornication” is “porneia”, which means harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively, idolatry: The NKJ renders “fornication” as “sexual immorality.” The NIV renders it as “marital unfaithfulness/infidelity.” As you can see Christianity has made up its own meaning of fornication to mean sex before marriage."





What other function do you know of that can bring such mutual pleasure and a new life into the world. It is an amazing gift.