Grailhunter
Well-Known Member
You hear them all the time, words and phrase that have been snuck into the minds of Christians. Words and phrases that are not in the Bible. Man-made sins, so many that it convinces some Christians that it is like the Mosaic Law, they effectively have put the burden of the Mosaic Laws back on Christians. It is important to know what the real sins are. Because if you know you can actually live a life with very few sins. You do not need a license to sin.
Words and phrase like Trinity, Original Sin, Virgin Mary, Immaculate Conception, Purgatory. I heard one the other day Spiritual Jew. Calvinism's 5 points are not phrases that are in the Bible. Then you have sodomy and fornication. Everyone knows that the Bible condemns homosexual activity and it is a sin. But the word sodomy came in play much later in history…. in a person's mind it ties into Sodom and Gomorra and the sinfulness of these two cities and the imagery is why they came up with the word sodomy, to tie into all this. Then they take the word and give it additional meanings, which mean a lot more than just homosexuality. To the point that the only sexual activity and position allowed between a man and his wife, that is not sodomy, is the missionary position.
The story about fornication is longer and more complicated. And believe it or not I have shorted this from my essay.
The evolution of the word fornication
The Greek word porneia means prostitute or associated with prostitutes. Which was not a negative term in the Greco-Roman culture. But the Christian religion thought differently. The New Testament was written mostly in Greek, a Pagan Language. When the Apostles were writing the New Testament they were tasked with using a Pagan language that did not reflect Christian morals. So the Christians adjusted the words and definitions to convey their thoughts. There are variances to the Greek word porneia that define various sexual activities….all of which Christianity considers sinful.
The false beliefs associated with the word fornication start a long long time ago. If you noticed there was no wedding ceremony or vows in Eden. And then you can read the rest of the Bible you will not find a requirement for wedding ceremonies or vows. Yep! That is right the Bible does not state a requirement for a wedding ceremony, Old or New Testament. People formed marriages as God described it… For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 Neither the Old or New Testament state a requirement for wedding ceremonies. It was actually the Protestants that first required a wedding ceremony to be married, in the 1500’s. History of weddings…another long story.
Christianity has lumped a lot of Greek words into the word Fornication as seen in some definitions of the word, that follows, but the word fornication does not appear in any scripture.
Some examples that you will see for fornication.
noun
πορνεία
prostitution, whoring, harlotry, whoredom,
συνουσία
fornication, coition, intercourse, copulation
From the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
illicit sexual intercourse adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc. sexual intercourse with close relatives
But Fornication is not a translational error it is man-made word that made its way into the 16th and 17th century translations of the Bible, but still this word did not originate in these Bibles.
When the Greek text was translated into the Latin Vulgate, (circa 404 AD) sexual immorality was translated as fornicatio, and so variants of the Greek word porneia were lumped into the word fornicatio. Then translated into the English word fornication and was used in the original Tyndale, Geneva, and King James Version of the Bible.
Porneia in the Greek society is mostly a reference to prostitution which was not wrong in their culture. For example pornography, is an ancient Greek word that means writings or paintings of prostitutes and many Roman homes had murals of sex acts and or prostitutes on their walls.
But in the Bible the Greek word Porneia and its variances appear several times in the actual scriptures. In all cases the Christian writers were using it as some form of sexual immorality. And you will see this in modern translations where they use the phrase sexual immorality instead of the word fornication.
Examples:
πορνείας·… porneias … Sexual immorality
πορνείᾳ … porneiai … Sexual immorality in the plural
πορνεῦσαι … To commit sexual immorality involving sexual acts
πορνείαν … Idolatry involving sexual acts
πόρνος … A person that practices sexual immorality
πόρνοι … Refering to as a group of the sexually immoral
πορνεῖαι … inflectional, more or less dirty thoughts
Appearing in these scriptures….
Matthew 5:32, 5:19, Mark 7:21, John 8:4, Acts 15:20, 5:29, 21:25, Romans 1:29* 1st Corinthians 5:1, 5:9, 5:10, 6:13, 6:18, 7:2, 10:8, 2nd Corinthians 12:21, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:3, Colossians 3:5, 1st Thessalonians 4:3, Jude 1:7, Revelation 2:14, 2:14, 2:20, 2:21, 9:21, 14:8, 17:2, 17:4, 18:3, 18:19, 19:2
The evolution of the word Fornicate or Fornication
Fornicate comes from the Latin, the term fornix means arch or vaulted ceiling. In Ancient Rome, it was known that prostitutes would wait for their customers out of the hot sun or rain in areas that had cover…vaulted ceilings. The Latin word fornix became a euphemism for brothels and the Latin verb fornicare referred to a man visiting a brothel. Meaning a man being serviced by prostitutes.
Trying to make a long story short here, the earlier versions translated sexual immorality, and all the variances and scenarios thereof into the word fornication. Then they introduced a new definition, two unmarried people having sex. There is no definition in the scriptures that indicate two unmarried people having sex is a sin....because that is how they formed a marriage.
Of course there are instances where two unmarried people having sex can be a sin. Casual sex...and one night stands, prostitutes, general whoremongering, carousing etc. Modern more accurate translations generally use the phrase sexual immorality instead of fornication.
The need for wedding ceremonies was something that God taught us after the Bible. Something that is a very good thing. It is the right thing to do. Like I said, it is a long story. But I am very big on weddings. The bigger the better.
The sin that the word fornication causes is the sin of falsely accusing people, condemning, judging, turning people away from Christianity. Shacking up! Living in sin! Couples that are together and are monogamous have not sinned. Of course we want them to have a wedding ceremony. That is why they should be welcomed in the church, fellowship with Christians and they may see it is the right thing to do.
As time went on Christianity developed a very negative view towards women and sexuality and the word fornication is just one of the reasons for that and it actually lead to some horrific atrocities at the hands of the church.
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