Adultery
by Gary DeVaney
The Seventh Commandment
reads:
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
(Exodus 20:14)
From Austin Cline
Thank you so much, Austin Cline!
Austin Cline: This is one of the
shorter commandments and probably has the form it originally did when written, unlike the much longer commandments that were
probably added to over the centuries. It is also one of those regarded as among the most obvious, easiest to understand, and
most reasonable to expect everyone to obey. This, however, is not entirely true.
The
problem, naturally enough, lies with the meaning of the word “adultery.” People today tend define it as any act
of sexual intercourse outside of marriage or, perhaps a bit more narrowly, any act of sexual intercourse between a married
person and someone who is not their spouse. That is appropriate in contemporary society but it isn’t not how the word
has always been defined.
The ancient Hebrews, in particular, had a very restricted understanding of the concept
and limited it to just sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who was either already married or at least betrothed.
The marital status of the man was irrelevant.
Thus, a married man was not guilty of “adultery” for having sex with an unmarried woman.
Gary: Don't these items answer a multitude of moral and legal questions
throughout history?
This
restriction makes sense if we remember that at the time women were often treated as little more than property — a slightly
higher status than the slaves but not nearly as high as that of men.
Because
women were like property, having sex with a married or betrothed woman was regarded as misuse of someone else’s property
(with the possible consequence of children whose actual lineage was uncertain — the main reason for treating women this
way was to control their reproductive capacity and ensure the identity of the father of her children). A married man having
sex with an unmarried woman was not guilty of such a crime and thus was not committing adultery. If she also wasn’t
a virgin, then the man wasn’t guilty of any crimes at all.
This
exclusive focus on married or betrothed women leads to an interesting conclusion. Because not all extramarital sex acts qualify
as adultery, even sexual intercourse between members of the same sex would not be counted as violations of the Seventh Commandment.
They might be regarded as violations of other laws, but they wouldn’t be a violation of the Ten Commandments —
at least, not according to the understanding of the ancient Hebrews.
Contemporary
Christians define adultery much more broadly, and as a consequence almost all extramarital sex acts are treated as violations
of the Seventh Commandment. Whether this is justified or not is debatable. Less debatable are the attempts to expand the understanding
of “adultery” beyond even sex acts themselves.
Many
have argued that adultery should include lustful thoughts, lustful words, polygamy, etc. Warrant for this is justified by
the words of Jesus: “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say
unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.“
(Matthew 5:27-28)
It
is reasonable to argue that certain non-sexual acts may be wrong and even more reasonable to argue that sinful acts always
start with impure thoughts, and therefore to stop sinful acts we must pay more attention to the impure thoughts. It is not
reasonable, however, to equate thoughts or words with adultery itself. Doing so undermines both the concept of adultery and
efforts to deal with it.
Kirk Fechter, an astute legal-mind, contributed:
"Violation of the 7th commandment makes you liable for life in prison in Michigan."
A Parable
by Gary DeVaney
From: God
To: The US Government legislation
Subject: Marriage & Adultery
You shall invent, supervise and legally enforce first-line supervision of your
male and female peasants in a vehicle called marriage; whereby, each subject, under moral and legal pressure, chooses to enter
into a binding contract, based on accountability, responsibility, and commitment to the laws of authority.
Marriage is faith made legal, whereas once chosen, like belief, believers
have eliminated their freedom of choice. Binding, legal commitments are the surest way to eliminate free will. God and Governments
love that.
The marriage contract shall be between the male and the state - and between the
female and the state. Genetic, egocentric emotion shall blind this reality. Same sex marriage shalt not be tolerated - even
though, if granted, gay individuals could also be legally supervised and repressed.
First-line supervision arises as she shalt supervise him to the law, social expectations,
standards and principles of the state. He, in turn, shalt supervise her to the law, standards and principles of the state.
They both shall compete in supervising their offspring to the law and social expectations.
By law, she is to assume authority over his sex life. He is to assume authority
over her sex life. Should either fail, the other shall enforce the built-in lawsuit and the state shalt imprison the guilty
and re-distribute their lives.
Authority shall condone sexual inter-action only in a hostage state and government
(authority) shall make them hostage two by two. (Finis)
If adultery is successfully prosecuted by the US courts - intelligent,
thinking people will eventually decide not to get married and divorces will increase.
Single individuals will continue to have a lot of sex with one another.
Meanwhile, terrified of legal consequence, smart single individuals will totally avoid married individuals. Most married individuals
eventually won't have much interesting sex in their lives due to redundant familiarity.
Enforced adultery laws can also greatly contribute to birth control.
George Blye commented: The US government will not enforce adultery laws against tax paying men.
Here's why: If all the talented US professional sports figures, who make billions of dollars in taxes for the US government
were imprisoned for adultery, the government would have to finance their children and lose all their hard-earned tax
money.
Hummm. Could the US government not want to cut their financial throat by not enforcing the "so-called"
adultery laws?
What one
person, who you know, would be impacted if sent to this site?
Any corrections, feedback or comments?
Thank You!
