Why was living together out of marriage called ‘living in sin’?

The sin must have been sex - or was it?

If so, why was sex considered to be a sin?

What was it about a marriage certificate that stopped sex being sinful?
-Even if you did not love your spouse?
-Even if, as in some cultures, you did not even know the person you were going to marry?

Maybe it was giving birth to a child, without having the means to give it security that was the real sin?
If you were only living together, without a legal marriage, maybe the baby’s future was at risk?

We have seen elsewhere that marriage was originally nothing to do with romantic love.

What do you think the 'sin' was?
Why was 'living in sin' bad, and marriage good?


We have discussed other aspects of marriage and sin elsewhere. If you are interested, do a search and you will find the threads.


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Quotes extracted from: ‘The Week’ – the best of the US & international media.’ 4/2/2004


The best available evidence suggests that ..[‘marriage’] is about 4,350 years old. For thousands of years before that, most anthropologists believe, families consisted of loosely organized .., with several male leaders, multiple women shared by them, and children. As hunter-gatherers settled .. society had a need for more stable arrangements. The first recorded evidence of marriage ceremonies uniting one woman and one man dates from about 2350 B.C., in Mesopotamia. .. several hundred years, marriage evolved into a widespread institution embraced by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. But back then, marriage had little to do with love or with religion.

Marriage’s primary purpose was to bind women to men, and thus guarantee that a man’s children were truly his biological heirs. Through marriage, a woman became a man’s property ….

As the Roman Catholic Church became a powerful institution in Europe, the blessings of a priest became a necessary step for a marriage to be legally recognized. …..
…… .. …..

… the idea of romantic love, as a motivating force for marriage, only goes as far back as the Middle Ages. …
. …

…. “The idea that marriage is a private relationship for the fulfillment of two individuals is really very new,” said historian Stephanie Coontz, …. “Within the past 40 years, marriage has changed more than in the last 5,000.”

http://www.theweekmagazine.com/briefing.asp?a_id=567

And yet we "accept" that Joseph, Marys husband, was not the father of Jesus.

Quote

And yet we "accept" that Joseph, Marys husband, was not the father of Jesus.

i was thinking of this and hey shinrai, there can be other explanations (apart from holy spirit) - may be the father died and Mary was a widow; the boyfriend abandoned Mary and Joseph rescued her. what do you think happened ?

coming to the point of discussion is not transfer of wealth and inheritance a consideration for marriage ?

also there has been matriarchal families where the mothers are important they also do not marry - in eastern part of India for example - they are also changing and accepting marriage. i also saw Michael Palin exploring one such tribe in China during his Himalayas.

PDM, you wrote, "..........you did not even know the person you were going to marry?"

is it necessary to know the person before marriage ? is it possible to know another person 100% ? if someone first knows the person and then marries and the marriage ends in divorce, then what is the point in knowing the person before marriage?

sorry for rambling. i simply do not understand ths concept of living in sin. what sin ?

Quite! What sin?

'Living in sin' is a phrase used for people living together, unmarried. To do so, in England anyway, has become almost the norm now, so the phrase is not used as often as it used to be.

Well, as living together and 'sex before marriage' are no longer frowned upon, as much as they once were, it has become more the norm for parents to encourage their children to wait, not necessarily for marriage, before having a sexual relationship, but at least until they are in a committed, long-term, loving relationship.
Sex with a stranger is definitely a no-no.

Yet people might marry a stranger and suddenly it becomes okay. That seems very odd to me.

Why is it marriage, rather than a loving relationship, which then makes sex acceptable?

Well.... we know there has to be a sperm and an egg, science tells us this. What do I think happened, I think someone made up a story along the lines of a join the dots picture. If I KNEW what happened, then I'd be happy to share.

But this is really for another thread I guess.

"Coveting thy neighbours wife is supposed to be a sin also, yet I know quite a few coveters and ees. Disrespecting thine parents.... need I go into that?

As Somsuj asks, what is sin?

We've looked at what is sin before.
http://www.wineintro.com/forum/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=13;t=000159#000000

It's this particular branch of sin that I'm thinking of. I remember talking about this with a friend and saying that if a sexual relationship was only acceptable in a loving relationship, why was it that, for it to be 'respectable' one was expected to be married?

You could have fallen out of love and be married.
You might not even know each other in an arranged marriage.
So why is marriage the important thing?

I was talking to a lady of 92 today. She was so glad her grandson was getting married. She could barely mention the alternative, of living together, because it was not respectable - it was 'living in sin'.

I wonder why something that is sinful suddenly loses its sinfulness when someone marries.

It's a bit bewildering.

As is human nature in general

I am not sure what you are asking but...Marriage is a sign of dedication and living in a place with the opposite sex and not being a wedded couple is considered... inapropriate to some people and they just think you shouldn't be doing someones laundry unless you have vowed to let eachother know everything

There's a thread about marriage, and whether it's an outdated institution, here.

http://www.wineintro.com/forum/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000139#000000