The Seventh Commandment: Love and Faithfulness, Not Sexual Immorality

By COGwriter

Adultery and other forms of sexual immorality are rampant.

Many “have eyes full of adultery” (2 Peter 2:14) and like adulterers in the past do not consider adultery nor fornication to be a sin—they think they “have done no wickedness” (Proverbs 30:20).

The seventh commandment, from the Book of Exodus, states:

14 “You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)

The sexual and reproductive drives that God made can be quite powerful. This drive was at least partially intended to get many people to look for a spouse (Genesis 2:18; Matthew 19:4-5; Proverbs 18:22, 30:19; 1 Corinthians 7:9) as well as to motivate them to improve their situations so that they could properly raise their own families (cf. Malachi 2:15; Genesis 29:18; 1 Timothy 5:8; Titus 2:3-8). Sexual immorality, such as fornication and masturbation, divert that drive away from God’s intended purposes. For young men, it should motivate to take steps to be able to provide for a family (cf. 1 Timothy 5:8). For young women, it should motivate them to be able to properly raise a family (cf. Titus 2:4).

A major point of marriage is love, not lust. Men are to “love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Ephesians 5:25). Women are to “to love their husbands, to love their children” (Titus 2:4.) But adultery is a hurtful “lust of the flesh” (cf. Galatians 5:16,19) and not love.

Consider also:

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15)

A real Christian should not marry one who is not a real Christian nor incorporate paganism into worship practices.

There are clearly spiritual ramifications of marriage.

The Apostle Paul also wrote:

31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32)

So, consider there are not only physical principles involved in the seventh commandment. We are to pursue the truth of God and strive to faithfully be one with God (John 17:11).

Here is a link to a related sermon:: Murder, anger, kindness, and love.

Spiritual Adultery

The Bible also specifically teaches against spiritual adultery:

4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)

6 And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people. (Leviticus 20:6)

3 … I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 3-7)

The Bible condemns both physical and spiritual adultery, and urges Christians to keep the original faith—a faith which included the observance of the Ten Commandments.

Spiritual adultery includes compromising and adding pagan practices and beliefs to what should be the true faith. This was shown in the New Testament and is also prophesied to be a major problem in the end times (Revelation 17).

The Bible also warns that some who claimed to be Christian would not obey:

12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. (2 Peter 2:12-19)

Those who teach ‘liberty’ from the Ten Commandments are really bringing people into “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21).

Avoid Potentially Compromising Situations

The old WCG published the following:

God's Seventh Commandment has far-reaching application — life-and-death import for the true Christian!

"MY sex life is my business! And as long as I don't hurt anybody else, I'm going to do just what I want."

Those words sum up the feelings of most people about their sex life — it's "their business" and they're going to do just exactly what they want as long as they "don't hurt anybody else."

But people who think this way are wrong. Sex is not just "their business." And to prove it, God thundered from Mt. Sinai his Seventh Commandment: "You shall not commit adultery" (Ex. 20:14).

Don't be deceived! God commanded this law for you, today, now, in this era of the world. It is not just for the swingers, overt sexual deviates or the sleep-around college set. It is a binding physical and spiritual law you need to understand if you are going to make it into God's Kingdom.

You need to see how you may be breaking this commandment, or it will break you!

All sex sins included

   The Seventh Commandment is short and to the point. God says merely, "You shall not commit adultery" (Ex. 20:14). But the commandment against adultery goes far beyond the mere surface or limited technical meaning of the word adultery, meaning sex with someone other than a person's own husband or wife.
   Christ clearly expands the meaning in Matthew 5:27-28: "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
   Here, Christ expands the commandment to include not merely the act of physical adultery, but sexual lust. Sexual lust expresses itself in many forms, all of which are sinful.
   But even then, lest some too narrowly construe this scripture, God in other passages adequately condemns such woeful, common practices as fornication (I Cor. 6:18), homosexuality (Lev. 18:22), incest (Lev. 18:6), bestiality (Lev. 18:23) and others.
   Thus we see that the Seventh Commandment, which at first glance may seem like a mere legal prohibition against one type of improper sexual activity, includes under its umbrella, both in principle and by application from other texts, a prohibition against misuse of sex in every form.
   But the real point of God's commandment against adultery even goes further than this.
   The point of the commandment is not only to protect man's physical body or his biological reproductive machinery, though the modern curse of sexual diseases would certainly be eliminated if everyone obeyed this law. No, the law's purpose is to protect man's mind — our thoughts and our attitudes. (What God Says About Your Sex Life. Good News, February 1983)

The Apostle Paul warned:

18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18)

Flee! Don't allow yourself to see how close to sin you can get. Fornication is a sin against one's own body. It is the main reason that there are sexually transmissable diseases. Some of which the same-sex intercourse tend a lot more towards.

One does not flee sexual immorality by seeing how close one can get to it.

With the advent of photography in the 19th century, along with movies in the 20th and 21st centuries, and also the internet, there has been a massive rise in the production and viewing of pornography. Perversely, even many schools for children endorse and encourage pornography to be viewed.

Pornography, especially in this internet age, can become addictive. Research shows it distorts one’s view of the opposite sex as it often displays people in terms of sexual response (especially women) unrealistically. Pornography can play a role in sexual infidelities as well as in societal sexual crimes such as rape and child molestation. Christians need to flee pornography and all other forms of illicit sexual experimentation (1 Corinthians 6:18; Matthew 5:28).

Centuries before God wrote the Ten Commandments down on Mt. Sinai, Israel’s son Joseph stated he would not sin by committing adultery (Genesis 39:9). Adultery is also called sin in the New Testament (2 Peter 2:14).

The Bible has many admonitions against adultery, and many passages in the Book of Proverbs provide warnings against it (cf. Proverbs 2:10-20; 5:15-23; 6:23-34; 7:1-27; 23:26-28). They warn that words of an adulteress are deceptive. And of course, any married person involved in adultery has also violated their marriage vows.

The only form of sexual relations that the Bible sanctions is between a male married to a female (cf. Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 7:3-5). Bestiality (Leviticus 20:15-16), fornication (Galatians 5:19), homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22), incest (Leviticus 18:6-17), prostitution (Deuteronomy 23:17-18), and lesbianism (Romans 1:26) are all condemned.

Fantasy sex is also condemned (Job 31:1,9-11; Matthew 5:28).

The societal cost for fornication, unwed motherhood, divorce, and sexually-transmittal diseases is high and should never be. There would be less broken homes, less juvenile delinquency, fewer criminals, and less disease if people would obey the seventh commandment.

Faithful couples who married as virgins never have to worry about sexually transmissable diseases or passing them on to their children, Those who have physically committed adultery, including fornication, do.

The Book of Proverbs teaches:

23 For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, 24 To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress. 25 Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids. 26 For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. 27 Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned? 28 Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared? 29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her shall not be innocent. (Proverbs 6:23-29)

Consider that Jesus told His followers to pray:

13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:13)

Nor should Christians lead themselves into temptation. Consider also that the Apostle Paul wrote:

22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:22, KJV)

Therefore, married people should not flirt, be involved in sexting, or other improper behaviors with those that are not their spouses. Unmarried people should never be involved with sexting (and this author is not advising married people to actually do this either) and compromising situations.

Satan has managed to get lust and other false sexual messages to spread far and wide. Satan wants YOU to be unfaithful.

21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? (1 Corinthians 10:21-22)

Don't tell yourself being exposed to pornography etc. does not affect you. Satan and his demons want you to embrace any lusts they can bring to you--that is part of their cup!

You might tell yourself that you cannot be affected by anything sexual, but if you are breathing, you can. Even if you are married, divorced, or single.

Maybe you think you are too smart. Let's look at someone who was probably smarter that you:

29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. 30 Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all men — than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. 33 Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. 34 And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. (1 Kings 4:29-34)

And, you might also think you are too old. But now notice what happened to Solomon:

1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites — 2 from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. 3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 4 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. 8 And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

9 So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. 11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. (1 Kings 11:1-12)

You may say, well he had too many wives--and he did. Yet, despite wisdom and age, sexual matters overcame him.

Consider also that God even had directly and plainly spoken to him--yet that did not prevent Solomon from being affected by sexual lusts of the flesh.

Solomon did not care about rules relating to kings not have multiple wives (Deuteronomy 17:17).

That said, even secular research has concluded that avoiding fornication is good for marriage:

Federal government statistics show that the prospects for an early divorce are minimal among American couples who have never had any sexual partners other than their spouses, and increases with the number of other partners.

Among couples who have not had other partners, 95% of marriages remain intact through at least the first five years. That number drops to 62% if the woman has had any other partner, and to nearly 50% if she has had two other partners. The numbers also drop, although less sharply, if the man has had other partners. (Statistics show marriages more likely to survive if couples had no other lifetime sexual partners. CNS, 02/13/17).

Society would be so much better off if the seventh commandment were truly kept.

Divorce

The Bible shows that marriage is intended to last a lifetime:

10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. (1 Corinthians 7:10-11)

3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?"

4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,'  5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?  6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."

7 They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?"

8 He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.  9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

10 His disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry."

11 But He said to them, "All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: (Matthew 19:3-11).

The disciple saw the limitation Jesus gave as very difficult. It should motivate people to be careful about marriage. While the Bible endorses marriage, nowhere does the Bible teach that marriage will be easy (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:28). It is intended to help build loving character (cf. Ephesians 5:22-33)—and that is not always easy (John 6:33; 1 Corinthians 7:33-34).

Many people will claim something to the effect that their spouse is ‘impossible,’ not realizing “that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28) and not having faith that God can work things out. Many do not have enough faith to realize that God knew there would be marital difficulties, but that He expects His people to grow and change through the process. Not having sufficient faith in God, etc. many who profess Christianity trust in themselves (cf. Proverbs 3:6-7) and divorce.

Yet, God hates divorce:

15 But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. 16 “For the Lord God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one’s garment with violence,” Says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously.” (Malachi 2:15-16)

There is a very large church that claims to be the original church, yet it allows its priests put away their wives so that they can become ‘bishops.’ Priests that do that “deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.” That and other behaviors God hates.

The Bible also speaks of divorce and remarriage as adultery (Matthew 19:9).

We are to keep our marriage vows (Malachi 2:14), even when it is not easy (cf. Psalm 15:4).

While the Bible mentions a couple of exceptions (cf. Matthew 5:32, 19:9; 1 Corinthians 7:13-15,39), most who have divorced in the eyes of their government and/or church and then remarried are considered to be adulterers by the God of the Bible (cf. Matthew 19:9). They are not learning the way of love as they should.

Adultery is Wrong

The old Worldwide Church of God published the following:

Some of this world's marriage counsellors advise: "A little adultery is good for your marriage!" But is it really? No breaking of the seventh commandment — before or after marriage — is good in any way ...

Though some few might admit the Bible says adultery is wrong (Ex. 20:14), almost no one understands WHY it is so wrong, WHY God forbids it, and what the irrevocable, tragic consequences are.

Why Is Adultery Wrong?

   God did not forbid fornication and adultery simply because He wanted to be cruel to us. He knew the inevitable result and wanted us to be protected from its horrors.
   Today's so-called "wise" people claim there is no damage in promiscuity, but the men of old knew better! Notice what the patriarch Job has to say, "For this [adultery] is an HEINOUS CRIME; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase" (Job 31:11-12).
   What's that? "Root out all mine increase"? "Heinous crime"? "Fire"? "Destruction"? Surely a little "extracurricular fun" couldn't bring on all that! You'd better believe it!
   "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever touches her shall not be innocent [or, 'go unpunished'— margin]" (Prov. 6:27-29).
   Those who commit adultery (or fornication) have no idea of the penalties that go with it. They cannot understand how automatic God's Law is and how surely they will receive their punishment. God continues, "... the adultress preys upon your very life" (Prov. 6:26 — Moffatt).
   "But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding" (Prov. 6:32). Any man who thoughtlessly takes another man's wife truly does lack understanding. He doesn't understand that he is dragging all the hopes and dreams of that man (and his wife) through all the mud and slime of human filth and degradation. He is ruining all his hopes and desires, destroying a family, besmirching all that is good and tearing down plans, dreams and desires of a lifetime — just what happened to Jim and Mary Moore.
   Verse 32 continues "... he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul." He "destroys his soul" in two ways — first in what the offended husband will do to him and second, what he does to himself. "For jealousy is the RAGE of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts" (verses
   Once a woman is robbed of her virtue, once the offense has been made, it can never be taken back. How can you pay a man for ruining his life and future? How can you placate a man whose dreams have been shattered? How can you restore to a man his unspoiled and unbesmirched wife? You can't. The adulterer always stands the risk of having his life taken through the vengeance of a hurt and wronged husband. Any man who can't see and understand this lacks understanding.

The Personal Damage

   How does he "destroy his own soul"? Notice how Job describes the adulterer: "The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguises his face,.. for the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. He is swift as the waters... he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards... he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree" (Job 24:15-20).
   The adulterer learns to sneak and be "shifty." His character becomes untrustworthy. He marks his female targets and tries to avoid being seen. If he is seen, he "beholds not the way of the vineyard" — runs and crashes through the fields and fences to escape what he knows to be his fate.
   The adulterer is an untrustworthy person — even to himself.
   But that isn't all! Notice what Paul says, "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his OWN body" (I Cor. 6:18). How can this be? A man's wife is his own flesh — his own body (Eph. 5:28-29). Any man who commits fornication or adultery is sinning against his wife, or future wife, destroying possibilities for future happiness by his thoughtless, senseless act.
   He doesn't realize there is an automatic law in effect that his mind and conscience cannot supersede. He can't understand how his unfaithfulness will make it so difficult to truly love his wife and be true to her.
   What kind of ardor can he have for his wife when his mind will not relinquish memories of lane, or Beth, or Mary — girls with whom he has shared intimacies which should be reserved only for his wife? How can his wife know she is having to compete with past memories irrevocably stored up in her husband's mind — memories he should never have?
   He sins against his own wife and himself. "Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart ('understanding' — margin)" (Hosea 4:11 ). His understanding of how to have true happiness diminishes with every illicit sex act. "Give not your strength unto women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings"! (Prov. 31:3.)
   How tragically true! The wisest man on earth had to find this out — the hard way! Solomon had wisdom, understanding, knowledge — all any man could ask for — plus untold riches (I Kings 3:12-13). He set his hand to try things out by his own personal experience. His sad results are recorded in the book of Ecclesiastes.
   Against all of God's warnings (Deut. 17:15-20), Solomon finally accumulated SEVEN HUNDRED wives and THREE HUNDRED concubines — ONE THOUSAND women. He had the best looking, the best-built, the smoothest skinned, the most voluptuous women in the land.
   But what happened? "... And his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father" (I Kings 11:3-4). Remember Hosea 4:11? "WHOREDOM and wine and new wine take away the HEART"!
   Though Solomon had been given special wisdom and understanding (heart) above all men, he failed to exercise these qualities. He increased wretchedness in the land. His women persuaded him to build monuments and sex symbols to their individual gods — to Solomon's shame and the desecration of the land and people of God!
   Solomon may even have missed his chance for eternal life by his bizarre addiction to illicit sex. This was the one major vice he had. No man who exercises real understanding would erect pagan temples and worship other gods — being led about by illicit bed partners! "A good understanding have all they that do his commandments" (Psalm 111:l0).
   Solomon just happened to be able to do what some men or women WOULD DO — if they were able — once they begin to fornicate or commit adultery! He found an INSATIABLE desire for MORE — but he could NEVER be really satisfied.

Israel's Example!

   Israel was God's wife. But when she went after other gods, she committed adultery against Him. "And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and stocks [as well as other nations]" (Jer. 3:9). Jeremiah continues, "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am MARRIED unto you... Surely as a WIFE treacherously departeth from her HUSBAND, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O House of Israel" (verses 14, 20).
   But God saw it just the way Jim Moore saw it. God had rescued Israel from Egypt, cleaned her up as a beautiful, lovely bride and married her (Ezek. 16:l-14). But with all Israel's blessings, she turned against God and became unfaithful. "But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; HIS it was,.. and hast opened thy feet to everyone that passed by, and MULTIPLIED thy whoredoms" (verses 15, 25). How much clearer can it be?
   She totally rejected God and spurned His advances — scorning His true love for the false. "Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast UNSATIABLE; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest NOT be SATISFIED" (verse 28).
   Do you see what happened? Once she started committing adultery, ancient Israel COULD NOT BE SATISFIED. With all his wisdom, Solomon could never be satisfied even with a thousand women. Mary could never again be really satisfied with only Jim. If YOU have ever committed fornication, or adultery, think about it! Did it ever SATISFY you? Was ONE time ever enough? No! LUST is never satisfied.
   There is no end to it. If you have never committed fornication or adultery, BE THANKFUL! But many of you reading these words HAVE committed adultery. You have suffered in your marriage or marriages and perhaps never knew why. Now you can know. You have dragged your life through the mud of human filth, you have fostered an unstable character and you have opened a "Pandora's box" of INSATIABLE lust and illicit desire.

What Can You Do?

   Solomon, in all his wisdom, KNEW what to do but did not do it. He continued his race to destruction. He did not have a HEART like his father, David. His heart was destroyed by adulteries! This was the major difference between David and Solomon. David knew what to do and he did it. David's heart had not turned from God as Solomon's.
   He realized his deep need for REPENTANCE from his heinous crime of adultery. When God's prophet Nathan made him realize what he had done with Bathsheba, David was truly BROKEN up about it and took DRASTIC ACTION. He realized what the penalties were and took steps to CHANGE.
   David's repentance was complete. He took the whole blame himself. He was not like Sigmund Freud, who felt that NO ONE is guilty of personally committing sin — that man is just an innocent victim of environmental circumstances.
   Notice how David felt, "For I ACKNOWLEDGE my transgressions: and my sin is EVER before me"! (Psalm 51:3.) He recognized that he was the guilty one (verse 4). He took all the blame before God. He knew he had to be cleaned and purged by God to be really clean (verse 7 ).
   But, most important, he knew what God really wanted. "For thou desirest NOT sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou delightest NOT in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite HEART" (verses 16-17).
   If you have been involved in the wretchedness of ADULTERY, you are in the same shoes with David, Solomon, and Mary Moore. Will you be like David, or like Solomon? Will you let it become an obsession with you and permeate your very being as Solomon did? Will you mull it over in your mind and linger over the "pleasures of sin for a Will you finally commit the actual SIN again? Will you allow your strength, your energies, your proper feelings, your chances for true happiness and your understanding to be ripped away from you by your senseless thoughts and actions?
   Or will you be like David, who SUCCEEDED, and QUALIFIED to be a great ruler in God's Kingdom? (Ezekiel 34:23; 37:24.) If YOU really WANT to do RIGHT in God's sight, and have the happiness and real JOY of living God wants you to have, be like David. Have a heart like David's. See it as he saw it. Think as he thought! Feel as he felt! REPENT like he repented!
   Take God's way, the best way. Follow David's example of repentance. Use Psalm 51 as a guideline to help you change and get started toward real help — a future in the World Tomorrow, as well as happiness yet in this life! (McDowell B. Tomorrow's World, December 1971)

Beyond that there are societal costs.

Homes without fathers tend to foster a lot more criminals than those with them:

The absence of the father is the single most important cause of crime.1) In fact, boys who are fatherless from birth are three times as likely to go to jail as peers from intact families, while boys whose fathers do not leave until they are 10 to 14 years old are two times as likely to go to jail as their peers from intact families.2) According to Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, children without a father are more than twice as likely to be arrested for a juvenile crime and are three times more likely to go to jail by the time they reach age 30 than are children raised in intact families.3) Adolescents who had a positive relationship with their fathers are less likely to be arrested, belong to a gang, damage property, steal, or run away compared to their peers with less positive relationships with their fathers.4) Along with the increased probability of family poverty and heightened risk of delinquency, a father's absence is associated with a host of other social problems. The three most prominent effects are lower intellectual development, higher levels of illegitimate parenting in the teenage years, and higher levels of welfare dependency.5) According to a 1990 report from the Department of Justice, more often than not, missing and “throwaway” children come from single-parent families, families with step parents, and cohabiting-adult families. ...

 Severe maternal deprivation is a critical ingredient of juvenile delinquency. As John Bowlby, the father of attachment research, puts it, “Theft, like rheumatic fever, is a disease of childhood, and, as in rheumatic fever, attacks in later life are frequently in the nature of recurrences.”9) A child's emotional attachment to their mother is powerful in other ways. For example, even after a period of juvenile delinquency, a young man's ability to become emotionally attached to his wife can make it possible for him to turn away from crime.10) This capacity is rooted in the very early attachment to his mother. We also know that a weak marital attachment resulting in separation or divorce accompanies a continuing life of crime.11) ...

The empirical evidence shows that, for a growing child, the happiest, safest, and most tranquil family situation is the intact primary marriage.14) ...

In 2008, there were over 8 million divorced adults in the United States.19) Breakup of a child's parents' marriage during the first five years of their life places a child at high risk of becoming a juvenile delinquent.20) This breakup – through either divorce or separation – is most likely to occur three to four years after marriage. Therefore, a large proportion of very young children experience the emotional pain of the early and final stages of marital dissolution at a time when they are most vulnerable to disruptions in their emotional attachment to their parents.21) This instability continues to impact adolescents as they mature. Teens in blended or divorced families tend to have more behavioral problems, like using tobacco, binge drinking, weapon carrying, physical fighting, or sexual activity.22)

Conflict within “step families” (families where at least one of the married parents is not the biological parent of all the children) also has serious effects. According to the California Youth Authority study of female delinquents, conducted by Jill Leslie Rosenbaum, professor of criminology at California State University, “In the two parent families examined in this study a great deal of conflict was present. Of these parents, 71 percent fought regularly about the children. Since there were often 'his', 'hers' and 'theirs' present, the sources of conflict tended to result from one set of children having a bad influence on the others, the type of punishment invoked, or one particular child receiving too much attention.”23)

Rates of conflict are much higher outside intact married families.24) The rates of emotional and behavioral problems of children are more than double in step families.25) Given their impact on children, the marriage arrangements of parents have significant effects on the incidence of teenage crime. https://marripedia.org/effects_of_parents_on_crime_rates#:~:text=Role%20of%20Fathers,-The%20absence%20of&text=According%20to%20Robert%20Rector%20of,children%20raised%20in%20intact%20families. accessed 02/27/23

The divorce industry drains the wealth and savings of many.

Children are harmed. Society is harmed.

Notice also:

The Real Root Causes of Violent Crime: The Breakdown of Marriage, Family, and Community

May 17, 1995

Policymakers at last are coming to recognize the connection between the breakdown of American families and various social problems. The unfolding debate over welfare reform, for instance, has been shaped by the wide acceptance in recent years that children born into single-parent families are much more likely than children of intact families to fall into poverty and welfare dependence themselves in later years. These children, in fact, face a daunting array of problems.

While this link between illegitimacy and chronic welfare dependency now is better understood, policymakers also need to appreciate another strong and disturbing pattern evident in scholarly studies: the link between illegitimacy and violent crime and between the lack of parental attachment and violent crime. Without an understanding of the root causes of criminal behavior -- how criminals are formed -- Members of Congress and state legislators cannot understand why whole sectors of society, particularly in urban areas, are being torn apart by crime. And without that knowledge, sound policymaking is impossible.

A review of the empirical evidence in the professional literature of the social sciences gives policymakers an insight into the root causes of crime. Consider, for instance:

https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/report/the-real-root-causes-violent-crime-the-breakdown-marriage-family-and

Notice also something from Psychology Today, May 23, 2012

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/co-parenting-after-divorce/201205/father-absence-father-deficit-father-hunger

Adultery is wrong because it ends up hurting people.

But the other reason adultery is wrong is because you are to LOVE your spouse.

Here is something from the WCG's old The Missing Dimension of Sex book:

The Affianced Bride

Here is another vital REASON for the institution of MARRIAGE in the human family. It is to teach us — to constantly remind us — of our sacred relationship to Jesus Christ!

Here is the vital teaching:

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. {Ephesians 5:22-23, KJV}

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word …” {Ephesians 5:25-26, KJV}

(The Word, if obeyed, washes away error.)

“That he might present it to himself a glorious church [GLORIFIED — DEIFIED], not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies …. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

“This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:22-32).

Notice! For this cause — because of the coming MARRIAGE (spiritually) between Christ and the Church …

FOR THIS REASON, God ordained the MARRIAGE institution for humans! But not for animals! Not for angels!

Notice Revelation 19:7 — speaking of the second coming of Christ in GLORY, “… the MARRIAGE of the Lamb [Christ] is come, and his WIFE hath made herself ready.” ONLY those made ready in righteous CHARACTER will be presented to Him then!

WHY Home and Family

So, in addition to the FAMILY relationship, there is also the divine MARRIAGE relationship.

So UNDERSTAND! The husband-and-wife relationship, and the family relationship, are God-plane relationships!

These are not animal-plane or angel-plane relationships!

Humans are free moral agents. God never forces one to be truly converted — to become His very begotten son. Yet the PURPOSE God is working out here below is to reproduce Himself — to bring, through Christ, “many sons unto GLORY” (Heb. 2:10) in the divine KINGDOM OF GOD!

And since humans were put on earth for the very purpose of being begotten, and then BORN into the GOD FAMILY, the Eternal has endowed this God-plane family status for humans, now — and for humans ONLY!

What a WONDERFUL PRIVILEGE to be given the MARRIAGE and FAMILY relationship — that we may be prepared for the spiritual marriage to CHRIST and the divine family status, for eternity, in THE KINGDOM OF GOD!

We are to develop love and seek the kingdom of God.

You are not loving your spouse by committing adultery or fornication before marriage. You are not properly raising your children in love if you are committing adultery.

In Bible Study on 1 Corinthians 7, by the late Herbert W. Armstrong on August 15, 1980 stated:

Now God said; “…It is not good that a man should be alone; I will make a wife for him” (Genesis 2:18 paraphrased). And so God did. I have always believed that God was right there, and I have never believed, going along with Paul, that it is better for a man to be alone. God said that “it is not good that a man should be alone”. But Paul said it would be good if a man would keep separate, but he said (verse 2):

“…because of the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” (I Corinthians 7:2)

Now why did Paul say you should marry? Paul’s only reason is to avoid immorality. Did he say you should marry in order to have children? No, he didn’t say anything about having children. In other words, when God created sex, He created sex for more than just having children. And Paul plainly shows that. The reason he says you should have a wife, is to avoid temptation, and to avoid immorality. Because sex prior to marriage, in other words, pre-marital fornication, is a sin. And to avoid that he said a man better have a wife. So the purpose that he gives for marriage here, is to avoid fornication. In other words, so you can have a sex relationship with God’s blessing, instead of in sin, that’s plain language.

“The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights [that’s sexual rights], and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not rule over her own body [or the King James have ‘power’ over her own body, or authority] but the husband…” (I Corinthians 7:3-4)

Now some husbands get the idea that they have all authority over the wife’s body, and they can do what they please. And some wives are virtually raped right off, because husbands overlook the fact God says; “Husbands, love your wives…” (Ephesians 5:25). And that love making is part of the sexual relationship, they overlook that entirely. That’s the one big reason I had to get out this book on ‘The Missing Dimension in Sex.’ The missing dimension is the revelation of God, and God’s teaching about it, and here’s what they overlook.

“…the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband [may; but] likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does.” (I Corinthians 7:4)

Now then, a wife does not have control, or the right of her own body, and must submit to her husband in the same way a husband does not have a right to do what he wants to do and what he wishes with his body. And he does not have the right then to virtually rape his wife. And he does not have a right to plough on ahead when his wife is in no condition, or is unready, or unwilling. In other words, he must still have consideration for his wife. He must still love her, they must love each other.

Each must be considerate of the other, and that works both ways, just as much one way as the other. Now I hope all of our people will get it. Because I am now receiving reports that in this Church of God, there are cases now of where husbands are inconsiderate, and wives are practically raped just to please the husband’s lust. And it’s time that’s cleaned up in God’s Church. ...

To answer this BIG question about sex, we need to look further into the FAMILY relationship that constitutes the KINGDOM OF GOD, and the betrothal relationship between CHRIST and the CHURCH.

God has given mankind the institutions of marriage, and family, to prepare us for an ETERNITY of happiness and joy in His Kingdom — His FAMILY!

Just WHAT, then, is the very basis and foundation of the FAMILY RELATIONSHIP?

That basis is LOVE!

Of all the CHARACTER ATTRIBUTES of God, the very first, greatest and most important is LOVE!

Above all, GOD IS LOVE! (I John 4:8, 16.)

The very first of the attributes of God — expressed in the fruits of His Holy Spirit in man is LOVE (Gal. 5:22). When this very God-life is infused within us, by His Spirit, it is “the LOVE OF GOD … shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5:5).

Thus, in first begetting us, God infuses within us the divine GIFT of His love! The divine FAMILY RELATIONSHIP is a LOVE relationship. The tie that holds the divine Family together is the tie of LOVE!

To those thus begotten of God, converted by His Spirit, Christ says through John:

“Behold, what manner of LOVE the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called THE SONS OF GOD …. Beloved, now are we the sons of God [begotten], and it doth not yet appear what we shall be [when born]: but we know that, when he [Christ] shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (I John 3:1-2).

Even now, converted begotten sons of God have spiritual FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER and with the Son, Christ (I John 1:3).

So the FAMILY relationship, both on the divine plane, and in the human type, now, is a LOVE relationship — and GOD IMPLANTS WITHIN HIS BEGOTTEN CHILDREN His divine love TO EQUIP THEM FOR THAT DIVINE LOVE relationship.

Likewise, the betrothal Husband-and-wife-to-be relationship between CHRIST and THE CHURCH is a LOVE relationship.

Adultery is a betrayal of faithfulness, and most certain is not love.

As far as the spouse having sexual authority over the other spouse (1 Corinthians 7:4) , we also assert that Paul's inspired statement is also an admonition that prohibits masturbation as that is an individual sexual act that does not involve both the husband and the wife.

Masturbation is either improper lust (1 John 2:16) or else a desire for relief-- “but God provided for male, through the means of nocturnal emissions during sleep” (Armstrong HW. Missing Dimension in Sex, 1981) for males, making masturbation always unnecessary. Masturbation also has a variety of undesirable mental and social affects as studies from the old Soviet Union concluded--flee from it (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:18).

The Apostle Paul wrote “The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5). Christians are to be those expressing love from a pure heart with sincere faith.

The LGBTQ+ Movement

History has shown that a small percentage of the population has been involved in same-sex relations.

The Bible tells of an early event that occurred in the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah between three thousand and four thousand years ago:

24 Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. (Genesis 19:24-25)

And why did it happen?

7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 7)

Homosexuality is a form of sexual immorality that involves going after "strange flesh."

Why mention this in the 21st century?

Because God turned:

6…the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly (2 Peter 2:6)

Thus, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah were to serve as an example to those who would live as they did. Yet despite biblical warnings, many modern leaders are endorsing so-called homosexual "rights" and "same-sex marriage." The Bible, however, warns about such leaders:

12…Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths. (Isaiah 3:12)

16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err, And those who are led by them are destroyed (Isaiah 9:16).

So, leaders that ignore what the Bible teaches are leading others toward destruction.

Of course, not everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah were homosexuals as those that strictly practice that could not reproduce. Yet, notice that the destruction that hit their cities destroyed all that were there and notice that something like this is to happen again according to Jesus:

26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-29)

Various ones can pretend that increasing “homosexual rights” is acceptable, but the Bible suggests otherwise. A marriage as the above indicates, as do other scriptures (e.g. Matthew 19:4-5), is between a man and woman (for more details see God Created Marriage). Not two of the same sex. But also notice that disaster will come when people were like those in the days of Lot--people who practiced and/or accepted, the homosexual agenda.

Homosexual acts are clearly prohibited in the Bible:

22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.  (Leviticus 18:22)

13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. (Leviticus 20:13)

Those who try to claim that the Bible does not clearly condemn homosexuality are intentionally misreading what it actually teaches. The Bible prohibits and condemns homosexual behavior--the Bible calls it an abomination!

Notice the following from Deuteronomy:

17 "There shall be no ritual harlot of the daughters of Israel, or a perverted one of the sons of Israel. 18 You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 23:17-18)

Here is an explanation from the Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary:

Deuteronomy 23:17

There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, [q­deeshaah] - a female devoted to the service of Astarte or Ashtaroth (Venus), and the profits of whose prostitution were applied to the treasury of her temples.

Nor a sodomite, [qaadeesh] - a male prostitute, consecrated to the worship of the same goddess. These wretched creatures, dressed in female habiliments, frequented the streets of cities, or wandered into country villages as mendicants, exhibiting small shrines of Astarte, and enticing the populace to unnatural crime. Both of these were attaches to the temple of the Syrian goddess (Lucian, 'De Dea Syra,' secs. 27, 51; Spencer, 'De Leg.,' rit. ii., 35).

Deuteronomy 23:18

Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

A dog, [ keleb = qaadeesh ] (Deuteronomy 23:17) - a term of infamy applied to a male prostitute. The prohibition in this verse was necessary, for such classes of priests and temple servants multiplied in Israel in the times when the Phoenician idolatry prevailed (Numbers 25; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46).

(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Notice also comments against perverted people (homosexuals) throughout the pages of the Old Testament (the term translated as 'sodomites' in the KJV is translated as "perverted persons" in the NKJV):

24 And there were also perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. (1 Kings 14:24)

11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David. 12 And he banished the perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. (1 Kings 15:11-12)

6 And the rest of the perverted persons, who remained in the days of his father Asa, he banished from the land. (1 Kings 22:46-47)

7 Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image. (2 Kings 23:7-8)

Notice also the following:

9 The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves. (Isaiah 3:9)

13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.  (Proverbs 8:13)

18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.  (Proverbs 16:18)

49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit. (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

So the Bible shows that Sodom was destroyed for many things including its pride and the committing of abominations. Homosexuality is an abomination and a sin.

Yet, in modern times there are "gay pride" parades, etc. God still does not approve of pride or homosexual abominations. Various ones in the USA and elsewhere "declare their sin as Sodom."

Notice also the following that applies to many of the LGBTQ+ crowd:

19 Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things. (Philippians 3:19, NAB)

Perhaps it should be mentioned that "cross-dressing" is not something to be boastful of, as it is also condemned as an abomination:

5 A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 22:5)

Much associated with the homosexual agenda is an abomination to God. And that agenda is also targeting children (see Cross-dressing and other assaults against your children.What should you do?).

Notice something from a late first/early second century document that some who professed Christ circulated called the Didache:

1 But the second commandment of the teaching is this: 2 "Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery"; thou shalt not commit sodomy; thou shalt not commit fornication; (Didache, 2:1-2. Kirsopp Lake, translator, 1912)

Notice also something from a Greco-Roman who professed Christ c. 125 written to the Roman Emperor Hadrian:

For it is impossible that a god should practise adultery or fornication or come near to lie with males, or kill his parents; and if it be otherwise, he is much worse than a destructive demon. ... Now the Greeks, O King, as they follow base practises in intercourse with males, and a mother and a sister and a daughter, impute their monstrous impurity ... (The Apology of Aristides the Philosopher of Athens, sectionsIX, XVII. TRANSLATED FROM THE SYRIAC VERSION BY D. M. KAY, B.Sc., B.D., ASSISTANT TO THE PROFESSOR OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH)

The above was a condemnation of homosexuality.

Early Christian leaders, after the New Testament was written, including the second century Polycarp of Smyrna and Melito of Sardis also condemned illicit sexual behaviors including homosexuality:

Knowing, then, that "God is not mocked," we ought to walk worthy of His commandment and glory ...For it is well that they should be cut off from the lusts that are in the world, since "every lust warreth against the spirit; " and "neither fornicators, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, shall inherit the kingdom of God," nor those who do things inconsistent and unbecoming (Polycarp. Letter to the Philippians, Chapter V. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1as edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885).

53. But in addition to this there were to be found among men many things still more monstrous and terrifying and brutal: father cohabits with his child, and son and with his mother, and brother with sister, and male with male, and each man lusting after the wife of his neighbor. (Melito's Homily on the Passover)

Being opposed to the practices of homosexuality is not a new idea.

Homosexuality seems to be highly influenced by parents and the children's relationships with them. There are also other factors, including peer pressure and certain economic opportunities in the 21st century.

As far as there being a resurgence in LGBTQ+ issues today, notice the following last days' prophecies written by the Apostles Peter and Paul:

3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, (2 Peter 3:3)

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-8)

Interestingly, to try to support perversion, various ones say that people should be able to "love" whoever they want. And that we should be compassionate on the sexually immoral and not condemn their activities or label their immorality as sin.

The following, written by the Apostle Paul, also gives us some reasons people become homosexual, etc.:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32)

Notice that is is because many do not wish to retain God in their knowledge, which is a violation of the first commandment and hence is the root cause of all sin, that people go to the depravity of same-sex relationships. Also notice, God's word says that not only is it bad to be sexually immoral, which includes--but is not limited to--the LGBTQ+, but it is bad to approve of or encourage their lifestyles.

Their lifestyles are not good and they are more inclined to get various diseases and mental health problems, as well as an increased likelihood of suicide. Details are in the articles The Bible Condemns Homosexuality and Cross-dressing and other assaults against your children.

Seventh Commandment Before Sinai, from Jesus, and After Jesus’ Death

Adultery and other forms of sexual immorality are not showing love nor faithfulness.

God's word makes it clear that His people should not engage in sexual relations unless they are a male and female married to each other.

The Bible shows the seventh commandment was in place before Mt. Sinai:

“his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused...’How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’” (Genesis 39:7-9). “Moreover, you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife to defile yourself with heretofore all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled” (Leviticus 18:20,27). “The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No one will see me’; and he disguises his face” (Job 24:15). Job, a married man, said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?” (Job 31:1).

Jesus taught and expanded the seventh commandment:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery’. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). “But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32). “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts...adulteries, fornications...These are the things which defile a man” (Matthew 15:19-20). “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9). “You shall not commit adultery” (Matthew 19:18). “...adulteries, fornications...All these evil things come from within and defile a man” (Mark 7:21,23). “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” (Mark 10:11-12). “Do not commit adultery” (Mark 10:19). “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery” (Luke 16:18). “You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery” (Luke 18:20). “‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery’...And Jesus said to her...’sin no more’” (John 8:4,11). “Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation” (Revelation 2:22).

After Jesus was resurrected, the New Testament taught the seventh commandment:

“being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality” (Romans 1:29). “So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress” (Romans 7:3). “You shall not commit adultery” (Romans 13:9). “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral” (1 Corinthians 5:11). “Neither... adulterers, nor homosexuals...will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).”Nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did” (1 Corinthians 10:8). “Now the works of the flesh are evident...adultery, fornication” (Galatians 5:19). “For this you know that no fornicator...has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5). “the lawless and insubordinate...fornicators...sodomites” (1 Timothy 1:9,10). “fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).  “Do not commit adultery” (James 2:11). “You lust...Adulterers and adulteresses!” (James 4:2,4). “having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin” (2 Peter 2:14). “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes...is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). “Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation” (Revelation 2:22). “And they did not repent of ...their sexual immoralities” (Revelation 9:21). “But the...sexually immoral...shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). “But outside are...sexually immoral” (Revelation 22:15).

Adultery hurts families.

Adultery hurts marriages.

Adultery hurts children.

Adultery hurts society.

Adultery causes pain and suffering--and also helps spread disease.

The Bible teaches that sexual immorality is a much greater problem than society normally acts like it is.

Fleeing sexual immorality is good for you physically and spiritually.

It is good for you and society to keep God's commandments.

Some items of possibly related interest may include the following:


Dating: A Key to Success in Marriage, a practical dating guide for Christians This is a scripture-filled dating guide. It discusses many aspects of dating, as well as who to not consider for marriage. Two related sermons are available: The Art of Christian Dating. and No One to Date? Teen Q&A? Engagement? 2nd Marriage? A short animation is also available: First Date: Worldly vs. Christian.
Love, Marriage, and Sex It is important to get them in the right order.
God Created Marriage Some falsely claim that God did not create marriage and that fornication is fine.  What does the Bible really teach? Here is a version in Mandarin Chinese y^R ZZYû.
Making Your Marriage Work Marriage is not always easy, but it pictures a divine relationship. How can you make your marriage work? Here is a link to the video sermon: You Can Make YOUR Marriage Work.
Why sex and marriage? What are each spouse’s responsibilities regarding sex in the marriage? What is not allowed according to God’s word? Why is there sex and why is there marriage? Parental discretion is advised as to whether or not everything in this article is now appropriate for their children. Dr. Thiel goes over scriptures, The Missing Dimension in Sex, and provides answers to questions many have had. A related sermon is available: Sex and Marriage. Here is that sermon in the Spanish language: Matrimonio y sexo.
Are any types of birth control scripturally allowed? Did Jesus make a statement that might be consistent with birth control? Are there any methods that might be appropriate? What methods would be biblically prohibited? Here is a link a related video: Can Christians Use Birth Control?
Here's the Plain Truth About OLD TESTAMENT POLYGAMY by Herbert Armstrong. Here is a related article in the Spanish language: ¿Es la poligamia una senda de Dios?
Husbands Love Your Wives An article written by the late Selmer Hegvold.
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.

FIRST COMMANDMENT: Priorities and the Most Broken Commandment Which commandment is broken the most? Which one is most involved with what should be your top priority? Here is a link to a related sermon: The Most Violated Commandment and Priorities.
SECOND COMMANDMENT: What Did the Early Church Teach About Idols and Icons? Did the early Church use icons? What was the position of Christians about such things? A related sermon is available: The Second Commandment, Idols, and Icons.
THIRD COMMANDMENT: Words Matter Are you obeying the Third Commandment? Are you sure? Could you be blaspheming with your euphemisms or life actions? Here is a link to a related sermon: Third Commandment Plus: Words Matter. Here is a link to a shorter video: Was Increased Cursing Prophesied?
FOURTH COMMANDMENT: The Sabbath in the Early Church and Abroad Was the seventh-day (Saturday) Sabbath observed by the apostolic and post-apostolic Church? Here is a link to a related sermon: Fourth Commandment: Saturday or Sunday?
FIFTH COMMANDMENT: Honor and Be Honorable The fifth commandment involves family relationships. Is it more than parents and children? What about love and ruling well your household? Here is a link to a related sermon: Honor Your Parents and Rule Honorably.
SIXTH COMMANDMENT: Anger, Murder, Abortion, Sports, Self-Control, & Kindness Is there more to the 6th commandment than not murdering? What about abortion, hate, and violent sports? What is the attitude real Christians should have? Here is a link to a related sermon:: Murder, anger, kindness, and love.
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT: Love and Faithfulness, Not Sexual Immorality The seventh commandment prohibits adultery. Jesus made it clear that it involved more than marital infiedlity. What about the LGBTQ+ movement and the Bible? Here is a link to a related video sermon: 7th Commandment: Love and Faithfulness.

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