Considering I Corinthians 7, if you can live without 'burning' then you can be celibate for life. Some people think 'burning' has to do with wanting to have sex. That makes sense in the passage.
It does make sense in the passage, but it was hardly the blueprint for a godly marriage.
I Corinthians chapter 7
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1] Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
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2] Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
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3] Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
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4] The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
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5] Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
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6] But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
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7] For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
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8] I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
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9] But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
For starters, Paul was apparently answering a question that the Corinthians had written to him.
His initial response to that question was that it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
He then gave a stipulation for those who could not contain in that they apparently burned with sexual passion so that they might avoid fornication or avoid sexual relations outside of the confines of marriage.
That stipulation was that it is better to marry than to possibly fall into fornication due to their seemingly unbridled passions.
Does anyone reading this honestly believe that this was Paul's/Christ's ultimate desire for Christians and the ordinance of marriage?
Again, marriage is supposed to be a natural reflection of the spiritual union between Christ and his church.
Does Christ lust after the church with unbridled passion?
If you (collectively or individually) think that he does, then you're (ditto) greatly deceived.
Isn't one of the fruits of the Spirit temperance or self-control?
Shouldn't those who belong to Christ crucify their flesh with the affections and lusts thereof?
Galatians chapter 5
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22]
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
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23] Meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.
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24]
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
I mean, come on.
Let's not forget that Paul addressed these same Christians as being "carnal" while rebuking them for such things as allowing a man to have his father's wife and for behaving like gluttons and drunkards at the communion table. In other words, they were hardly the blueprint for Christianity themselves.
Again, some of the stipulations that Paul gave to these Corinthians was hardly God's best or true desire for his people, so let's not take a stipulation and make it the rule, okay?
Anyhow, before I got married, I was celibate for approximately 15 years, and I've been celibate now for a few years since my divorce.
It might surprise you to hear that I don't walk around with my tongue hanging out of my mouth while lusting after every woman that walks by.
Seriously, are there any Christians who have the fruit of temperance actively working in their lives?
Are there any Christians who see PEOPLE as PEOPLE, and NOT just as objects of selfish sexual pleasures?
Maybe I'm from another planet or something, but I actually look for godly qualities in a woman, and that's what truly "turns me on".
Anyhow, I should be sleeping right now, so good night.