I find deuteronomy 22:28 very interesting.

Encourage people in fornication to get married, instead of hammering them with it's a sin. That is what Paul did. Stop telling them it's a sin to even think of sex or that masterbation is a sin. I actually had a pastor's wife tell me I shouldn't be looking for a wife, because I was married to Jesus. How dumb is that?

I don't know why you would dwell on "if they are found out" as if that is particularly meaningful . The law rarely does anything to people that are not "found out". There are a few exceptions- in the case of people that mistreat widow and orphans God says "...my wrath will wax hot; and I will kill you..." <--- not too many of those.

Paul absolutely chastised fornicators: and if someone claims to be a brother and is committing fornication, we are not to even eat with such a person. If someone commits fornication, they should expect to be chastised... and if they do it again, they should probably expect more chastisement than the first time, so that they understand how serious it is. This chastisement comes from love, because fornicators shall not inherit the Kingdom.

I encourage marriage. My church encourages marriage. Dont live in sin get married, I say.
That "pastors wife" is an idiot. .
I say to you as I have many times already find a woman and get married. Stop goofing around and do it.

At 68 I am still looking. I'm on dating sites and doing MeetUp groups. In my 30's and 40's I wish someone had pushed me toward marriage, but I was going to Calvary Chapel and they pushed the purity movement. I never should have tried there.

I find it interesting GOD himself inserted "if they are found out" It's like a legal escape clause. You're not guilty if no one finds out. A problem with the word "fornication" is, it's applied to any sexual sin. People apply it to adultery, which causes confusion in Matthew 5:27-28. Jesus was talking about a married person. In Greek the word for "woman" is the same if they are married or single. Taken in context Jesus was talking about lusting after a MARRIED person. Not two single persons have desires for someone else who is single.

Sounds awful. I have never met anyone who had any success that way. The only way to actually meet someone is to live life, to do things; have an interesting life. All that dating stuff is crap.
You might be married already if you were interesting.
Lutheran churches are full of old women. Widows and such.

another cringeworthy thread

a man who is 68 has had every opportunity to get married

my guess is that women just get a bad feeling around you if the way you think is any indication of actually being physically in your presence

I doubt any church is to blame for your ideas and beliefs no matter how many times you say otherwise

I actually agree with you, to a point... I think this verse is often misapplied in the way you suggest. At the same time, it's not really wholesome to be looking at people in general who aren't your spouse to lust after them. It's still covetousness.

Here's Job:
“I have made a covenant with my eyes.
How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
2For what is the allotment of God from above,
or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
3Does not disaster come to the unjust
and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
4Does He not see my ways
and count my every step?

Granted, Job was a married man; but this was long before the prohibition of polygamy.

GOD never said having a sexual desire is a sin, but churches have. They have made just thinking about sex or masturbation a sin....what do they expect an 18 year old to do when hormones are raging? I know, I know, tell them to think of chocolate cake. Having sex with chocolate isn't a sin....is it? LOL

If she kept it secret, then got married off to another man as a virgin, there is a chance she should be executed.

Fornication was not a death penalty crime, without these other factors, if the woman was not betrothed. Rape was a death penalty crime if the woman was betrothed or married.

There is rampant sin involving divorce and remarriage in our cultures. It became such a huge issue in the past two or three generations or so.

Coveting is a sin. Thinking, "I'd like to get married and have sex some day" isn't a sin, IMO.

A hoe is a hoe, whether it is free or costs $500.

Well, maybe not so much, if they knew those were the stakes going into it. Fornication could be a way to socially force the father's hand into giving her in marriage, too. But there was probably some shame involved in this type of situation, also.

Reading passages like this was another motivation for me to wait until marriage. I remember thinking what if I fell into sin, and then realized later that the way to make it right was to marry the girl I'd fallen into sin with. I'd have ended up with a woman willing to engage in fornication, too. That's a deterrent.

A lot of people fornicate with someone because of looks, charm (or getting drunk and having an exaggerated perception of the other's looks, etc.) A one-night-stand might not be good marriage material. If they had to marry a partner in forncation in such a scenario, that could be kind of scary.

I definitely agree that some christians will go overboard with respect to condemnation of sexuality in general. I don't even wanna know who suggested thinking of chocolate cake, or how chocolate cake would be incorporated into...

Anyway, yeah if people want to shame you because you have thoughts about sex, or god forbid you admit being attracted to beautiful women... ignore that garbage. I don't know how you act or what you say, though, that makes people say these silly things to you. If you're eyeballing the single ladies in church, and making sensual comments... well, people will say any stupid thing to shut that off, because it's awkward, not to mention inappropriate. But if they are just hating on you for being a man looking for a lady... I honestly wouldn't even want to be around those kind of people.

I said chocolate cake as a joke. To some any kind of lusting is a sin. They don't understand the greek word for lust is negative or positive. It's just a strong attraction to anything. I don't know why I keep running into them. I now avoid and ignore anyone telling me just thinking about sex is a sin. Sadly this is mostly from people who have gone to Calvary Chapel.

The key word here is "prostitute " Most women are not. I believe Paul was referring here to the temple prostitutes. In chap 7 he wasn't telling them to flee immorality, he was telling them to get married.

Sadly the church today has accepted divorce, but hammer the single person on sex.

I Corinthians 6, in translation of course, refer to prostitutes. In English, back when this was translated, sleeping around with no money changing hands was also prostitution. Deuteronomy refers to sex outside of marriage as 'playing the harlot.'

If there is a pagan temple involved or not, prostitution is immoral. But I have read that Corinth had a lot of cult prostitutes who would shave their heads and cover their bodies in white lead paint. I don't see how that was good for sales, but it may have been their custom and it could have made their tradeswomen easy to identify. Prostitution could also have involved honoring idols in this case. But I Thessalonians 4 warns against defrauding one's brother through fornication. Paul condemns the whole lot, not just the temple variety.

I found it useful when I read in Romans 7, 'For I had not known lust, if the law had not said, 'Thou shalt not covet'. Then I looked up the word for 'lust' in Matthew 5:28 and looked up the word 'covet' in the ten commandments of 'thou shalt not covet.' The issue is coveting.

Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. Luke 22:15

“I have eagerly desired
ἐπεθύμησα (epethymēsa)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's Greek 1937: To long for, covet, lust after, set the heart upon. From epi and thumos; to set the heart upon, i.e. Long for.