I have a problem with one of the two but seems like those two aren't bad foundations.

Or as John Lennon would say. "Love is the answer and you know that for sure"

Why not?

A man who commits adultery may very well wind up killed, esp. if he is with another man's wife. The killer may spend the rest of his days in prison. The children of both parties will be traumatized.

One single act of adultery could (and does) lead to the complete destruction of two family units, and an open amount of pain, suffering and grief.

One of the things that I saw that was common among atheists and liberals was this kind of blindness to the seriousness of sin. There was this very creepy permissiveness present, and most sins were winked at and laughed off.

Sin is bad.

One sin can lead to the total destruction a person's life.
One sin can lead to the total destruction of a family unit.
One sin can destroy a childhood.
One sin can lead to a community wracked with grief.

So would you expect that adultery and/or divorce figures are lower for Christians than for atheists?

You could also be describing jaywalking here instead of adultery. Jaywalking could also lead to death, ruining 2 familities, etc. So do you equate jaywalking with murder?

Just because something could start a chain of events leading to death/murder doesn't mean it will. Nor should it be considered as if it will.

If you really want to equate jaywalking with adultery, go right ahead. I think its indicative of the creepy permissiveness prevalent in American society today.

It ain't no accident when you bed another man's wife. It ain't no surprise to you if you find his husband looking to kill you. It wouldn't be a great shock to you if your wife found out, divorced you, and took off with the kids to Istanbul. It wouldn't surprise you either that both of your children hate you for many years.

I don't even know why I'm responding to this post, honestly.

I, personally, would have divorced my wife years ago if I was not a Christian. That I do know.

I can't speak for anyone else.

man, you really did need jesus didn't you?

You don't know my wife.

That cheering sound you hear - it's Jesus and the Holy Spirit rooting for you.


wtfsrsly

That's one of the saddest things I've ever heard.

I'm not going to go into my personal life too deeply, but I underestimated the difficulties of marrying and living with a confirmed bi-polar, and possibly schizo-effective person who refuses help (spiritual or medical).

Why?

Because I had pre-marital sex with a woman I didn't really know, and knocked her up.

Those christian rules and guidelines are there for a reason, as I've said before. I had to learn the hard way, but hopefully, others won't, and won't do stupid things like having one-night stands with women they don't know. Because the point is that you don't really know them, and sex is a very personal act that can have deep and long-lasting implications for your life.

And yes, I have dozens of really good reasons, numerous bizarre incidents, and mind-blowing and unexpected events that would allow me to justify a divorce.

Maybe it will come to that.

And if I was backslidden still, it would have no doubt come to that already.

But right now I'm glad I never divorced her, for the sake of my daughter. I just had my second child, a girl, who was born just two weeks ago. She will be a lifelong best friend for my oldest daughter, and seeing her happy and cooing over the newest addition makes it all worth it for me.

Fwiw I am a Christian and I think murder and adultery are in the same league morally speaking.

1. Both potentially "crimes" of passion.

2. Both "crimes" can drastically change your life if found out.

3. Both "crimes" will deeply negatively effect others likely for the rest of their lives.

4. Both "crimes" are clearly against God's OT law

I think adultery has just been normalized as a part of religious and secular life.

For obvious reasons murder has not become normalized in the same way.

so weird thinking of you as a family man.
I imagined you as like an 18 yr. old kid
anyway all the best with the fam.

Sounds like if you weren't a Christian, you wouldn't have gotten divorced, you would have not gotten married. Maybe.

And the psychologist weaves his web

I'm so glad that I never called you out for being a pharisee, or a troll.

<I wrote a really trenchant and biting one-liner here, but it would've probably gotten me banned. But damn, it was good.>

What's really strange is that after having two children, getting married, etc etc, I don't have this social weight on me anymore that presses on me to procreate, or satisfy this or that social requirement.

I used to think that a middle-age crisis was bologna. It isn't. It's like...

Requirements satisfied. Now what?

Might as well buy a motorcycle, or a red corvette.

The alternative is coming to grips with the fact that you don't live for yourself any more, but for others.

The corvette and motorcycle just really represent a small token of a larger illusion that you are still "free" to pursue personal aims, conquests, etc.

You needed to become a christian to learn not to have unprotected sex if you dont want to deal with the potential consequences?

I have to say, I don't think binding yourself more closely to a known mental case (who you would have divorced by now if you didn't worry about such an action being a 'sin') by getting her pregnant again was the most intelligent move on your part.

Since you insist on staying on the cross though, can you surreptiously introduce lithium into your wife's food? Perhaps once she's stable she might be more open to the idea of medication.

The degree of indignation is related to "In which way and how much one is involved".
Example:
We are in love with a wife of someone else. Now she is accused of adultery. The level of our indignation will be very high if we haven't been lucky. The level of our indigantion will be very low if we have been lucky.

If it should be true that most religous Jews/Christians aren't as appalled with someone who commits adultery as with someone who kills or steals, than this just means that most of them don't love their husband/wife as they do love what they own. And it also means that they already have a target. And their target is not their husband or wife.

Killing is usually above all of them, cause they love their life most.

http://atheism.about.com/od/tencomma...mandment07.htm

The word adultery has changed in meaning over the years.

I'm looking at this from a neutral point of view. Murder is an act on a different category of its own than adultery. Yes, they both can ruin families and childrens' development, but when you look at the acts themselves in a vacuum one is clearly worse than the other. One ends a life, the other has the potential to create one. Logically, they're just on different levels.

The mistake is lumping it all under sin and forgetting any subclassification. Ever notice the hierarchical ordering of the commandments?

Please elaborate. (I don't think the fact that 'command-1' comes before 'command-3' is sufficient in demonstrating a hierarchy as they had to be in some order. Do we have reason to believe it wasn't arbitrary?)

The fact that they're numbered. lol.. Use some sense and look at #1. It's central to the religion.

I've heard it preached that the first ?half? dealt with sins against God, whereas the second ?half? dealt with sins against other people. Not that that necessitates some being more important than others...