Spot on

[Berzerker]

where is the verse?

who is he quoting?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Do you want me to do all your ****ing work for you? You brought it up... you Google search it.

I looked it up the last time you brought up this BS.

[Berzerker]

google what?

alright, hang on

[Berzerker]

Imran, how does Paul argue against what he quoted? He seems to agree with it. And if they were conversing back and forth then they could have been asking him to clarify what he said earlier on the subject.

7 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

and it sounds like he was practicing what t(he)y preached.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Because he refutes it entirely? He says it may be good for a man not to sexual relations with a woman as an ideal, but not if y'all are going to go on having sex anyways (which they likely were) while pretending you weren't. So you should get married and have sex with each other and not deny sex to your spouse.

The Voice is a contemporary dynamic equivalent translation for the 21st Century from the original Greek... it translates it thus:

7 Now to the topics you raised in your last letter. Some have said, “It is better for a man to abstain from having sex with his wife.” 2 Well, I disagree. Because of our tendency to embrace immoralities, each man should feel free to join together in sexual intimacy with his own wife, and each woman should join with her own husband. 3 Husbands and wives have reciprocal duties. Each husband has the responsibility to meet his wife’s sexual desires, and each wife should do the same for her husband. 4 In marriage neither the husband nor the wife should act as if his or her body is private property—your bodies now belong to one another, and together they are whole. 5 So do not withhold sex from one another, unless both of you have agreed to devote a certain period of time to prayer. When the agreed time is over, come together again so that Satan will not tempt you when you are short on self-control. 6 I am trying to encourage you and give you some wise counsel, so don’t take this advice as a command. 7 I wish that all of you could live as I do, unmarried. But the truth is all people are different, each gifted by God in various and dissimilar ways.

[Berzerker]

thx, I dont remember that translation

why does Paul think marriage is not a gift from God? He thinks his ability to abstain from it is a gift and that marriage is allowed, not because he says its fine to have sex, but because its worse to have sex with more than one person. It still sounds like he agrees sex is a bad thing but its okay for the married lest they fall into greater sin.

Because of our tendency to embrace immoralities, each man should feel free to join together in sexual intimacy with his own wife, and each woman should join with her own husband.

See? He's still saying sex in marriage is allowed to avoid embracing immorality because we lack self control

[Berzerker]

Now to the unmarried[a] and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

he's saying its better to not marry, not to have sex, not to touch a woman...marriage is for the weak.

[Imran Siddiqui]

He does think marriage is a gift: "I wish that all of you could live as I do, unmarried. But the truth is all people are different, each gifted by God in various and dissimilar ways.".

If he thought sex was bad, he wouldn't be saying that you should not withhold it from your spouse.

It's almost as if you are projecting on the Apostle Paul.

And of course we lack self-control. It's like you never heard of the concept of original sin!

[Imran Siddiqui]

he's saying its better to not marry, not to have sex, not to touch a woman...marriage is for the weak.

Projection again.

(of course with the realization that it was extremely rare in this period for Jews, or Gentiles, to remain unmarried)

If he thought marriage was weakness, wouldn't you find him saying that Christians should divorce their wives rather than saying they should remain married, even if the spouse was an unbeliever later on in the chapter?

[Imran Siddiqui]

May I also direct you to two chapters later (take close look at 5):

1 Corinthians 9 (NIV):

3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4 Don’t we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas[a]? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?

Paul mentions that he has not used the rights afforded to him as an apostle, though (in 15).

[Imran Siddiqui]

And while on the subject on context, right before 1Cor7, comes this from 1Cor6:

12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[b] 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.[c]

18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

So the reason he talks about embracing immoralities is because the Corinthians were thinking it was quite alright to go off with prostitutes. In addition with our natural tendency to be tempted by our bodies (are you not like the rest of us?), it is better to contain that passion in Christian marriage than to go around with prostitutes while saying publicly "it isn't right to be with a woman" (seems like Paul was speaking against their hypocrisy).

[Berzerker]

He does think marriage is a gift: "I wish that all of you could live as I do, unmarried. But the truth is all people are different, each gifted by God in various and dissimilar ways.".

If its a gift for them, why does he wish they could all share his gift instead? He's not telling them marriage is a gift, he said being unmarried is a gift and their gifts (their strengths) are elsewhere.

If he thought sex was bad, he wouldn't be saying that you should not withhold it from your spouse.

It's almost as if you are projecting on the Apostle Paul.

And of course we lack self-control. It's like you never heard of the concept of original sin!

He didn't say sex/marriage was fine, he said its preferable to sex outside of marriage... So adultery is sinful, but it cant occur without marriage. And he says to avoid sin one should marry knowing many are too weak - especially if we're using Jesus' definition of adultery.

Projection again.

(of course with the realization that it was extremely rare in this period for Jews, or Gentiles, to remain unmarried)

I dont believe marriage is for weak people.

[Uncle Sparky]

I prefer John to Paul. Double Fantasy is one of my favourite albums.

[Imran Siddiqui]

They were both insufferable without each other.

[Uncle Sparky]

I thought it was Paul and Peter which were insufferable together... which is odd. iirc, Peter only played at George's request, and the rest of the boys liked it, until they stopped.