Protecting Our Social Interest 17:32 Fornication and Adultery

Protecting Our Social Interest 17:32 Fornication and Adultery

G-d, the Creator, warns us not to involve ourselves in any illicit sexual activity with women other than our spouses. Nor are we to approach women in any fashion other than with honorable and legal intentions. Sexual intercourse beyond legal boundaries is socially unacceptable, as well as disgraceful and a shame bearing deed.

All unlawful sexual practices erode society’s moral foundation and the benefits that are realized from morally based social behavior. Religious guidance forbids the seduction of women without a legal binding contract. Proper respect is required to dispel acts of fornication and adultery.

In order to create and maintain a high moral and ethical social environment, G-d orders Believers to model these principles. Believers are not to marry unbelievers, who have no commitment to restraining their sexual appetites. The material interests and values of unbelievers and idolaters influence their personal and family relationships.

Punishment for immoral offenses is necessary and serves as safeguards and protections for family bonds. In the interest of preserving the family unit, it is impermissible for anyone guilty of fornication or adultery to marry other than one who has committed the same. These religious limitations are critical supports for the health and progress of the individual and his or her cultivation in society.

The aim of these prohibitions is to prevent the commercialization of sex as highlighted in the world today. The commercialization of sex-consciousness is fueled by sex-oriented language, dress and vulgar celebrity behavior as a cultural norm. Commercial advertisements, music, and film throughout the media serve to undermine family values.

Satan is revealed as the enemy of our human development. His aim, by way of suggestions, attempts to adulterate the revealed guidance and confuse humanity as to proper human behavior. This confusion results in the desire for unlawful acts and indifference to morality. Appreciation and respect for the family are abandoned and the promised future life for mankind is lost as punishment.

Adulteration means to reduce the quality of something by adding a foreign substance of inferior quality. Adulterated thinking is the mixing of our lower base desires with the sacred aim of human life in the community.

The prescription for correcting deviant behavior lies in the elimination of inferior and faulty reasoning. Prevention of any disease or behavior that leads to harm is vital. Lewdness, which is commonplace today, ultimately influences illicit sexual acts and is therefore forbidden. A major reform philosophy is required when acts of fleshly fornication and adultery become the norm.

Deviant behavior can be reformed but only when universal truth is respected, and G-d’s laws enacted. A biblical reference related to this failure expresses it as pouring of the wine of fornication into sacred vessels. This reference points to the origin of moral corruption and its polluting of the original human nature.

Prescribing a social reform movement for modern society demands an acknowledgment that the only appropriate expression of sexual bonds is within the context of our social interest — family and community.