Another Practical Guide to the Logic, Philosophy, and Thoughts of Christianity

Section 1 - Article 1

unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please

the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world,

how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a

virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may

be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the

things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I speak for

your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is

comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul wrote the very reason why it is good for a

man/woman not to marry. Verses 32 -35 clearly states that the unmarried are

able to care about the things that may please the Lord and be holy in body

and in spirit. In this, you will find that it is only right, and in accordance to the Scriptures that once married, the individual has to care for his other half and family as previously pointed out in 1 Corinthians 7:1-4. It is not

biblically right for anyone to abandon or neglect their family under the guise

of doing God's work or work for God, because taking care of the family and

the roles of a father/husband or mother/wife are also gifts from God.

So does this mean that only single celibate people can be pastors or

serve God? Or should one who is married but then decides to do God's

work, find ways to be single again? God forbid it be so. If one is married,

the earlier passage of Matthew 19:9 clearly speaks against divorce. Paul had

also spoken against it. It is here where the later bit of 1Corinthians 7 comes

in.

1Corinthians 7:26-31: I suppose therefore that this is good for the present

distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. Art thou bound unto a

wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath

not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.

But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that

have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they

wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that

buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not

abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

Clearly, in verse 28, marriage is not a sin (defined as deviation from

God's will and path). But rather in the same tune as Gen 3:16, there will be a

struggle in marriage, and the married shall have trouble in the flesh.

Although Paul had spared the details in the letter, I shall briefly touch on the