Christian men and men of God, I need your opinion understanding the Bible, help?

[Anonymous]

If you're atheist or non religious please do not answer. Thanks

...

Regarding priests

Leviticus 21: 13-15

13 “‘The woman he marries must be a virgin.(AB) 14 He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, 15 so that he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the Lord, who makes him holy.’”

Regarding everyone else

1 Corinthians 7:8-10
8 Now to the unmarried[a] and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.(A) 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry,(B) for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Does anyone know why the most important premise for marriage for priests is that she be a virgin? The Bible implies that to do otherwise is unholy for a priest. But yet a woman who is a widow or single can marry. Does this mean that a man who marries such women cannot be holy?

Additional passage for consideration

In Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Thank you for reading and your opinions in advance.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Regarding Leviticus 21: 13-15:

That was a command only for the levite priests in the old testament.

The levitical priestshood nor does the tribe of Levi exist anymore.

As for why a woman typically a young woman as they in the ancient world got married once they hit puberty and early teens had to be a virgin was because the priests were ones who could enter into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle where God presence was and they were in charge to do animal sacrifices unto the lord for people's sins annually.

The Levi priest had to be as holy as possible and follow some extreme rituals to stay holy and pure because the reason I mentioned above otherwise God would have killed them if they enter the tabernacle being defiled in some way.

A woman that isn't a virgin has already been defiled by another man sexually and the priest couldn't be involved in that.

As 1 Corinthians 7:8-10:

The whole context of that scripture is promoting celibacy and singleness as the best options but since most people desire sex then it's better to get married to have sex then to be in heat and passion for sex which often leads to whoring and sleeping around.

As Matthew 5:17-18: when Jesus said that he was in the process of fulfilling all the requirements of the old testament which already fulfilled all the law and requirements of the old testament upon his death.

The old testament is longer valid according to scripture except the moral laws i. e. theft, murder, lying which are still in effect.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Hebrews 8:7-13

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD:

I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete.

Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

[Asker]

Wonderful breakdown brother. I've definitely come to the right place for answers on this subject! Thank you for your thoughts. Will factor it in.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

No problem.

[Anonymous]

Everyone should marry a virgin. But especially if you are going to be a rabbi.

[Asker]

Thank you for your opinion 🤔 however doesn't the passage in Corinthians state otherwise? Who are those single (have been sexually active)/widowed women meant to marry?

Thank you,

[Opinion Owner]

You can be single and not be sexually active.

[Asker]

I assumed that passage also included those who had been sexually active but we're still single as well.

[Opinion Owner]

You should assume the opposite. Paul is a proponent of celibacy throughout life.

[NamerOfStars]

Acts 11:9, my friend: "But a second time a voice from heaven answered, ‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’"

As much as people (and perhaps even God) may like to claim otherwise, the rules change: Jesus Himself said that even He didn't know when His return in would be- but then He told another crowd that it would be when some of them were still alive. Unless He was talking to the bristlecone pine trees, or they got reincarnated multiple times, or the second coming was a lot more like the first than anybody expected, that didn't happen.

Then there's how the henotheistic Judaism of Moses was emphatically NOT the monotheistic Judaism of Judah; note that the Commandment was "You shall not have other gods before me", not "You shall not have other gods". Nor is this just semantics (since the relevant Hebrew word- which GAG won't let me type here for what I assume are alphabetical reasons- is kind of ambiguous); remember that the pharaoh's men, too, transformed their staves into snakes.

So while Jesus may not have come to abolish the prophets, He absolutely came to REVISE them; pretending otherwise is just disingenuous. Instructions and restrictions given to the priesthood of proto-Israel would naturally be different from those given to the rank and file of a sect that didn't make those distinctions.

[Asker]

Thank you for the information. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and will take into consideration