Virginity

@vivify said
Not quite.

There was a law that if a man died without children the brother would impregnate that man's wife and have children on the deceased's behalf. The brother, Onan, knew the kids wouldn't be considered his and pulled out so his brother wouldn't have children.

That was what the Bible says was wicked; the refusal to honor his deceased brother by having children for him that would carry on his lineage.

His dad ordered him to do it out of duty. It is unclear if it was a formal law, a custom, or just something Dad thought appropriate.

I stand by what I said. He was killed for deliberate failure to impregnate. That's a stupid reason to kill someone.

@bigdogg said
His dad ordered him to do it out of duty. It is unclear if it was a formal law, a custom, or just something Dad thought appropriate.

I stand by what I said. He was killed for deliberate failure to impregnate. That's a stupid reason to kill someone.

I agree that it was a stupid reason to kill someone.

@vivify said
I agree that it was a stupid reason to kill someone.

Ah, the olden days.

@vivify said
Religions praise virginity as a virtue especially in women. In Islam martyrs are reward with 72 virgins; in Christianity the 144,000 in Revelations are specially chosen men are virgins "who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins."

What is the religious significance of virginity? Why are the 144,000 men praised for it? Why is so important to Cat ...[text shortened]... if Jesus was married and had children: would that make Jesus less "holy" in the eyes of Christians?

The reason that virginity is praised among women in the case for Islam here is entirely different than the Chrsitian concept.

There, the virginity of the woman represents here singularity purpose for the man and her submission to him.

For the Christian, virginity in general represents transcendence of the baser human nature and the world itself - it is like shedding the basic bodily urges and nature itself, and being a pure spirit... It is exiling oneself from the world, more or less, in terms of family.

Sex is beautiful and was created by God to be enjoyed by man, but some people have the special, profound gift of transcending sexuality and dedicating themselves to a higher form of religious life and asceticism that purifies the soul from the worldly.

Likewise, it is perfectly fine for a person to enjoy eating meat. It is not unethical. But those who give up meat and subside only on just enough bread and vegetables to survive are doing a great form of asceticism.