to not understand Christians who have sex/live together before marriage then marry in church?

[onlytwo]

Posting here because I am genuinely confused and not trying to offend anyone.

I keep seeing couples who describe themselves as Christians who have been living together for years, sometimes with kids, then they get married in church with all the religious vows etc. I thought one of the key Christian teachings is no sex before marriage yet it seems really common that people ignore that part but still have a big church wedding.

AIBU to think it is hypocritical?

Jesus came to fulfil the law, precisely because the Jews couldn't keep it 100%. He paid our debt and was the ultimate sacrifice!

Is that the one where Obama talks about Abraham taking his son to be sacrificed? It’s great!

Amen.

If you think this, you’ve fundamentally misunderstood what being a Christian means.
Christians believe that nobody can live up to the perfection that God expects and will always fall short. So God provided the solution in the form of Jesus death on the cross to reconcile man back to God. It isn’t about following the rules and burning in hell for all eternity’ it’s about a living relationship with a forgiving, loving God. That love is open to everyone

Ever heard of biblical exegesis?

A lot of churches modernise. My religion (non practicing) accepted gay parishioners & ministers 20-25 years ago. & living together etc.

Caused a huge split and my extended family went with the new church. Very conservative. My cousin's DD is 21 and will likely marry shortly, long before she really wants to, because of the no sex / living with before marriage rule. It's more the expectations bred by an ultra conservative church & family than the Bible.

Check out the etymology of the word. It’s interesting.

Why are you singling out Christians? There’s plenty of Muslims for example who smoke and date before marriage.

I don’t. A surprising number of my academic friends and colleagues (Russell Group, STEM) are quietly religious.

On the Christian side a notable example is the American Francis Collins, who holds both a PhD and an MD. In addition to directing the National Institutes of Health, he led the project first mapping the human genome. Who on Earth is in a position to question his intelligence?

Dr Collins came to Christianity as an adult.

I am agnostic. You do you, but I find questioning the intelligence of others based on their beliefs to be hugely unhelpful at best.

It's Islamaphobia innit. They're not allowed to be criticised.

Only Christianity and Judaism are fair game.

Are you in the UK? There are bishops sitting in the House of Lords making laws! The Head of State is head of the official national religion! Christian worship is mandated in schools. Schools of different religions are state-funded.

If people's religious beliefs were there own private faith, then fair enough. But our nation is riddled with it whether we have a faith or not.

Nonsense. I pointed out that there are Muslims who drink alcohol pages ago.

"I'd read that as being about sleeping around/cheating. Not about being in a committed relationship."

Wow. I'm really surprised by that.
Fornication is any sex before marriage, doesn't have to be cheating or sleeping around. Of course, it's part of Christianity, whether it's a key part is a separate discussion.

It is taught in churches, but people are realistic about modern society. Basically, someone who won't have sex before marriage, won't find anyone so it's extremely difficult to follow in real life.
As a pp mentioned, evangelicals do it and I suppose it's a bit easier somewhere like Bible belt US where you might find more people willing to follow those rules or going on specific dating apps for very religious people.

A religion that evolves, is no religion. That suggests that God changes his mind and can be persuaded by our fickle ways.
Nothing could be further from the truth, He is Holy, loving and just. Fornication is forbidden in the Bible and that is the Holy, infallible word of God.

Both those books are in the New Testament

it is a difficult one and I do think the evangelical church can be a bit obsessed by this but then on the other hand it does offer protection. I think our society sees sex as the be all and end all of everything

Whatever nonsense you believe about the supernatural, do you think now is a good time to be blaming anything on "the Jews"?

There's multiple cases of renowned scientists especially in the field of physics who were initially atheists but then came to the conclusion based upon years of scientific observation that the universe is too intricately designed on both a macro and micro level to have come about by chance.

I just did. It is!

They aren't blaming anything on Jews. Jesus was a Jew. Think you are misunderstanding this poster a little.

I think you are misunderstanding how language works in the 21st century.

The word of God , which was written and translated many times, in many languages by people(men). People are most definitely fallible and have their own agendas, interests and interpretations.

The answer is, OP, that they are following secular views of sex before marriage being 'the norm' and so they believe it's OK to do so. I disagree but then I'm likely a minority, even amongst Christians.

I dont agree with the House of Lords. I believe in a proper and true democracy not inherited postions of power.
Worship isn't mandated in schools. UK primary schools are secular now unless explicitly stated to be religious.
You can still be a Christian and dislike the hypocrisy of the establishment btw.

I don't think that is hypocritical.

I do think that marrying in a Christian church with a religious ceremony if you aren't a Christian is hypocritical as is christening your children.

Ah, because religious people are so well known for doing just that and letting others live their own lives, unjudged 😂