Is child molestation a form of fornication?
Question:
Is child sexual molestation a form of adultery or fornication since they both consist of sexual activity outside of marriage? I am just wondering if child molestation falls under adultery or fornication since they both consist of sexual activity outside of marriage.
Why is it that people see a boyfriend and girlfriend who are in love having sex as being okay, yet they consider child sexual molestation as being horrifying?
Answer:
Sex outside of marriage is fornication regardless of who the person is having sex with. The difference in reaction is that sex between a man and a woman is perceived to be consensual. Consent doesn't make what is happening any less a sin, but society tends to ignore sins that people agree to commit. Sex with a child is rejected because a child is not able to give informed consent to what is happening. In most countries, the laws call it statutory rape. In other words, it is treated as rape regardless of a claim of consent because it is realized that children cannot give informed consent.
Sexual molestation of a child ruins the child's innocence and impacts his thoughts and behaviors, often for the rest of his life. "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:4-6).
Response:
Thank you for helping me, Jeffrey.