{"id":35834,"date":"2012-11-15T21:37:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T03:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=35834"},"modified":"2021-06-15T21:41:08","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T02:41:08","slug":"adultery-an-outdated-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/adultery-an-outdated-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Adultery: An Outdated Crime?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Source<\/strong>: Ethan Bronner, “Adultery: Ancient crime still on many states’ books,”\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, reported in the\u00a0Omaha World-Herald<\/em>, 15 November 2012.<\/p>\n

The core of Mr. Bronner’s article is that adultery laws are no longer enforced and have been removed from half the state’s books. The reason most other states have not removed the laws is that politicians don’t want to be seen as promoting adultery, even as they turn a blind eye to it.<\/p>\n

The claim is that adultery laws are outdated because they are “rooted partly in a concern about male property.” Adultery, it is claimed, was seen as wrong because of “its tendency to adulterate the issue of an innocent husband, and to turn the inheritance away from his own blood, to that of a stranger.” Perhaps Mr. Bronner would find it strange that this is not given as a reason in the Bible. Adultery was declared wrong because it violated the covenant with the spouse. “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery<\/em>” (Mark 10:11-12). That children might result from an affair is not mentioned. Indeed, in older laws, prior to DNA testing and paternity suits, any child born to a married couple was automatically assumed to be theirs.<\/p>\n

That morality has changed is admitted at the end of the article. “Laws regulating sex all grew from a belief that sex should occur only within marriage, Murray said. “Now we live in an age when sex is not limited to marriage, and laws are slowly responding to that. But we still love marriage. Nobody is going to say adultery is OK.” ” But that leaves me wondering for how long. “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen<\/em>” (Romans 1:24-25). Think about that the next time someone says, “But doesn’t God just want me to be happy?”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Ethan Bronner, “Adultery: Ancient crime still on many states’ books,”\u00a0The New York Times, reported in the\u00a0Omaha World-Herald, 15 November 2012. The core of Mr. Bronner’s article is that adultery laws are no longer enforced and have been removed from half the state’s books. The reason most other states have not removed the laws is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-35834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issues","tag-adultery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69195,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-leviticus-2010-permit-adultery-with-the-wife-of-a-gentile\/","url_meta":{"origin":35834,"position":0},"title":"Does Leviticus 20:10 permit adultery with the wife of a Gentile?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Maimonides says that the repeated clause in Leviticus 20:10 is written this way to permit adultery with the wife of a Gentile. Is there any truth to that? And why is it written in such an ambiguous way? Is it to reveal human evils? Answer: The text of Leviticus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7419,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-the-bible-state-that-moses-stoned-a-woman-who-committed-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":35834,"position":1},"title":"Where does the Bible state that Moses stoned a woman who committed adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the new movie the Ten Commandments. Moses throws the first stone at a woman that committed adultery. Where is this stated in the book of Exodus? Answer: While I'm glad that Hollywood every once in a while decides to make a movie about decent subjects, I personally hate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4805,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-this-considered-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":35834,"position":2},"title":"Is this considered adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My wife spent the night at a hotel in a different state with another man. She said she did not have sex, but they kissed, he touched her breasts and was on top of her without a shirt, and she played with his nipples, etc. She tried to lie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41585,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-my-wife-divorces-me-and-then-marries-again-does-that-free-me-to-marry-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":35834,"position":3},"title":"If my wife divorces me and then marries again, does that free me to marry again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have always believed that man's written divorce means nothing to God.\u00a0 And you reinforce my thinking when you mention that God is the one who decides when the marriage covenant ends.\u00a0 Doesn't this mean that even though she wants a divorce (by man's laws), and I do not,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36475,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-law-of-marriage-and-divorce-that-jesus-taught-for-the-church-or-universal\/","url_meta":{"origin":35834,"position":4},"title":"Is the law of marriage and divorce that Jesus taught for the church or universal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My wife last husband wanted to divorce her on irreconcilable differences. He changed his mind and said to her he wanted to work things out, she refused and wanted to proceed with the divorce because of the abuse and adultery, he also had another child outside their marriage. They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-there-be-adultery-after-divorce-ends-a-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":35834,"position":5},"title":"How can there be adultery after divorce ends a marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You said on your website: \"When one partner in a marriage commits adultery, the innocent party has the option to divorce the unrepentant adulterer and may marry someone else if he or she so chooses.\u00a0The adulterer remains bound by the terms of his marriage covenant.\u00a0Anyone marriage enters into will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}