Is child sexual molestation a form of adultery or fornication since they both consist of sexual activity outside of marriage?\u00a0I am just wondering if child molestation falls under adultery or fornication since they both consist of sexual activity outside of marriage.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n\t
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.<\/p>\n
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<\/em>” (Matthew 18:4-6).<\/p>\n\t Thank you for helping me, Jeffrey.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Is child sexual molestation a form of adultery or fornication since they both consist of sexual activity outside of marriage?\u00a0I 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…<\/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":[20],"tags":[1572,666],"class_list":["post-68032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-fornication","tag-sexual-abuse"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47785,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/teaching-children-about-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":68032,"position":0},"title":"Teaching Children About Fornication","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark Roberts \"Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body\" (I Corinthians 6:18). Perhaps no precept of scripture is as widely ignored as this one. Our society is absolutely obsessed with sex. Advertising,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adolescence"","block_context":{"text":"Adolescence","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/adolescence\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/teen-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4665,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-have-a-baby-out-of-wedlock\/","url_meta":{"origin":68032,"position":1},"title":"Is it a sin to have a baby out of wedlock?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to have a baby out of wedlock? Answer: It is a sin to have sex outside of marriage (Hebrews 13:4). It is called \"fornication\" in the Bible, though some translations use the phrase \"sexual immorality\" or just plain \"morality\" for the same Greek word. The\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":1814,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-sexual-acts-should-not-be-committed-before-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":68032,"position":2},"title":"What sexual acts should not be committed before marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What sexual acts should not be committed in a relationship before marriage? Answer: \"Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge\" (Hebrews 13:4). From the time that God created the world, His intention was that sex would be freely expressed within\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":772,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-spousal-rape-constitute-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":68032,"position":3},"title":"Does spousal rape constitute fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does spousal rape constitute fornication, or sexual immorality, thus giving grounds for divorce and remarriage? Answer: Some questions are difficult - not because we cannot clearly state the truth, but because the way the questions are worded cause you to make assumptions that may not be true. A classic\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":1521,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-sex-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":68032,"position":4},"title":"Why is sex a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why is sex a sin? Answer: The short answer to your question is that sex is not a sin, but it can become a sin in certain situations. \"Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge\" (Hebrews 13:4). The Greek word\u00a0koite\u00a0is\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":1450,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-spousal-rape-grounds-for-divorce\/","url_meta":{"origin":68032,"position":5},"title":"Is spousal rape grounds for divorce?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does spousal rape constitute fornication, or sexual immorality, thus giving grounds for divorce and remarriage? Answer: Some questions are difficult - not because we cannot clearly state the truth, but because the way the questions are worded cause you to make assumptions that may not be true. A classic\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\/68032","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=68032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n