*32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
36 If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong** and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. 37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing. 38 So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.*
In other words, one can better serve their church if they don’t have to support an SO or family. But if you have to sex get married and be faithful.
You are right. That was a poor choice of words on my part.
Thanks all for the replies so far. I don’t think there are any prohibition on sex for leaders in Judaism or Islam, as long as marriage is present. It seems the vow of celibacy (thanks, Thudlow Boink) among religious leaders mainly a Christian/Catholic thing.
Does breaking a vow of celibacy on one occasion really “invalidate” someone from the papacy or from the priesthood in the sense of automatically, ipso facto kicking them out and stripping them of their status? It would be a sin, yes, and probably a mortal sin if done with full intent and knowledge of why it is a violation, but the person would stay pope until and unless they were, say, humiliated into resignation by morality lobbyists or whatever.
There are 17 “rites” in the catholic church, only the Roman rite (the largest by far) requires priest to be celibate (hence, unmarried) after taking orders. Obviously, there’s no impediment in the Roman rite to widowers becoming priests, nor wild-oats sowers who have truly repented.
there was a big kerfuffle in the mid-1990’s over the Ukrainian rite catholic priests (who are allowed to marry, and not to be confused with eastern orthodox church). The Vatican had kept a lid on this until the fall of the iron curtain, there was apparently an agreement with the Kremlin about limiting the number of priests that could be ordained there. Of course, when all that fell apart, there were a much larger number of married men lining up to be ordained. IIRC the Vatican told the Ukrainian bishops to slow things down and one or more refused; so there was a question whether the priests they ordained were legitimate.
Every Rabbi I’ve known has been married; I think it’s expected if they have a congregation, as his wife usually has an important role in the synagogue.
Every good Jewish boy is expected by his poor, devote mameleh to get married. Historically, the great rabbis were offered the best women by the matchmakers.
Re Sex And Judaism
Well it differs according to the branch. I’ll stick with the Orthodox. Sex outside of marriage is a sin. Not giving your wife enough sex is also a sin. Maimonides made a list of how often a husband MUST have sex with his wife according to what his job was. If a husband refuses to have sex with his wife, she has grounds for divorce. Sex is supposed to be a joyous occasion, pleasurable for both partners. A husband and wife are forbidden to have sex while she is menstruating. After her period is over, she must bathe in a special ritual bath called a mikveh. Theh, they can have sex again. Most Orthodox men, take it further and will not touch their wives at all during their period. All sex must end in ejaculation in the vagina. The wife may give her husband oral sex if they both enjoy it, but he can’t ejaculate anywhere but in her vagina.