Why cant priests marry? (1 Viewer)

[nogoodname]

anyone? I mean jew priests or w/e their called can marry but how come Christians cant?

 

[afr0byte]

anyone? I mean jew priests or w/e their called can marry but how come Christians cant?

I'd guess it'd be about purity/focus, but I'm not sure.

 

[Gibberish]

Various reasons added on to each other of the years.

A pope decrees priests shouldn't have sex because that he found an inner enlightenment by not having sex.

Another pope doesn't want church property to go to the priests family if the priests dies so he decrees Priests families cannot inherit any items given to the Priests by the church.

Another pope believes women are naturally sinful and being close to a woman will cause the priest to become sinful and 'unclean'.

The list goes on. Sorry I am not sourcing or provide pope names. I just don't have time to research the exact names and dates. If there is any disagreement I can find sources and post. You can Google each scenario and I guarantee you'll find links.

Before about 300 CE most priests were married and had children, many also had mistresses as was common at the time. Jesus's own followers and the first preachers of Christianity were married. It was gradually between 300-1500 CE that priests were banned if marred or had sex and sworn to take an oath of celibacy.

The bible itself teaches the exact opposite of celibacy. The only bible source the church has is a verse in Matthew that talks about not judging men who are choose to be celibant. Also the modified version of the gospels never mention Jesus having or not having sex or a wife. So since it doesn't mention it that must mean he never did it so priests want to be mroe like Jesus. The gospels were edited and created as we know them today by several Councils between 200-500 CE, so who besides the church knows what was edited and what was not.

 

[nogoodname]

Various reasons added on to each other of the years.

A pope decrees priests shouldn't have sex because that he found an inner enlightenment by not having sex.

Another pope doesn't want church property to go to the priests family if the priests dies so he decrees Priests families cannot inherit any items given to the Priests by the church.

Another pope believes women are naturally sinful and being close to a woman will cause the priest to become sinful and 'unclean'.

The list goes on. Sorry I am not sourcing or provide pope names. I just don't have time to research the exact names and dates. If there is any disagreement I can find sources and post. You can Google each scenario and I guarantee you'll find links.

Before about 300 CE most priests were married and had children, many also had mistresses as was common at the time. Jesus's own followers and the first preachers of Christianity were married. It was gradually between 300-1500 CE that priests were banned if marred or had sex and sworn to take an oath of celibacy.

The bible itself teaches the exact opposite of celibacy. The only bible source the church has is a verse in Matthew that talks about not judging men who are choose to be celibant. Also the modified version of the gospels never mention Jesus having or not having sex or a wife. So since it doesn't mention it that must mean he never did it so priests want to be mroe like Jesus. The gospels were edited and created as we know them today by several Councils between 200-500 CE, so who besides the church knows what was edited and what was not.

So we got a greedy pope who didn't want to give land to priests and guy who is sexest to women and a guy who said he found enlightenment by not having sex. Wow and their giving up sex why............? By the way this would solve the whole molesting little kids thing.

 

[Apostle13]

By the way this would solve the whole molesting little kids thing.

There is a strong push to allow priests to marry that began a couple or three years back... Implicit timing or what..?

 

[tecoyah]

anyone? I mean jew priests or w/e their called can marry but how come Christians cant?

Primarily, the reasoning has to do with solidifying power, and evolved into what it is over many centuries. This might help:

"Although the value of celibacy has also long rested upon the belief that self-renunciation made a person more holy, the continued existence of an all-male priesthood means that the importance of celibacy cannot be divorced from an accompanying view of women as being less moral and less worthy than men.

As a consequence, married priests were prohibited from celebrating the Eucharist for a full day after having sexual intercourse with their wives. Because there was a trend to celebrate the Eucharist more and more often, sometimes even daily, there was great pressure on priests to be celibate just to fulfill their basic religious functions - and eventually they were prohibited from having sex at all with their wives. Because of this, celibacy among priests was already somewhat common by 300 A.D., when the Spanish Council of Elvira required that bishops, priests, and deacons who were married abstain from sex with their wives.

It wasn't until 1139, with the Second Lateran Council, that mandatory celibacy was officially imposed on all priests. Any marriage entered into by a priest was regarded as invalid and anyone currently married had to separate from their spouses - leaving them to whatever fate God had in store for them, even if it meant leaving them destitute. Of course this was an immoral thing to do to those spouses, and many clergy realized that there was little religious or traditional basis for it, so they defied that order and continued in their marriages.

Perhaps the final blow against priests' ability to marry came during the Council of Trent (1545-1563) - and through a technicality. It was at this time that the church asserted that no one could be considered to have a valid Christian marriage unless that marriage were performed by a valid priest and in front of two witnesses. Before this, private marriages performed by priests or, indeed, just about anyone else, were common in some areas. Sometimes the only people who were there was the officiant and the couple. Now, however, such clandestine marriages were impossible - and this effectively eliminated marriage for the clergy.

The Council of Trent, called in order to combat the challenges posed by the Protestant Reformation, also made a very interesting statement regarding the church's position on "family values":

"If anyone says that it is not better and more godly to live in virginity or in the unmarried state than to marry, let him be anathema."

http://atheism.about.com/od/romancatholicism/a/celibacy_2.htm

Many Christian Sects however, have no problem with Marriage and sex.....Hell, my minister (unitarian) is wicked Hawt, and married to what I can only assume is a very happy man.

 

[Gibberish]

So we got a greedy pope who didn't want to give land to priests and guy who is sexist to women and a guy who said he found enlightenment by not having sex. Wow and their giving up sex why............?

The main reason in cleanliness. Sex drives people to do things they ordinarily would not do and commit acts against their better judgment. This of whelming power of sexual desire is seen as a negative and any negative in a life of some seeking enlightenment hinders that person from reaching their goal.

IMO Jesus thought of men and women on an equal level and the conservative founders of Christianity (Peter in particular) still thought of woman as a first sinners and thought it wrong for a woman to lead any religious movement. Perhaps even a woman was instructed to lead Christianity after Jesus’ death and some of the male followers were not going to have that. So that got the ball rolling. Of course that is only my theory.

By the way this would solve the whole molesting little kids thing.

The Church fails to acknowledge it's true priests do anything of the sort. They are much like the army, Don't ask don't tell.

If you want to read an interesting theory on females in early Christianity read The Expected One. The story it self is not that exciting but after halfway in it goes on to tell a different story of Jesus’ life from the perspective of Mary Magdelene, the story is true to the bible and most historical accounts I have read but not Catholic teachings. Of course it is just a story/theory made by the author and should be taken as such. You can read an interview with the author here: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=websites&id=4602173

 

[Thorgasm]

anyone? I mean jew priests or w/e their called can marry but how come Christians cant?

They don't allow gay marriage.:rofl

 

[ngdawg]

So we got a greedy pope who didn't want to give land to priests and guy who is sexest to women and a guy who said he found enlightenment by not having sex. Wow and their giving up sex why............? By the way this would solve the whole molesting little kids thing.

No, it wouldn't. Pedophilia doesn't disappear because a molester gets married-many are married to begin with.

 

[nogoodname]

No, it wouldn't. Pedophilia doesn't disappear because a molester gets married-many are married to begin with.

Yes but priests do it because they are sexuraly frusatred it thought or w/e because the lack of sex.

 

[Strakera]

Preist can not get married since they are suppost to stay faitful to God only.
And since marrige is religiously all about faithful to another being you cant devicade your whole soul to God.

 

[Strakera]

Proably since they live after different believes! the bibel and the "toran" doesn't have exaktly the same "life rules". There for marriges might be something great in jewish believes.. But marriges is something good in both religous in one way because both religions support marriges before having children. So.. non of the religions are strongly against marrige but christians prefer that you devigate your whole faith to God.

 

[Mach]

The reasons I had heard was as someone else remarked, tied to the based of power of the "church" in keeping land, and spreading it's influence.

After marriage, when a preist woud die, the church would often lose that land to his family. This was unacceptable, so they did away with marriage.

Also, free from lust is a good marketing tool they can use to attract followers. Yet we all know that this had no effect on either their lust, or their willingness to abuse children sexually, through even today.

-Mach

 

[Mille]

I think that it's because of Jesus Christ was celibacy so that's why all the Christians priests can't marry or have sex.

 

[Revolutionary]

Jesus was addressed as a rabbi -- a recognized teacher in Judaism. Rabbis had to be married in His day and also there were strong societal attitudes in Hebrew culture against a man of 30 still being single.

The Bible says nothing of Jesus being single either.

 

[Gibberish]

I think that it's because of Jesus Christ was celibacy so that's why all the Christians priests can't marry or have sex.

Jesus’ followers were most likely married and all priests for the next 300 years were married and had mistresses. Jesus is not the reason but is most likely an argument for celibacy.

The problem with this is men of that time did not carry the name of Rabbi without being married, so unless Jesus was an exception even before many people knew he was more then just preacher he was most likely married too.

[* puts on conspiracy hat *]
The same councils that decided that priests should be celibate were also the same councils that edited and picked which books and/or sections of books would be used in today's bible. It would have been simple for them to go through and edit all wording related to Jesus' marriage, wife, and/or children, if any existed. None of these things would have in anyway deminshed Jesus' role as a Christian diety.
[* takes off conspiracy hat *]

 

[Patrickt]

Initially, priests in the Catholic church could marry. I think the decision to prohibit marriage was based on inheritance. In Europe at the time, illegimate sons could not inherit. Celibacy was impose on all priests in 1139 at the Second Lateran Council.

 

[paulmarkj]

Living in England, where most of the popumation of protestant, we are used to he clergy being married, in fact the role of the Vicar's wife has been debated: it is often expected that the Vicar's wife be part of the job., and they sometimes object to being expected to contribute to the job.

Priests in Brazil have married and then been ex -ommunicated, so they just carry on preaching anyway and the their flock carry on going to the services. In the UK there are less and less priests becasue no one wants the job. The number of new nuns has reduced to practically zero, even with many reforms, priests will go the same way unless there is some radical modernisation.

 

[Red_Dave]

anyone? I mean jew priests or w/e their called can marry but how come Christians cant?

Its mainly a Roman Catholic thing, protestant preists are normally able to. As far as i can tell the idea is that if a preist has a wife and family he,s going to be busy looking after them. Whereas if a preist is single he can devote more time to his congregation. Even so im a lasped evangelical so i wouldnt know a great deal.