The Question: Given a man grew far enough in faith, and became close to God, would he have to be celibate?
No. A man growing in faith, he would not have to be celibate. This also depends on what a man was called to do, and if he ended up in particular positions of authority.
- But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)
- “’The woman he marries must be a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, (Leviticus 21:13,14)
April 2014, I woke up one day feeling like I was a 30 year old Levite. Not that I was from the Tribe of Levi, but I felt tied to God's rules for his priestly class. What that meant most to me, at the time, was I could only marry a virgin.
Previously: "A Bridegroom Part 1" from In God We Trust Blog.
Jesus Christ is The Bridegroom. The Song of Songs is in the Bible as a representation of God's love for Israel or The Church. I am not Jesus. Jesus made me a Bridegroom. As a prodigal son, I had hurt some people in sin. Part of my penance, I suppose, was going back through females I had history with, and working to marry them. I was looking to be right. I worked through some things.
Lets go back to the question at hand. Would a man need to be celibate as he comes closer to God? God is love. (1 John 4:8) Given a man was a servant of God, he could not be in conflict, with other men, in the realm of love and marriage in the wrong way. Given a man felt he was wronged, or slighted by a servant of God, that may reflect how men view God.
Given someone was a Priest/Pastor, that is a major leadership role in the community. Does said Priest end up with his choice of brides? Does a dad, with an eligible daughter, look to marry her off to a Priest for favors? This may be a problem. In Orthodox Christianity, a married man may have become a Priest, but a Priest could not be married.
Women can be cunning. Given there was a Man of God, he may have been charismatic. God is awesome. Some of that awesome may have filtered down to a servant of God. A married woman may have cunningly manipulated her husband towards a divorce, or his death, to be with something she perceived as better coming along. There may be problems there.
Given a Servant of God was to marry a Prostitute, where was her heart really? With one of her other lovers? Does she really respect him? Given a Servant of God became famous in a community, is there a man at a pub somewhere talking about how he knew the servant's wife carnally. That would hurt honor. That may hurt how men perceive God.
Given a Servant of God was hard, keeping the standards, would certain men work to try to attack him through his wife? Cunning people in the community may have worked to set a man's wife to
persuade him this way or that way. A Priest/Pastor somewhere, some gangsters may potentially have threatened his family. A man in a position of authority in a
Church may have been attacked through his wife.
I worked through a lot of topics or concepts like this with God. I may be able to, in my calling, marry a virgin. I am not a Priest in a position of authority. It is hard to find a virgin. I may have had to be part of a community, and be trusted in that community for something like that.
I suppose a Matchmaker is a solution. There are Matchmakers online. Said online Matchmakers don't cater to men looking for virgin brides. I would have to be in particular religious communities for that.
I have found being celibate to be ok. I was worried in 2014. I am pretty comfortable today.