Celibacy or Potential Celibacy

 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.