[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

No, celibacy is NOT the ideal.

It is not God’s plan. That’s why God created Adam AND Eve. Why God commands us to be fruitful and multiply. Why God created man and woman. The ideal Christian life is husband and wife and their children. That is also what Jesus teaches. The traditional family unit is ideal.

No where in the Bible does Paul state that celibacy is a requirement for service in the priesthood. Fact is no one in the Bible does.

[DarkSavant]

No, celibacy is NOT the ideal.

Jesus and Paul said otherwise.

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

1 Corinthians 7: 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[b] 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.

No where in the Bible does Paul state that celibacy is a requirement for service in the priesthood. Fact is no one in the Bible does.

And I'm not saying it is. The Bible does not say it is a REQUIREMENT, but it points to being unmarried as the ideal. That's what I'm saying.

[StormPrepper]

“No, celibacy is NOT the ideal.”

Even more so, Paul said that forbidding to marry was the doctrine of the devil.

1 Tim 4:
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Paul was given a vision of the future where he sees false churches. He briefly mentions this and says that some will teach a doctrine of not getting married and others will teach against eating meat.

It is, what it is. There are only one church that teaches celibacy over marriage and only one that teaches against meat.