Great thread. Oldarmy, schmendeler, swimmerbabae, really appreciate the responses. I love these threads and learn a lot.
The problem seems to be the apparent contradiction between Genesis and the New Testament. Specifically, in the New Testament the lives of John the Baptist, Mary, Jesus, and Paul all point to the superiority of celibacy. Isn't Paul very clear about this in his first letter to the Corinthians (chapter 7):
It's because of the "immorality" (7:2) that Paul gives the teaching about men and women marrying, "
by way of concession, however, not as a command. Indeed,
I wish everyone to be as I am, but each has a particular gift from God, one of one kind and one of another." (7:6-7)
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Now to the unmarried and to widows, I say: it is a good thing for them to remain as they are, as I do, but if they cannot exercise self-control they should marry, for it is better to marry than to be on fire. (7:8-9)
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I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away.
I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction. (7:29-35)
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A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whomever she wishes, provided that it be in the Lord. She is more blessed, though, in my opinion, if she remains as she is, and I think that I too have the Spirit of God. (7:39-40)
These teachings are consistent with what k2 outlined above:
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All Christians, are called to die to the world (Romans 6:8) and live in the world as sojourners and aliens (1 Peter 2:11). All material treasures are a loss, rubbish, refuse (Phil 3:8). Everything means everything. There is nothing from this world that we take beyond death, not our children, not our spouses, or our jobs or houses. It's all rubbish, refuse, loss compared to the knowledge of God.
Isn't this what Christ says? "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26).
I think we forget about this, because it's so hard. It's foolishness to the world, and it's painful. But this is the cross we take up, that we die to ourselves. It's not easy - it's violent (Matthew 11:12), it's a cross. It's also where we find rest, a light load, a joy (Matthew 11:29-30). We have to learn from Him.
Additionally, the Galatians appear to be getting into all sorts of trouble and Paul exhorts them saying that "those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires." (5:24)
So the teachings to die to the world and not be of the world or attached to worldly things, including sexual passions appear to conflict with Genesis:
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God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. (1:28)
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body. (2:24)
To the woman he said: I will intensify your toil in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. (3:16)
Regarding 1:28, after reading more of the Church Fathers and the early Church, I think it can be inferred that Adam and Eve are given the command to procreate, but perhaps it is a passion-less and non-physical act. Does it mirror in some sense Mary/Jesus? Additionally, it is a mystery how child-bearing and child-rearing would work in Paradise where there was no aging, sickness, and death. How would a baby grow older? I think the general point is that there is a lot we don't know about Paradise and how the "day to day" would work.
However, marriage as the post-fall institution that we know is modeled off of Adam and Eve's relationship and for that reason it is good. It is a heresy to say that marriage is bad or that marital relations are bad. Moses makes this point clear in 2:24, which is commentary addressed to Israel in a post-fall world.
Oldarmy makes the excellent point that 3:16 points to the existence or potential of child-birth pre-fall in Paradise. I think this parallels the point the Fathers make above: Everything changed post-fall: Child-birth changed, the relationship between man and woman changed (including the act of martial relations), working changed, etc.
