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Maybe we are understanding it differently, Chef Boyardee. I am looking at the context. He could have also meant that it was not a command to stay single. I am reading as a note in my Bible that some ancient manuscripts have translated vs7 as "for I wish that all men were even as I myself am.." (single, at least at the time that he wrote this), meaning that he says by way of concession not command vs. 2 "Because of immoralities, let each man have his own wife..." He would like for all to be as he is (vs7), but if they do not have self control, it is okay for them to marry. God bless.
That seems very unlikely. In the end, we do rely on probabilities for our faith (in anything). After all, The Disciples could have come up with "alternative" explanations for everything Christ said and did.
So let's say I have never read the Bible and grew up in a home where Christianity was never taught or encouraged. One day I visit a friend's house and sit down next to one on his coffee table. My friend's neighbor pays him a visit and he goes to the door for, say, 24 minutes. I get bored and pick up the Bible and by divine providence, I open up to the Songs of Solomon. Would I, at first, second or the eighteenth reading ever come away with the idea that the verses are speaking about "God's love for his church?"
I'm inclined to agree with everything you've said about this. I have no idea why anyone would look for an alternative explanation, but I think it seems baseless. It reminds me of Einstein seeing a problem, because the man on the train and the man at the train station observe two different things. Newton explains the whole problem, in plain English, but Einstein is/was implacable
A restriction to marriage is a pretty large restriction to begin with. Do you have a particular point that you'd like to make?
I disagree with your statement:
"if pleasure was God's primary purpose for sex, then He wouldn't have made so many rules preventing the search and maximization of that pleasure"
As God did not make rules that really prevent maximizing pleasure.
It may seem very unlikely to you, but it doesn't seem very unlikely to me, Chef Boyardee, in light of the context. It also doesn't seem very unlikely to some other Christians.
Doesn't it order people to have sex between a bed sheet considering there is a hole in the bed sheet???
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I am reading as a note in my Bible that some ancient manuscripts have translated vs7 as "for I wish that all men were even as I myself am.." (single, at least at the time that he wrote this), meaning that he says by way of concession not command vs. 2 "Because of immoralities, let each man have his own wife..." He would like for all to be as he is (vs7), but if they do not have self control, it is okay for them to marry. God bless.
