One of God's first laws and commandments to man was marriage. And from the Garden of Eden to the present time, God has continued to sanction and bless those who have honoured this covenant. Marriage, solemnised by God in the beginning, was established with a Divine acceptance for the purpose of propagation of the species, for mutual help, and for comfort and companionship. It was a union so sacred and spiritual in its nature that the man and woman were to become "one flesh" (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5). This inseparable union is spiritually illustrated in a similar comparison with Christ to His Church (Ephesians 5:30); and God has throughout history given many laws and commandments concerning marriage -- not restraining marriage, but rather restricting anything that would break the bonds of marriage, viz. fornication, adultery, whoredom, etc.. Among these perils to marriage was celibacy [the state of being unmarried], which was never an acceptable practice in ancient Israel, nor in early Christianity, but rather a doctrine of the pagans until it became incorporated into an apostate Christianity. By its nature celibacy contributes little to the quality or character of man -- much less in a woman, because fruitful propigation of the species is contributory; barrenness in anything leads to extinction.

Paul foresaw the apostacy of Christianity and warned the believers concerning these events. Celibacy, among other things, was "taught by demons":

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits, and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth" (1 Timothy 4:1-3, NIV).

Interpolation of the scriptures became a fertile field for harvesting of alien philosophies and ideologies. This confusion later became the doctrinal law of the Roman Church. Under the influence of Greek gnostic thinking and Roman traditional laws, the principles of Christianity suffered worse than through the centuries of barbaric persecution. Superstition and useless ritualism replaced divine revelation. Then, from among these amalgamated superstitions for the Gospel, came our time-honoured traditions of history which were so far from the original teachings that when some of the truthful remains of the scriptures were found, it caused a Reformation.

Celibacy had become such a dominant law of the prevailing Church that it required hiding the scriptures away from lay members; indeed, in some cases the laws of God had to be modified or thrown aside to corroborate with the later doctrinal innovations.

From the age of 12 to 30, a gap of 18 years, the scriptural history of the life of Yah'shua (Jesus) is missing. That "He grew in wisdom" is an extremely insufficient record in the life of One so important as the Redeemer of the world. John the Beloved wrote about the words and deeds of Yah'shua (Jesus) which, he said, would be sufficient to "fill the libraries" (John 21:25). From this testimony we can be reasonably sure that much more was written in the life of Yah'shua (Jesus) than that contained in the few pages of the four gospels. Even many other known books of the New Testament are missing:

An earlier letter of Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor.5:9)
Another letter of Paul to the Ephesians (Eph.3:3)
A letter of Paul from Laodicia (Col.4:16)
A former letter of Jude (Jude 1:3)
Prophecies of Enoch (Jude 1:14)

Because great portions of the story of Christianity have been lost, discarded, or altered, the true facts are difficult, if not impossible, to find. And to these hazy scraps of history, apostacy has added dogmas, rituals, and the traditions of men. The voice of Protestantism declared the error of this historical patchwork of human creations.

Throughout the centuries of time these traditions evolved into Church law, and that law, in turn, was advocated as historical fact. The real facts remain like a skeleton of the original structure of Christianity. So aloof from the real truth are these traditions that facts appear strange, if not erroneous when brought to light.

The history of the marriage law of Christianity is not valid as it has come down through centuries of traditional customs, philosophies, and man-managing; especially through channels which have corrupted almost every other doctrine and ordinance of a sacred gospel. The laws of the marriage covenant have become as perverted as any other part of our religious history. Through the traditions and assumptions of men, celibacy became not only an accepted doctrine of the Church from men and women, but even for Christ!

Fundamentally the question is not, "What proof do we have that Yah'shua (Jesus) was married?" but rather, "Where is there any proof that celibacy was a doctrinal law of God?"

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This page was created on 16 May 1998 Updated on 7 July 2001