Marital Infidelity

So much for: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." [1]

ashleymadison.com is a website that was recently hacked [2] exposing 39 million users worldwide [3] so far, most of them straight, presuambly married, men.  It is unfortunate that this revelation did not come soon enough for the United States Supreme Court to include it its majority opinion on gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges.  Part of the majority opinion is quoted below [with this blogger's annotations in brackets]:

"The nature of marriage is that, through its enduring bond [4], two persons together can find other freedoms [as millions of married men worldwide can attest to by their enrollments in ashleymadison.com] such as expression [of extramarital sexual desire], intimacy [with prostitutes] and spirituality [a secular government's concept of spirituality--whatever that entails].  This is true for all persons, whatever their sexual orientation. [5]

...  

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love [of recreational sex with different partners], fidelity [in the nominal sense], devotion [to satisfying one's sexual appetite], sacrifice [by staying married in an unfulfilled marital state] and family [as evidenced by an occasional group photo] ... Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions [but to find delight in debauchery, to live in sin and secrecy, to lust after those in one of civilization's oldest professions - (gay) prostitutes - and to engage them in sex, just like their straight counterparts.] [6]

Accordingly, for those who are unable to control one's libidinous urges to engage in wild fantasy sex with hot women or men that are only an Uber's ride away from one's hotel, it would be better not to marry in order to avoid the sin of adultery.  Adultery is bad but promiscuity before marriage is not any better.  While the Gospels are silent on promiscuity, they are clear about loving one another. Promiscuous sex is not borne out of love; it is using someone as an object to satisfy one's lustful desires.  Anything that is performed without love is without any redemptive value, including marital infidelity.



[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A14&version=KJV
[2] http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/07/online-cheating-site-ashleymadison-hacked/
[3] http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/20/9002185/ashley-madison-hacked-data-37-million-users
[4] It is precisely because of the constant, enduring bond and suffocating togetherness that a married couple not only can, but will find freedoms that pleases each individually.
[5] http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf, p.13.
[6] Ibid., p.28.