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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
Leviticus 15:19 says, "When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening." Similarly, Levi...
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Seth Freeman
Supporter
People have a lot more freedom in their sexual relationships with their spouses than they probably will initially feel comfortable with. A marriage relationship is the most intimate and beautiful relationship that we can engage with next to our walk with Christ. Marriage as an institute was established even prior to the law. It was the first institute established by God. As long as you and your spouse are mutually engaged in your physical relationship, mutually happy, and mutually consenting, then you and her are welcome to enjoy each other any day of the month. The beginning of I Corinthians 7 may be relevant.
Jeremiah Kaaya
Supporter
I believe a sensible noble man can’t go ahead and sleep with a wife who is in her monthly periods. Whether we can back it up in the scriptures or not, it is wrong, spiritually, logically, it is wrong. Menstruation is usually only a few days, three, sometimes four days. After that, you are together as much as you wish. The argument that it is an affair between two willing adult lovers is similar to the one the homos are staging. They ask what issue do you have with two consenting adult individuals? Consent is not necessarily proven right. If that was the case, everybody would engage in any type of behaviour claiming that it is not written about anywhere in the Holy Scriptures, more so in the New Testament. Let us try to avoid doing things that even the worldly people can’t do. Jesus the CHRIST says; “For I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” Mathew 5:20. There are many issues where we do not only have to search for scriptures about, so that even though we do not get them (the scriptures), we should never nurture a feeling that we are at freedom to act the way we would wish. The Holy Scriptures are very important, the word of God. On the other hand though, there are so many controversies in the world today about which many people are seeking answers. Many of such controversies have no clear cut scriptures for us to be able to have clear answers for them. Why do we struggle to seem to have an answer for everything? Where is the work of the Holy Spirit who was promised to us by our Lord Jesus the CHRIST (John 14:16-18)? The Jesus age is much more about listening to the Holy Spirit than struggling for written evidence. Let us allow the Holy Spirit (the one who convicts of sin) guide us in such controversial issues. The answer to this question may not necessarily be traced in the scriptures (NT) just like many other issues, but shall we also conclude that there would be no conviction at all if we went on to act in that particular way? And if we are solely to rely on scriptures, shall we only have to rely on the New Testament (NT) and always declare the Old Testament (OT) irrelevant? God forbid. The Bible is a whole book, each bit relying on the other. Both the OT and the NT still do apply to us as much (Matthew 5:17-18). We are not much different from the people that lived before the age of our Lord Jesus the CHRIST. The very reason they were instructed not to sleep with menstruating wives could be the same reason we of today should not. The law may not strictly be applicable today as it was in the OT, but neither are we at freedom to act whichever way we would wish. There are many things we have given ourselves freedom to do yet if we inquired of the Holy Spirit, the answer would be much different. That is why Jesus could never leave us to guide ourselves, we could easily go astray, just as history has proven. He knew if He left us without the Holy Spirit and in His (Jesus’) absence, we could easily come to many unfounded conclusions. Additionally, I strongly believe that sex is a game of the mind. Will an unpossessed person go ahead and have the pleasure in sex with a menstruating wife? I mean it is a game that requires a strong but free mind in order to be able to carry it on to the end. Otherwise, people even have the strength to sleep with fellow men, animals, to rape. Someone may easily conclude that; since there is no scripture barring me from sleeping with a beast, I have the freedom to go ahead and sleep with it. Will it be acceptable? Did the NT have to go into all these details as was the OT so that we can satisfactorily conclude that scripture does or does not allow us? To have the strength to do it with a wife who is menstruating is no justification. As Christians, we must avoid doing things that aren’t exemplary in anyway. We must raise the bar above the rest of the world, that is the one sure way we can appeal to so many yet to accept the gospel of truth. We must remain as Christians in all aspects, much, much more when we are isolated, say when in our living rooms, not so? Avoid uncontrolled appetite. Uncontrolled appetite is the reason most people are disarraying in many issues. My conclusion is that; noble men do not sleep with their wives when they are menstruating. It is just not right, whether scripturally or not.
Pam Way
Supporter
I believe we must give careful consideration to the laws regarding sex in Leviticus based on Christ's words in Matt. 5:17-18 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." We are freed from the punishments of the law by Christ's redeeming blood, but we are still expected to follow and obey God's commands. Christ is the author of the Law; the one who made the law and it's consequences. He was also the one who volunteered to be the one who takes the countless punishments that I would be required to pay for breaking that law. Does it make sense that the Author of the law, the Author that does not change, but is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, the Author that carefully laid out His Holy observances, declared them good, mandatory and permanent, would then supposedly turn around, when Christ comes and not only cancel them, render them useless, obsolete? How could one have hope in God's promises, if every few hundred years he cancels out what he said previously and makes up new rules? The New Covenant deals with how atonement is achieved and who is included among those that are permitted to use this new level of atonement for sin. Simplified: 1) we commit sin. 2) Christ's blood makes our atonement. 3) what is sin? 4) it is transgression against the 1st covenant- against the Law. If the Law is gone, then no one sins any longer. Then what would be the point of Christ's death and resurrection? We are still called to be obedient, holy, set apart--different from the world.
Jafeda Waba
Supporter
My opinion is not scriptural but based on someone's experience. I happen to be discussing with a very close friend who is a medical personnel on this subject matter. She told me when a woman is menstruating it's waste products that are being expelled from the body and it contains a lot of bacteria. She tried it before and her husband ended up with some rashes on his private area and she had to treat him with antibiotics. I would advise couples to refrain from sexual intercourse during this period on health grounds. God bless.
Tim Maas
Supporter
Under the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, a special religious significance was placed on blood, due to its association with life, and the shedding of it being the only acceptable atonement for sin (as illustrated by passages from the Law such as Leviticus 17:11). This was the basis for the laws governing contact with blood, including a woman's status during menstruation (Leviticus 15:19-24 and Leviticus 20:18). Now that Christ has provided the full and final atonement for sin, these restrictions no longer have relevance with respect to Christian conduct. It is a private matter between the husband and the wife.
Myron Robertson
Supporter
Jesus tells us in John 5:45-47 that everything Moses wrote was in some way a prophecy about him and the work he does in our salvation. So, all Biblical law is prophecy, and it is in this way that it remains most important for us, and it is in this way that very few people ever study it. For this answer I am not terribly concerned about the meaning of this prophecy or the symbols contained in it except to say that the soul (not life -- that is an intentional mistranslation of nephesh, which only means soul) is in the blood (Lev 17:11, 14, Dt 12:23). Any bleeding of any kind is a reminder that we are mortal; we are only truly alive when body, soul, and spirit are all together, and the body dies when the soul is poured out. Many people have pointed to the so-called health laws, but these are not about sanitation per se, they are about ritual cleanliness. There is a big difference. While they do teach some very important lessons about sanitation, that is a by-product of the symbolism God uses in the prophecies, not the purpose of the prophecy. The symbol is useless if the shadow and the spiritual reality (Col 2:17) do not have some visible relationship, but I can assure you that the seven day ritual uncleanliness from touching a dead body or touching a bleeding woman or touching something she touched has absolutely nothing to do with sanitation and everything to do with the prophecy behind that law. This is not to say that there are no sanitation reasons for avoiding intercourse during menstruation or that God would prefer that we keep to the most sanitary practices possible no matter what activities we become involved in. Paul says, "Everything is lawful for me but not everything is beneficial," (1 Cor 6:23, 10:12), but Jesus said not a single letter or serif on the letter will be removed from the law until all of it is fulfilled (Mt 5:17, 18). Since portions of the law deal with the second coming and well beyond it is absolutely clear that none of it ended at the cross, even though the first work, the death work, was completed at that time. After the resurrection, we became responsible to the law in a different way. The physical shadows of the law seen in Moses no longer matter and by that standard everything is lawful for us, but there will still be consequences for going against the natural order of things, and disease is still possible because we are still in the mortal body. Is it ok to eat pig? Sure but you can still get trichinosis from it, and it contains a number of dangerous toxins too. You will not be magically protected from the effects of those either. Some other answers make reference to medical research into the matter. I consider this to be the word of God as well where such research is honest. God is the God of truth (Heb emet which comes from the same root as amen) (Is 65:16) and his spirit leads us into all truth (Jn 16:13), so anything that is true is the word of God. The problem with scientific research is that the bias of the scientists analysing the data, or the corporation or government paying for the research always influences the "results" and they may not be at all accurate. This is why different people present medical evidence that falls on both sides of the issue. In short, whether God finds this acceptable or abhorrent, the seven days of ritual uncleanliness is not in any way about sanitation, it is about other things, especially the 7000 years of sin before he begins a new work, and this "violation" will not send you to hell for all eternity.
Philip Davies
Supporter
Reading through all these answers it is clear that responses fall into two major groups. On the one hand there are those who say that God's laws never change and like God are eternal and so we are subject to laws in Leviticus and so must refrain from this act. On the other hand, there are those who say that because of Christ's work on the cross we are no longer under the old covenant and the ceremonial laws of Leviticus no longer apply to Christians. This group says that Christians are free to act as they please with mutual consent. This is a really fundamental difference that goes much deeper than the question of when you can and cannot have sex with your wife. This is about the relationship of the old testament to the new testament. It's about the whole Christian life, whether it's governed by the old testament or by the new testament. And crucially it's about our relationship with God personally: Are we living under old testament law or are we living under new testament love? There was a huge tussle in the early church over this very question. Some apostles wanted new Christians to follow all the old testament rules and even be circumcised. Paul stood against this. He argued that Christians do not obey the old testament ceremonial laws and they don't have to be circumcised. Paul won that argument and summed up his teaching in Gal 5:1-5 and the church has been clear since that time that we are not under old testament regulations. It's important that we understand where we stand on this fundamental question.
Elise Michelle
Supporter
It says in Leviticus that no, you are not allowed to lie with your wife while she is menstruating. Or any woman for that matter. She is unclean at that time and so you will be made unclean.
L.S. James
Supporter
Everything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; also everything that she sits on shall be unclean. Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. (Lev 15:20, 21) Scripture, Leviticus chapters 15-21 in particular, places a high premium on the issue of blood. It is also intriguing that Scripture should have the terms "impurity" and "unclean" applied to a woman's menstruation. Medical science may offer some further insight: 'At about day 14 of an average 28-day cycle, the egg leaves the ovary. This is called ovulation. After the egg has left the ovary, it travels through the fallopian tube to the uterus. Hormone levels rise and help prepare the uterine lining for pregnancy. A woman is most likely to get pregnant during the 3 days before or on the day of ovulation. Keep in mind, women with cycles that are shorter or longer than average may ovulate before or after day 14. A woman becomes pregnant if the egg is fertilized by a man’s sperm cell and attaches to the uterine wall. If the egg is not fertilized, it will break apart. Then, hormone levels drop, and the thickened lining of the uterus is shed during the menstrual period.' https://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/menstruation.html 'A period, or menstruation, is the shedding of the endometrium - the uterine lining. Menstruation is also known as menses...The word "menses" comes from the Latin menses meaning "months". The word "menstruation" comes from Old Frenchmenstrual, which comes from Latin menstrualis, meaning "monthly," especially "of or having monthly courses.' http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154699.php That blood is life and blood gives life, life drained of blood is all but death and destruction. And in this case, death bears up in the disintegration of an ovum followed by 'the thickened lining of the uterus.' This, in my humble opinion, may further reason as to why the terms "impurity" and "unclean" applies to a woman's menstruation. So, "Is it acceptable to God for a husband and wife to have sex while the wife is menstruating / having her period?" We, who are in Christ, may have 613 reasons to be thankful for!
Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
Wiersbe said that it was one of 8 negative offenses/sins that would “incur ritual uncleanness” and that this man avoids. Dr. Wiersbe also says Menstruation means uncleanness (Ezek 36:17) and most importantly see Lev 15:19-30. In ancient Jewish law, a woman in her menstrual cycles was considered ceremonially unclean and not able to do worship (Lev 15:19-30). A man who had sex with her also was ceremonially unclean and unable to do worship. While the law was only partly hygienic, it was mainly based on God’s wish that his people be pure in worship and relationships.
Tracey Moran
Supporter
Ezekiel 18 describes a man who is just and does what is right as one who does not approach a woman during her impurity. God's laws are eternal, just as Christ stated in Matthew 5. He has given us his law for our life and blessing. Deut 30:19 Sin is the transgression of his law. 1 John 3:4 For the commandment [is] a lamp; and the law [is] light; and reproofs of instruction [are] the way of life: Prov 6:23
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