Thanks for the well thought out reply. I regret that I don't have a lot of time right now after replying to CSL below. Please read that reply as it applies here as well. But I'm really not trying to convince anyone. As I said below, what you believe is between you and God, not you and me. I am merely stating what I believe. The kings and slave issue has been brought up before. Just because the Bible acknowledges that something exists isn't an endorsement of it. I'm sure God is none too pleased with the current political scene either, but we are told to obey the authorities over us, at least as far as it doesn't counterdict God's commands.

And while love is always encouraged in the Bible, sex is not love. It can be an expression of love, but it is also a gratification of a physical need. If I had a dime for every time someone at BC got on their high horse and espoused about how no one better ever talk against the LOVE they and their partner share, when in actuality they were talking about the sex. It IS possible to have love without sex. And it seems clear, at least to me, that the Bible is fairly specific when it comes to when sex as an expression of love is permissible. But of course, you are free to disagree.

Dakota