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Summary
- No passage of Scripture forbids dating or marrying someone who has had sex before, and no passage in the New Testament requires a Christian to marry a virgin.
- The law of Moses barred priests from marrying a prostitute or a divorced woman, and required the high priest to marry a virgin (Leviticus 21:7, 13–14); other Israelites had no such rule.
- Rahab, called a prostitute in Joshua 2:1, appears in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5) and among the examples of faith in Hebrews 11:31.
- Catholic canon law lists twelve impediments to marriage (canons 1083–1094); a sexual past is not one of them, while a marriage to an unbaptized person needs a dispensation (canon 1086).
- The World Health Organization states that no examination can prove whether a woman has had intercourse.
- Catholic, Orthodox and many Protestant churches teach that sex belongs within marriage, and the Catechism says that “all the baptized are called to chastity” (2348).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version (Genesis 4:1; 24:16; Leviticus 21:7, 10, 13–14; Deuteronomy 22:13–21; 24:2; Joshua 2:1; Ruth 4:10; Hosea 1:2; Matthew 1:5; Luke 1:34, with the ESV footnote “Greek since I do not know a man”; John 4:18, 28–29, 39; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 6:14; Colossians 3:9–10; Hebrews 11:31; 1 John 1:9). https://www.biblegateway.com/
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2343 and 2348. Vatican. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P85.HTM
- Code of Canon Law, Book IV, canons 1083–1094 and 1098. Vatican. https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html
- Sanders, S. A., and J. M. Reinisch. “Would You Say You ‘Had Sex’ If…?” JAMA 281, no. 3 (1999): 275–277. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9918484/
- World Health Organization. “United Nations agencies call for ban on virginity testing,” 17 October 2018. https://www.who.int/news/item/17-10-2018-united-nations-agencies-call-for-ban-on-virginity-testing
- NHS. “Sexually transmitted infections (STIs),” page last reviewed 13 May 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis/
- “Rahab,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahab
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