Acts 15:29-- "unlawful marriage" or "fornication question...?

Well in the original manuscripts, it is the Greek "porneia" (as English "porno"-graphy), meaning:

1) illicit sexual intercourse

a) adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.

b) sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18

c) sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. 10:11,12

2) metaph. the worship of idols

a) of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols

the second translation its obviously a bad translation ... there is not such thing called unlawful marriage , i think they were trying to be politically correct and wanted to avoid writing sex with out being married which would had been a way better translation for those who don't understand what fornication means , they obviously wanted to make the new American bible more understandable and obviously failed miserably in that particular verse .

edit : they are talking about eating some particular things and then when they say fornication they really mean fornication not "unlawful marriage" which is a miss-translation . you might go ahead and check other translation and im pretty sure all others will say fornication .

"unlawful marriage" is a paraphrase, and isn't what the Greek says. Fornication is defined as any sexual activity outside of marriage. But be aware that there was more than one type of marriage in existence at the time Acts was written. So it isn't confined to the "one man-one woman" concept. For example, polygamy was common, and was only forbidden to clergy in the Christian church.

Edit: history also records same-sex marriage and polyandry in existence in ancient times. Since marriage wasn't regulated by government or even so much by religion at the time, the concept of an "unlawful" marriage would be somewhat meaningless.

This is just ONE of the many issues that have been caused by translations of the Bible.

The section you quote is covering sacrifices, kosher foods, and marriage. Sacrifices today are a pointless subject, as you know. Kosher is too, really. But, the 'marriage' issue is very, very hot.

Fornication is and is not 'unlawful marriage.' Today, we think of them as very different things, but they're not really.

The OLD church had rules about what was and was not a lawful marriage. No priors, eligibility, faith issues, racial issues, same-sex issues, and so on. Before that, 99% of the Internet would be considered married, as they looked not at the church's rules, but if you had had sex or not. That first person, that was husband/wife number one. Each one after that was another number. For proof, look to Christ's conversation with Mary, at the well.

However, organized religion only counted public marriages as lawful, and then under conditions. Any extra sex was fornication. I'm not sure exactly how they looked at anal or oral sex, but I don't think it was as popular then as it is today. While still fun, it was seen as a way to have children,mostly sons, so... The church believed this very much, which is why the ban on contraception came along.

To be simple, gays could not marry. They could have sex, but this was seen as 'sick' in most forms, and accepted as sex in a few, but never as a marriage. The Greeks seemed to have enjoyed this far more than most, but it was by no means rare. The 'myth' is that it was practiced in Sodom, and was therefore called Sodomy. While this applied mostly to men on men, it was no doubt also practiced by girls who wanted to remain pure until marriage, or other with that fetish. Again, verification can be found in the texts, and in modern porn, to which few are unaware of.

Different cultures have always had different rules for marriage. They can be as simple as sleeping together, even not having sex but sharing the bed, to year long ceremonies that would be impossible to afford today. Even today, Wicca has a "Hand-fasting" ritual which is different from the christian ceremony of exchanging rings. To them, it is no less binding, but many refuse to accept it.

Today, well, sex isn't that important to marriage. Instead, it seems to be the misery one has with someone, that bonds them. Gays and straights have sex freely, and have since the 1960s in America. Prior to that, well, sex was a taboo that was rarely spoken of, but done much more often.

Hope this helps some.

The greek word used is porneia (where we get "pornography"). Strong's Concordances states the following:

Porneia: from porneuo (harlotry) (includes adultery and incest); figuratively, idolatry----fornication

Unlawful marriage does not seem to be a valid translation of the word, as it is much broader in context than unlawful marriages. Since the rest of the verse seems to be connected with pagan religions (pagan sacrifice, eating blood, eating sacrificed animals), I would imagine that what the speaker had in mind was the sexual acts associated with the 'worship' of certain pagan gods in their temples, or simply the figurative form of the word, idol worship in general.

Fornication comes from the Greek Porneia, meaning an extreme use of the sexual practices. The kind people in Sodom and Gomorrah practiced. The realm of possibilities is rather great, and it involves using your reasoning. Today we use Achronyms to name some of them...It's more "politically correct", so we do not ofend any one.

The Torah - the Hebrew part of the Bible - mentioned that "man that lies with man as he lies with woman is abominable". These are rather harsh words, no? This would include anal sex, do you agree? Paul also speaks about the "un natural use of the woman". WHAT do you think it means, for a married person? Breakfast in bed? Hardly.

In yet another part of the Bible, Jesus tells John "use discernment the reader". So, use discernment.

By reading God's laws in the Old Testament we understand what is right and wrong. Fornication is any sexual activity between people who are not one man with one wife. "Unlawful marriage" is just a way of saying "any unmarried people having sex". Same sex marriage would have been considered by people at the time as a perversion of the nature of all humans. It would've been the same for Jews or Gentiles.

Fornication is a term that typically refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. I would think that "unlawful marriage", would mean a marriage that is not "lawful", therefore in those days when marriage wasn't legal between same sex couples, I don't believe it matters who the apostles were speaking about or too, because it means the same either way.

NIV says "You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things."

and the Message says..

From the apostles and leaders, your friends, to our friends in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Acts24-27We heard that some men from our church went to you and said things that confused and upset you. Mind you, they had no authority from us; we didn't send them. We have agreed unanimously to pick representatives and send them to you with our good friends Barnabas and Paul. We picked men we knew you could trust, Judas and Silas—they've looked death in the face time and again for the sake of our Master Jesus Christ. We've sent them to confirm in a face-to-face meeting with you what we've written. 28-29It seemed to the Holy Spirit and to us that you should not be saddled with any crushing burden, but be responsible only for these bare necessities: Be careful not to get involved in activities connected with idols; avoid serving food offensive to Jewish Christians (blood, for instance); and guard the morality of sex and marriage. These guidelines are sufficient to keep relations congenial between us. And God be with you! Barnabas and Paul Go Their Separate Ways

1.Vince Neil - Encino Man? 2.Gene Simmons - The robot flick with Tom selleck, Trick of Treat and KISS Meet the Phantom of the Park 3.Great White - Maid to Order 4.Henry Rollins - The Chase, The New Kid, Johnny Pneumonis...to name a few 5.Sting - Dune and Quadriphinia(Typo for sure) 6.Mick Jagger - Ned Kelly and Freejack 7.Zak Wylde - Rockstar 8.David Bowie - The Labyrinth and The Prestige 9.Aerosmith - The Sergeant Peppers movie 10.Ozzy - Austin Powers and Goldmember 11.Ritchie Sambora - Brokeback Mountain(LOL) 12.Geddy Lee - ? This is without looking it up.

Joel and your "additional details" are the correct interpretation of the verse.

The verse is talking about "cheating on God's true church or" participating in false religions and their practices. An "unlawful marriage" in this context is the figurative way of explaining aligning yourself or joining yourself with the false religions and practices of the day.

God's church=the Woman, the Virgin Bride of Christ.

False church=the harlot, the whore.

Marriage=the covenant made, baptism, membership, etc.

Fornication=the false ritualistic acts that the Man (Christ) has not established for His people.