Cole_5.1_DQ

Society regulates and permits sexual behavior for the most obvious reason in the world: sex sells. Just looking at the porn industry, the United States makes $2 - $13 billion a year (according to Wikipedia), and that is only one area of business that sells sex. If the government did not regulate it, it would be another corruptible area for the black market. For example, if black market dealers were the only source of birth control, they could tamper with condoms, produce fake or ineffective pills, and fill a bottle that says "spermicide" with any liquid substance they want, all for enormous profit. Since people will have sex regardless of what the law states, it is far more beneficial to everyone to regulate it for the public's safety, tax it for the government's benefits, and provide quality products for the consumers who do not need (more) children. A lot of people have a moral dilemma with this; I have seen many people shoot down the concept of premarital or casual sex, and I have also found that many of these people are hypocrites. I am neutral opinioned as far as the issue goes, but people that delude themselves with a self-concept of innocence disgust me, particularly when they establish their own boundaries of sexual acceptance (the stuff that they have done) and judge anyone who has gone further or in a different direction. For instance, some people believe oral sex is okay, but sexual intercourse is not. They are essentially the same, save for the symbolic and biological differences. Marriage is merely a government-recognized ceremony that closes certain doors and opens new ones. From a religious standpoint, it might have a symbolic meaning, but from a logical standpoint, there is no reason that someone should have to wait until the government has recognized love to have sex. Here is my question: if someone never has sex until they are married, but they have been married ten times so that their sex is considered “proper”, are they hypocritical and wrong? (I am particularly interested from a traditional Christian perspective.)