"What does the Bible say about sex before marriage?"

First off, kudos to my opponent for having come up with such a unique and interesting argument, all on his own! Well, I'll just google the topic to get some information before I start. There we go! And the first result is:http://www.gotquestions.org...Oh. That's pretty similar, isn't it? Word for word, actually.Umm... Moving right along...1. Bible1 Corinthians 7:2 - "But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband."This is a fascinatingly ambiguous passage to base so much on! First off, it doesn't exactly /define/ sexual immorality, it merely has us infer that, whatever sexual immorality is occurring, marrying someone of the opposite gender AND having sex with them would cure it.Now I don't know about you, but I can imagine several things that getting married and having frequent sex would change. Perhaps it meant sex with animals. Perhaps it meant sex without procreation. Perhaps it merely meant being inflamed with desire!Clearly we need more information - Let's look through the rest of the bible and see if we can find examples of sex outside of marriage.In fact, let's march right up and see what the Bible's proclaimed "Wisest man who ever lived" has to say on the subject! 1 Kings 11:1-3 says that King Solomon had over 700 wives and 300 concubines. Wise AND good with the ladies. Wow!(Aside: If the bible does indeed enforce no sex outside of marriage, Solomon seems to have found a fascinating loophole - Just marry everyone you want to have sex with! Wisest man indeed!)300 concubines? Why, the very definition of those is people you have sex with outside of marriage!"Wait!", I hear you saying, "Concubines back then were REALLY wives." Well, let's see what the bible has to say about that!Leviticus 20:10 and Deutenomy 22:22 proscribe a pretty hefty penalty for having sex with another man's wife. Everyone involved it put to death!So if "concubine" means "wife", when people in the bible sleep with concubines, (2 Samuel 3:7, 2 Samuel 16:22, Judges 19:2) we should expect to see them put to death. But we see no such thing.2. Nature.So the bible is... confused, at best, about sex outside of marriage. Let's turn instead to the universe that God has designed, and our place in it.As my opponent ('s article) so rightly states, sex inside marriage feels great! Actually, sex outside marriage feels great too! And sex with animals feels-... Let's stop this line of thinking now, shall we?My opponent goes on to speak of sex's role in creating new humans. Assuming this is desirable, (Has my opponent looked out his window lately? We have enough humans.) sex is certainly efficient at the task. However, my opponent's fear of creating life outside of wedlock are vastly overstated - With the effectiveness of modern condoms, IUDs, sterilization procedures, the pill, the morning after pill, and other non-abortive contraceptive measures, this is vanishingly unlikely. I encourage my opponent to research and/or try any of these methods he feels is appropriate!Also, if God's intent for sex is to produce children, and his intent for marriage is for husband and wife to have sex, we have to come to the uncomfortable conclusion that infertile couples getting married is a sin.3. ConclusionBoth the bible and Nature seem terribly confused on the intended purpose and scope of sex, almost as if there were no guiding force at all. Lacking any clear cut definition of right and wrong in this situation, I encourage Christians and non-Christians alike to engage in healthy, safe, and fun sex with the contraception and STD protection of their choice.I'll bring the whipped cream and riding crops.Cheers,-Dirk