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Exodus 22:16 doesn't have so much to do with shmelke's original question, as with the teaching of the Torah on premarital sex. Am I wrong that it says if you have sex, you get married, or pay a fine if the father won't accept it? It is not the sin that adultery is, but this simply makes casual sex forbidden, does it not?


It says pretty much says if you have sex with a virgin, you owe her the option of marriage or a monetary compensation. I don't think this reads like a sin, as much as saying that you have new responsibilities if you devirginize a woman. Hence, it's not wrong, but there are legal consequences.

I think it's similar to when Cingular Wireless says they'll charge you 35 cents a minute extra for talking over your minutes. It doesn't mean it's against your contract or illegal to talk extra, just that there are monetary consequences for doing so.

I'd also like to point out, that Exodus 22:16 applies only to sex with virgins. As for sex with non-virgins, there is no consequence. It was actually a rule for myself as a Jew (both when I was non-messianic and Messianic), not to sleep with a virgin just for that reason.

--Dan