["there are not 2 choices here - chastity and promiscuity.. that is your flaw"]
That's the way it is. Like war and peace, honesty and lying. You can't be a little bit chaste just like you can't be a little bit pregnant.
29 comments
Out of context, this statement is literally correct. Chaste means "no sex at all." Unless you're Bill Clinton, pondering over the definition of "sexual intercourse," you either have had sex or you have not.
Reading the context, he is making a logical fallacy here, but it's not an amazingly interesting one.
Holy false dichotomy!
War and peace: North and South Korea, a formal peace treaty has never been signed, the two nations are technically still at war. But no active hostilities beyond naval 'wargames' for South Korea, and artillery 'misfires' for North Korea.
The United States has not formally declared war since the Second World War, but has militarily invaded or bombed multiple countries in the past decade alone.
Honesty and lying: Ever heard of lies by omission? You're doing it right now by framing the argument.
"Chaste" is an either/or condition, but "promiscuity" is a condition which requires several or more instances of sexual activity. That one may have had sex once makes one unchaste, but not promiscuous.
Extremes, extremes, how we all love extremes.
Chastity or promiscuity. Yup, just like anorexia and gluttnous obesity, there's no in between.
Just like you're either a piece of straw or a fat tub of lard, you're either a nun or a whore.
Btw, Mr. jewish philosopher, don't forget, if you screw up on even one tiny little detail of the Mosaic law, at any time in your life, you're in big big trouble with Yahwe. Watch your butt.
That's the way fundies always think... there's no such thing as moderation with them. That's why they're totally against drinking alcohol at all instead of drinking in moderation. Or they'd prefer total abstinence over responsible sexuality. Or smoke one joint and you're going to be a drug addict for the rest of your life. They believe that if something is bad for some people, then it's bad for all. They see everything in black & white and never consider shades of grey. If it's at all grey, then it might as well be black.
I've been a little bit pregnant. I had a miscarriage in week 11.
I have sex with my husband, which means I'm not chaste. Does that mean I'm promiscuous?
@fishtank
Learn to use the comparative right.
Adverbs, check your adverbs:
Learn to use the comparative correctly . ;-)
What we call 'peace' is really just more subtle forms of agression and tension building up to armed conflict. America is at 'peace' but currently fighting many wars on multiple fronts. You lose this one.
So if you're married and you consumate your marriage, you are now promiscuous forever? Lost again.
Nobody who lies or exhibits nearly as much prejudice as you has any business whatsoever lecturing people on honesty.
Note: "Chaste" is not synonimous with "abstinate", "virginal" or "asexual". Those who keep their sexual contacts within the bounds approved by their societies are counted "chaste", including the Muslim who is faithful to his four wives, the Tibetan who is faithful to her eight husbands, and the group marriage participants who are faithful to the group they are married to, so long as they also refrain from any practices their societies regard as debauched and unseemly.
False dichotomy is false.
Chastity, dwelling on erotic ideas*, masturbation, a single unmarried partner, promiscuity.
Peace, noise,violence, cold war, hot war.
Honesty, silence, misleading silence, white lie, lying.
'Pregnant' is also more of a spectrum than OP thinks. I suspect he's basing his comment on the old joke about the "bargain bride price because the wife was 'a little bit pregnant'" but most people agree one week into pregnancy is indeed 'a little bit pregnant'.
Peace, Civil disturbance, civil disorder, insurgency, insurrection, police action, cold war, limited war, conventional war, thermonuclear war.
"You can't be a little bit chaste"
Oooh, chase me, chase me! [/Duncan Norvelle ]
X3
This quote made me think of that Seinfeld episode where George snuck crab meat into the omelet and gave it to Jerry's Orthodox Jewish girlfriend just because she was kind of a bitch. lol.
Oh, fundies... everything is always so black and white with you knuckleheads.
No, commenters, chastity is not the same thing as celibacy. Chastity is following whatever the religious or cultural rules are for sexuality in your personal position: for example, a chaste married couple in Catholicism have sex only with each other, and don't involve other people in their sexuality, nor do they view each other as simply sex objects. But they can have lots and lots of sex, in really fun ways, and still be chaste. If they had sex with other people, that would be promiscuity.
'Only the Sith deal in absolutes!'
-Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), "Star Wars (ep. III): Revenge of the Sith"
So you & your fundie ilk = Sith eh, jp? You said it, I didn't. [/smartarse]
From dictionary.com:
Chaste: refraining from sexual intercourse that is regarded as contrary to morality or religion; virtuous.
Celibate: a person who abstains from sexual relations. (This is definition 1, which is most relevant here, I think).
Promiscuous: characterized by or involving indiscriminate mingling or association, especially having sexual relations with a number of partners on a casual basis.
So in a sense, JP is correct - there is an either/or when it comes to chastity vs promiscuity. One can be in a committed relationship (even in a polyamorous one) and be considered chaste. If you are having sex indiscriminately, you are being promiscuous.
The problem is that JP's definition of chastity is "only ever having sex with your spouse." Thus, if you have sex with anyone other than your spouse, you are being promiscuous.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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