Let me offer you a few more Bible references, that have a bearing on your philosophy and the topic at hand:

2 Timothy 3:16-4:4 – “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 – “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.”

Jeremiah 17:9 – “The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

James 1:14-16 – “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.”

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 – “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (note that this passage is the prelude to the 1 Corinthians 7 that you quoted)

I’d also encourage you to check out 1 Thessalonians 4:1-5, Colossians 3:5-10, and Galatians 6:7-8. I think you will find all three applicable to your questions.

Notably, “given by inspiration” in the Timothy passage is more strictly translated to “all Scripture is God-breathed”. Is God not big enough to ensure that His message is preserved in the book that is our primary source of information about Him and about Jesus? It would be a small God and not very much to be relied upon who could not preserve truth in that which is labeled as His Word.

God does place the conscience within us to help us, but the conscience can be overriden by our own decisions and desires. The Bible is provided to give us a standard against which to measure what we think are the dictates of conscience, to see if they fit what God has said about Himself and about us through the writers whom He inspired. Luke is paticularly intersting in this regard, as he writes essentially as an investigative reporter… he spoke with first-hand witnesses of Jesus’ teachings and actions, and compiled a history for “Theophilus”, his reader. Acts offers a follow-up chronicling the further activities of the first believers, and is noteworthy for the times it switches from “he or they” in describing Paul’s journeys to “we”, indicating that Luke had joined the journey for a time and was reporting things for which he himself was present. New Testament and Old abound with first person accounts from those who heard and saw these things for themselves.

thank you for the comment, I find it very interesting! The only argument that I could bring in is that the texts that you cite are epistles, written from man to men.
To my philosophy (*) , “sin” is defined by your personal conscience, which will guide you. Conscience partly coming from birth (‘directly from God’), partly from education.

As the epistles are written by humans, it is purely their interpretation of Jesus’ teachings. For me, however, (*) they do not necessarily have to be an authority for me. They are written by human beings, just like me, and I can make decisions by myself as well, as I am blessed with intelligence and conscience, just like all of you.

What I want to say is: Epistles are word of men, pure interpretations that could be taken as guidance. They do not define divine law.

But J is completely right, I asked for a citation from the Bible and he has given exactly that, two even. Thank you very much for this extra insight.
I think we will purely disagree on interpretation and I have peace with that

(*) WARNNG: troll alert!
Please remember that I am just trying to have an open discussion as it is an interesting topic. I respect all possible opinions even if they do not correspond to my own.

As for your question, except when referencing homosexuality, the Bible generally uses two words to describe sexual sin: adultery and fornication. Adultery is sex where a married person is having sex with someone other than their spouse. Fornication is an unmarried person having sex.

Hebrews 13:4 is one of many verses we can reference, which states that the marriage bed is undefiled, indicating God’s intended venue for sex is between a husband and wife, and continues on to state that fornicators and adulterers will be judged by God. These are sins that can be forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Christ, certainly, but stating that God will judge them is acknowledging them as sin.

Your 1 Corthinians 7:2 reference is a good one actually, Vic. If you look at it in the context of the rest of the verses, what Paul is basically saying is this: People who are married have to think about their spouse and their spouse’s happiness, which can be a distraction at times from focusing on God. And in times of persecution the married face extra sorrows (spouse separated in prison or executed, for instance). So it’s a really good thing if you can stay a single virgin like I am, and focus your whole attention on serving God. But if sexual abstinence is going to be a problem for you, it’s better if you’re married so that you have an outlet for your sex drive rather than letting it draw you into temptation and thus sin against God.

You can also throw in there 2 Timothy 2:22 and the “flee also youthful lusts” clause. In that case, it isn’t talking solely abou sexual lust, but sex is certainly one of the biggests lusts we deal with as young men.

That was a terrible typing mistake: NEVER NEVER NEVER

first of all, I don’t mean to troll and I hope that my comment is seen as an open question. I do respect the choice of people to stay abstinent, everybody should control his or her own choices in life.
I find Darian’s post very interesting, thank you for sharing, and I have started to read the comments (but haven’t come to the end yet, maybe my question is already been answered, then sorry for my laziness, but it is purely burning at the tip of my tongue/keyboard).

Just like J, me too, I am a white male and raised as a Christian, but I have chosen the freedom of premarital sex and I don’t feel guilty at all.
So the only thing I don’t understand is the question: “How do you deal with the contradiction?”

For me, but this could be a personal choice, I don’t feel any contradiction. I am (raised as) a Christian and I have premarital sex. Which part (and sorry, I hope this is not considered trolling, I really mean it with no bad intent) in the Bible tells me that I am wrong?

I know that this is thin ice, but for me, I have no knowledge of such verse. There are many references to “sexual immorality”, but (to my knowledge, and I stand open to all corrections), it is never been declared as ‘premarital sex’. Not even as ‘homosexuality’.

These interpretations are all possible, but not written down. The closest that I could find is 1 Corinthians 7:2, but in my eyes the focus is more on adultery than premarital sex.

I want to apologize to go at this at such length, but it purely interests me.
Me too, I don’t want to sound preachy, and this comment is definitely not intended to troll, I am an open minded person and I respect other peoples choices in life and other peoples philosophies. I don’t say that I have “the truth in hand” and I am not judging at all. I find it very brave if you make a choice of abstinence in good faith and stand by it. The only thing that I ask to be put to (small) discussion, is the question of ‘guilt’. No, I don’t feel guilty, and I still honestly believe that Jesus thinks of me as a nice guy.

The most important lesson I got from the Bible is that when your conscience rises up, then you should not do it. We all have this natural feeling of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, like an instinct. A compass that was built in our soul and that is what we should follow.

My sexual acts felt ‘right’, and I have had sex with somebody against his/her will and I have peace with that. I am even happy with it

But once again, I do respect the other choice that people make and I will be cheering for you from the sideline. Do you feel the same about me?