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What Does the Bible Say About..Prostitutes?

If a lady has 5 children, no training, no education, is a prostitute and only knows to go to bed for money. A. Is she right or wrong? B. How does God look at it? C. How does the church look at it? D. How do you look at it?

Answer

There is a lot you don’t say in your question. For instance, was the woman married when she had the children? Is prostitution legal where she lives? What other alternatives has she tried? These things would factor into how I would view the situation. If prostitution is illegal where she lives, then she is endangering herself and her children in ways that might not be true where it is legal. If the children are not the offspring of a marriage it would be tempting to say that one must suffer the consequences of choosing to sin. (I hope I would not fall into that temptation.) If she has not taken advantage of the many options for job training available then she appears less sympathetic than the many women in a similar situation who get legal jobs that are much less dangerous and more acceptable to God. Of course, what I say about the situation means very little.

The same could be said about what the church thinks. Different congregations would react in various ways. Some would be overly judgmental. Some would see a wrong that “somebody” should correct. Others would see a woman who needs to follow God, and needs their help in doing so. If she shows an interest in obeying God, a local congregation should be willing to help in finding or providing job training and placement, providing necessary child care, and providing some financial assistance. That’s how a church should look at it. Many would; some won’t.

The important questions you ask are whether it is right or wrong and how God looks at it. These are essentially the same question.

The Law of Moses and the prophets often condemned prostitution, but much of the time it was temple prostitution in question. That is, they were primarily talking about men or women who offered themselves for sex as part of worshipping some idol. However, as I have indicated in previous answers (go to Topical List of Questions and find the topic “sex”) God intends sex to be between a man and woman who are married to each other. Any sex outside of marriage is sinful and wrong. If she lives where prostitution is illegal, then you would have to add in the passages that say that we are to obey the government. In any case, prostitution is wrong.

The good news, though, is that God can and will forgive one who has committed this sin if they will stop doing it and turn to him. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) Paul says some who engaged in sinful sex were changed and forgiven.