The "presidential sex accusations appear on the TV screen" and announcers

The newspaper’s interviews with parents and high schoolers include this parent’s comment: "If it’s true what he’s done is totally wrong. ... The marriage vow is sacred" (Don Patton). A high school student, Rebecca Hazeltine, gives her opinion: "If I were his wife, ... I’d kick him out."

But Patton and Hazeltine are in the minority. Most of the students believe that "any affair is the business of only Clinton, his accusers, and his family." It is "his business, and he and his wife are going to have to live with that." Having an affair "is no big deal."

A letter to the editor says an alleged Clinton-Levinsky affair should not be publicized since it pertains only to "the private behavior of consenting adults." The same sentiment was expressed by singer Brabra Streisand, in a White House dinner party (February 5, 1998): "It’s no one’s business what goes on behind closed doors" (THE OREGONIAN, 2-6-98).

It is sad that many do not know or do not care what God thinks about adultery. He knew about adultery at the city of Corinth in Greece, and Paul’s preaching there caused "many of the Corinthians" to break up their affairs and be "baptized" (Acts 18:8).

Surely America is not as sinful as Corinth: a gigantic metropolis, about 40 miles from Athens, "one of the greatest cities of its time, with a population of 200,000 citizens and 500,000 slaves" (AMERICANA ENCYCLOPEDIA).

Anciently the city’s name was Ephure, meaning "to mix up, mingle" (CLASSIC GREEK DICTIONARY, 771). Who changed its name to Korinthos, "Corinth," from korizomai, meaning "to fondle, caress, coax" (ibid., 295, 388), or korinthiazo, meaning "to practice whoredom," I do not know.

As a result of Paul’s preaching, "many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized" (Acts 18:8). However, some baptized people had not learned to give up their old way of living.

Five years after the many conversions, some still thought that adultery was no "big deal." Paul, shocked, wrote a letter to them, horrified that in the church was such fornication that even the non-Christians in Corinth would not practice (1 Corinthians 5:1). "Immorality was blatant, so much so that a man was living with his own stepmother" (AMERICANA).

Apparently the man was a prominent member and appreciated, for, instead of his fellow church members "mourning" or "grieving" (pentheo), they were "proud" or "puffed up" (phusioo). Paul asked the church to "expel the evil man from among you" (1 Corinthians 5:13), and he wrote to them:

And, says the AMERICANA ENCYCLOPEDIA,

Adultery is more than a physical action. It is the breaking of a promise made to one’s spouse in the marriage ceremony: "I promise to keep myself to you, and to you alone, as long as we both shall live." As Don Patton told THE OREGONIAN, "The marriage vow is sacred." The adulterer disregards God and has lied to his spouse. The sad destiny of "all the liars" is "the lake of fire burning with brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).

Though most of the students interviewed by THE OREGONIAN do not think that an affair is sinful, most do think to tell a lie about it is wrong. Some, however, even condone lying if not done in court "under oath." But apparently all the students believe that if Clinton lies "under oath," then "he should be impeached." "We don’t need a dishonest president running the country." And so, says THE OREGONIAN,