Does forgiving one's partner and returning to the marital state necessarily involve the obligation to resume a sexual relationship as per the command not to deprive one's partner sexually? What if the partner fornicated and acquired the HIV infection, in which case resuming the sexual relationship would be suicidal? An HIV positive partner presumably could be selfish enough to insist on not being deprived, in spite of the consequences to his/her partner and offspring. Actually, this is not merely a modern problem because the same situation would have prevailed in Paul's day, the pre-antibiotic era, as regards syphilis--not quite as deadly as AIDS but still a nasty disease.

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Mary Vanderkooi
Kale Heywott Church (KHC)
Soddo, Ethiopia