Incestuous relationships - Is it wrong to have a romantic relationship with a close relative?

Incest in the Bible refers to sexual relations between certain close kinship relationships which are prohibited by the Hebrew Bible. These prohibitions are found predominantly in Leviticus 18:7–18 and 20:11–21, but also in Deuteronomy.

Incestuous relationships are of such nature that they are considered highly controversial and shameful all around the world. Incest basically means, being involved sexually or romantically with your own family member.

The relationships that God forbade in the Old Testament Law are listed in Leviticus chapter 18, verses 6–18. In that passage, the Israelites are commanded not to commit incest, which is a defiling sin (Leviticus 18:24). The law lists relationships, whether involving marriage or not, that God defined as incestuous. An Israelite man was not to marry or have sex with the following people:

His mother.

His stepparent.

His sibling, half-sibling, or stepsibling.

His aunt.

His daughter-in-law.

His sister-in-law, as long as his wife was living (Leviticus 18:18)

What constitutes incest?

But the definition of what constitutes incest—and the punishments for committing it—vary widely from one jurisdiction to another. Sometimes, sexual relationships between biologically unrelated individuals can even be considered incestuous if there’s a close legal relationship between the two (in the case of adoption, for example).

Having a sexual relationship with a close member of the family is against the law, Before the law was given, in the early days of humanity, there was a need for marriage between close relatives, as there were a limited number of human beings. Adam and Eve’s children married their siblings, by necessity. Even in those days, however, marriage between parent and child was not allowable, as Genesis 2:24 implies: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” A man was to leave his mother, not marry her.

Why it is not accepted in society.

It was not until humanity increased greatly on the earth that people no longer needed to intermarry among relatives. In the early days of humanity, the human genetic code was not corrupted to the extent that it is today. Therefore, marriages between close relatives carried little risk of genetic abnormalities in the children they produced. Once the human race expanded and, due to sin, the human genetic code grew more corrupt, God commanded against the marriage of close relatives.

Incest is a social taboo. Such kind of relationships is generally rejected by the society. Incest sparks strong emotions in the society, which for now are mostly negative. A sexual or romantic relationship with a close relative is considered detrimental and stigmatized in our society. However, this also shows the hypocrisy of our society as they consider incest depraved but most of the child, a daughter, a sister, a niece or any other member mostly faces sexual harassment in their family itself. In the cases, where it is forced, this is no less than rape and can leave lifetime traumas on a person.

Another reason because of which is why incest is widely rejected is that it is considered morally wrong. To have a kind of relationship with a close relative, which can only be spoken of behind closed doors is considered morally degrading. It is morally and socially unacceptable in many societies for now.

The third and most important reason or factor for opposing these relationships is the health effects on the offspring of such parents. It is believed after the research by various experts that incest harms the genes of the child who is the result of such a relationship. They have defected children and sometimes they can even have some issues medically as well and they can also maybe physically defective child. Such relationships sometimes also leave a heavy impact on a person's mental health which can change a person's psychology from being healthy to deteriorating.

What is the current scenario.

Talking about what people in present think about the incestuous relationship, it can be said that many people still hold negative feelings against it but you can also see a shift in society. Now, what is going around is that many fewer people are concerned with what the other does and hence they have no point of view regarding others' matter. Also, the mindset of many is becoming liberal regarding such topics as when you open your browser and search on such a controversial thing, you can see various remarks given by people which are sometimes positive and sometimes negative but most of the time neutral.

A country's stand regarding incest also varies. In some countries like Brunei, Iran, Nigeria, etc., incestuous relationships are punished by death. However, in some countries like Italy, incest is only illegal when it is the cause of provoking a public scandal. Also, in countries like Russia and Spain, incest is fully legal and some countries like Belgium, etc do not have any strict laws regarding incestuous relationships. Even in Indian law nothing is mentioned about incestuous relationships, however, some degrees of relationship are prohibited for marriage.

Many people are working towards legalizing incestuous relationships as well and decriminalize them from the countries where it is prohibited. People are also working to strive for providing marriage rights to incestuous couples as well. They call it the freedom to true marriage equality.

Since ancient times anything even remotely related to sexuality had been considered a very shameful act, it is only today when we are in this modern world that people are open and try to be aware of themselves sexually however it is still not highly accepted or appreciated in the society, and if we talk about the incestuous relationship that it is a great shock to the family system.

However, the incestuous relationship was present in ancient times as well, in ancient times it became a medium to protect the royal lineage of the persons from the same kinship, to avoid the dissemination of power amongst the non-royal clans. Soon it evolved to be a prohibited form of relationship as it led to multifaceted genetic disabilities amongst the offsprings. Today, there are countries that have legalized incestuous relationships but there are a lot of countries where it comes under criminal offenses.

The incestuous relationship can be considered as scandalous generally but there are many customs and societies in which they are accepted. Every thought present in society is the result of the different thought processes of people. For some incest is a sin however for others it can be as normal as any other relations. But it can be seen, that in the world we are living today, everyone is becoming accommodating and tolerant to different and uncommon ideas and thought processes.

Many countries have legalized incest relationships and many are in their way and still many are there who are totally against such an idea. In the end, it is an individual's point of view that shows how she/he perceives different thoughts and customs, and ideas or in this case relationship.

While Christians are no longer under the Law of Moses, the moral principles still stand. That means that the relationships listed in Leviticus 18 are still immoral. No one should marry a sibling or a parent. The only moral exception to the list is that of marriage to an in-law after the death of a spouse.