What is unfaithfulness?

Answer 1

Well, according to my wife, telling another woman that she is beautiful (in public) is being unfaithful Sangkai: This question is direct and yet required an indirect answer. Unfaithfulness is the negative of faithfulness. Then, the issue is, 'what is faithfulness?'. Let's put the scope into the relationship of husband and wife. They are two person who have so chosen to be the 'permanent' partner of one another by entering into an agreement with their consents and consciousness that they will bound one another under this legal sanctity of marriage and to honour whatever obligations that will rise along with that agreement. (the word 'permanent' used is to be exclusive from and subject to law for divorce)

Say, what are the obligations? Be it express, e.g. something which either the husband, or the wife, or the both of them have agreed to do after they have entered into the marriage. And, be it implied e.g., that the husband will maintain the wife and the wife to submit to her husband whenever it is appropriate for her husband to have sexual intercourse with her. These obligations need to be satisfied, faillure of fufilling it which could resulted in the dissolution of the marriage itself. (refer to family law)

Back to the question, when can it be said that, the husband/wife is being unfaithful. Let's take 'belief' as the operative word for faith here. What do you understand about marriage? If you believe that marriage is to give yourself completely to your spouse, and that implication of marriage is also a union which exclude all others, and also it is usually be regarded or intended to be permanent, then any action that would risk the sanctity of the vows you have made during the solemnisation of it would be regarded as being something which is contrary to your belief at the first place about what marriage is, and that is, to me, 'Unfaithful'.

To clarify my statement, unfaithful is when you do something in contravention to your own belief and you are doing it with clear consciousness as to the nature and result of that action. Try to think this, usually when a married man were just having a conversation with another woman, it is not regarded as unfaithful so long as no feeling of infatuation and love involve, but what if that man is aware of the nature of his wife who are not able to accept that it is just a harmless chat, and that in the awareness, he still doing it, is that unfaithful?

Answer 2

Yes, it is committing adultery.