"If all of those saints were suggesting celibacy, whatever happened to when god told Adam and Eve to 'Be fruitful and multiply'. Did he not say that?"
FH- as for gods and multiplication - if we think that typical "sacred" writings are probably the narrow view of some (not all) scribes in the tribe - "fruitful and multiply" is always a big winner and appears in all collections of sacred writing in all cultures / religions - the bigger the tribe, the more women to cook and the more warriors to wipe out the competition.
Conversely, the hermits and ascetics were trying hard to avoid the rather difficult life of mixing with the normal folk, feed/clothe a family, with a wife and paying the "mortgage" - so, with clever slight of hand, they came up with sitting around atop poles (Simon Stylites) or hiding out mid-desert (St. Anthony) writing about "higher" thinking sans society - so celibacy, sainthood, harps and clouds.
Better path? carefully chose your best BS, not to bludgeon anyone with it overnight and review it in the morning. Probably beats sitting on a pillar for 35 years or scaring yourself silly with bumps in the desert night.
