>>588995
Keep in mind that the Church wrote the Bible, and not the other way around, and that the Bible is not an all-inclusive record; it says so itself, that not all that was done was written, and that you should hold fast to the teachings you have received, both written and oral.
Several of the early councils affirmed that celibate men could be priests. There's no requirement that a priest be married, only that, if they have been married, it was only once, i.e. not divorced (several councils allowed for divorce and the Roman Catholic practice originally allowed for divorce under certain circumstances, their teachings have changed of the centuries) and if widowed, not remarried, and that if married with children that their should be evidence of them raising decent children.
The practical problem with celibate priests is weeding out pedos from the candidates.
The practical problem with allowing priests to marry after their ordination is that they'd necessarily be poaching from their own flock if they decided to take a wife, which can lead to various abuses of authority.
The Orthodox handle these problems by allowing married men to become priests (in practice, most are married), but not to be married after becoming a priest, and only unmarried men can become bishops (e.g. celibate men, or widowers, or monks whose wives have gone to join convents and become nuns, etc.) because of the increased responsibility that goes along with a bishopric.
Personally in today's day and age, more so than, say, 100+ years ago, I'd be very very suspicious of any young unmarried man that wanted to be a pastor or priest, unless they were from some kind of monastic background that gave me confidence they weren't just looking for a place where their avoidance of relationships with females wouldn't be suspicious and/or where they had access to lots of young men and boys.