Quote:
Originally Posted by ILG
If a man looks at a woman and lusts after her, he has committed adultery in his heart. Anybody guilty here guys?
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This is a very deep subject. We have to define “lusting”. Is it merely enjoying a woman’s beauty or feeling physically attracted to her? Is it imagining what it would be like to be with her? If so, we’ve all done that one (unless one is a bit…well…light in the loafers). In fact, if those things are lusting every marriage today begins with lust. There is typically always physical attraction and desire for the woman you’re not married to prior to marriage, that’s normal. Lusting is when a man determines in his heart to pursue and obtain that which isn’t his. If I looked at a woman who was married to another man and set my heart on pursuing some encounter with her or to take her from her husband I will have committed adultery with her already in my heart. But if I see an attractive woman and acknowledge the attraction or my mind goes into a “dream land” for a couple minutes, I’ve not sinned as long as I prevent it from giving birth to the desire to actually pursue. If I look at a piece of art in a museum or a photo of a woman and find my self dazzled by her beauty I’ve not sinned. I might even imagine what it would be like to be with her…but I’m not in pursuit or actually desiring to “have” that woman. It’s just attraction and it’s normal.
Jesus is addressing something very dark in the male nature. He isn’t addressing the little boy who daydreams about being with his French teacher or the girl in Math class. He isn’t addressing a man’s desire for a wife or fantasy. Jesus isn’t condemning the young girl who lies awake in her bed anticipating her honeymoon and the joys of being with her beloved or the one she would like to marry. Jesus is addressing when a man looks at a woman and truly decides in his heart to pursue her, use her, and throw her away. He’s talking about that creep sitting on a bar stool that smiles to himself as he eyes a woman like some salivating and hungry wolf. Jesus is addressing a man who looks upon a woman and intends to actually act on his baser instinct by pursuing her though she isn’t his to have. He’s condemning the thrill of the hunt.