Post by remypoe on Mar 18, 2006 14:09:48 GMT -5
Sex and violence are the two things that are repeatedly cited as the areas of our greatest problems,
in life as in the media. Violence is the sure overflow of anger and contempt in the heart. Anger and contempt constantly intermingle, both with each other and with the torrents of fantasized gratifications
that also inhabit the human heart: such as those for fame, drugs, alcohol, power, and money.
Hungers for these dominate a social framework in which a seemingly unlimited range of desires are
constantly pushing their claims for "liberation" into unlimited satisfaction.
In dealing with sex, as with verbal and physical violence, Jesus takes for the point of contrast one of
the Ten Commandments as used in the current setting: "you shall not commit adultery." Strictly
speaking, this prohibits a married person from having sexual intercourse with someone other than his
or her spouse. As with murder, it is an absoloute prohibition, and there is no question of its being
right under any circumstances to murder or commit adultery. Yet, as we have seen with murder, the mere fact that you do not commit adultery with a certain man or woman does not mean that your relation to that person in the domain of sexuality is as it should be or that you yourself are what you ought to be with reference to your sexuality.
Jesus was confronted with multitudes of men who thought of themselves as good, as right, in their sexual life because they did not do the specific thing forbidden by the commandment. They were
like those who thought they were right in relation to their fellow men because they had not killed them. But Jesus was aware, as we may easily notice today, that the very same people who thought of themselves as sexually pure and right would follow a woman with their eyes, lavishing their lookings upon her, tracing out by sight the lineaments of her body with a look of absorbed lusting upon their face and posture. They obviously take great pleasure in this activity, fantasizing what touching, caressing, and entering this body would be like. Everyone knows about this kind of activity, and there are few who have not at some time engaged in it to some degree. No doubt the same was
true even in Jesus' day. But it goes on among all types of men, including ministers and university professors, and in this day of equal opportunity, among women as well and between members of
the same sex. Jesus' teaching here is that a person who cultivates lusting in this manner is not the
kind of person who is at home in the goodness of God's kingdom. ~Dallas Willard
~taken from his book The Divine Conspiracy~
in life as in the media. Violence is the sure overflow of anger and contempt in the heart. Anger and contempt constantly intermingle, both with each other and with the torrents of fantasized gratifications
that also inhabit the human heart: such as those for fame, drugs, alcohol, power, and money.
Hungers for these dominate a social framework in which a seemingly unlimited range of desires are
constantly pushing their claims for "liberation" into unlimited satisfaction.
In dealing with sex, as with verbal and physical violence, Jesus takes for the point of contrast one of
the Ten Commandments as used in the current setting: "you shall not commit adultery." Strictly
speaking, this prohibits a married person from having sexual intercourse with someone other than his
or her spouse. As with murder, it is an absoloute prohibition, and there is no question of its being
right under any circumstances to murder or commit adultery. Yet, as we have seen with murder, the mere fact that you do not commit adultery with a certain man or woman does not mean that your relation to that person in the domain of sexuality is as it should be or that you yourself are what you ought to be with reference to your sexuality.
Jesus was confronted with multitudes of men who thought of themselves as good, as right, in their sexual life because they did not do the specific thing forbidden by the commandment. They were
like those who thought they were right in relation to their fellow men because they had not killed them. But Jesus was aware, as we may easily notice today, that the very same people who thought of themselves as sexually pure and right would follow a woman with their eyes, lavishing their lookings upon her, tracing out by sight the lineaments of her body with a look of absorbed lusting upon their face and posture. They obviously take great pleasure in this activity, fantasizing what touching, caressing, and entering this body would be like. Everyone knows about this kind of activity, and there are few who have not at some time engaged in it to some degree. No doubt the same was
true even in Jesus' day. But it goes on among all types of men, including ministers and university professors, and in this day of equal opportunity, among women as well and between members of
the same sex. Jesus' teaching here is that a person who cultivates lusting in this manner is not the
kind of person who is at home in the goodness of God's kingdom. ~Dallas Willard
~taken from his book The Divine Conspiracy~