When it comes to concepts such as lust, I think preachers, clergy, and religious neb-noses (i.e. people who are followers of the religion but not clergy, yet poke their nose into eveyone else's affairs), have the concept of lust all wrong.

Like MsHarmony pointed out, it's not "lust" to be attract to, or enjoy your spose. Similarly, it would not be "lust" for a non-married single person to be genuinely attracted to someone with a sincere heart. That would not be 'lust' either because it's sincere attraction, and based on love, not lust.

Moreover, to simply be "attracted" to someone is not lust at all. Especially for someone who has yet to find their mate. Teaching young boys that it's wrong to be attracted to girls is utterly foolish, that's an abominatino of the whole concept.

In fact, the whole obscession and focus on sin is an abomination of any religoin. Trying to make out like every little natural inclination is a sin is itself and abomnination.

This is one reason why religions that are based on the concept that everyone is a sinner, and the major goal is to find salvation, is such a negative concept. It doesn't even stop after a person has supposedly accepted Christ as their savior, they claim that even people who have been "Born Again" are still sinning, because it's impossible for men to not sin. But if it's impossible for men to not sin, that itself is an oxymoron, because if that's true, then men could not be held responsible for something that is impossible for them to avoid.

Teahnically, if the blood of Jesus supposedly washes away sins, and a person accepts the sacrifice of Jesus, then they have indeed been washed clean of any sins. Moreover, there's certainly no reason for them to start sinning again at that point, unless their entire acceptance of the sacrifice was totally insincere and false.

In other words, any genuinely "saved" person in this religion should be able to say with a clear conscience that they are no longer a sinner and that they are completely free of any sin because their previous sins have indeed been washed away. But that's not how the religoin works. It continues to demand that all men are sinners, even those who have supposedly accepted the blood of Christ.

It's a lose-lose religion. It's just a brainwashing institution that does nothing but demand that eveyone is a sinner no matter what.

Where is there anything positive in that?

Talk about LUST, this is a religion that has become extremely LUSTFUL in its own obcession to demand that eveyone is a sinner.

I just see no positive value in this religion at all. None.

lust when it boils down to it is looking at a woman/man *not married to you* and thinking about him/her in a sexual way. Weather it is just at any old time or while you're masturbating. That is lust, when you strongly desire a sexual relation with that woman/man.

No no no no that is not lust you silly misguided boy. If men and women were NOT attracted to each other sexually they would never procreate and multiply!!!

Men and women don't get along with each other on any other level except sex. If it were not for sexual attraction they would not have anything to do with each other.

Perhaps you are attracted only to men?

You are really a misguided young man and you are probably going to need therapy. If you truly believe the things you are saying, I can't tell you how sorry I am for you. I will pray for you.

As far a marriage is concerned it is simply a way for the master to keep track of who his slaves are procreating with.

Marriage today is a contract with the STATE. Is has nothing to do with God.

I disagree that he is misguided. He has a right to his own feeling and it may not be the same as others. I know that I do not and have not walked around in my life thinking of people sexually. Yet, when I have met those I was ATTRACTED to and got to know them,, sex then became an option.....it may be another type of personality,, but it is not misguided

If that's your perspective and your understanding of your God, then that would be a sin for YOU. Because you believe in that kind of a God.

I personally don't believe in such a perverted and unwise God. I believe in a loving wise God, so my perspective and understanding of God is quite different from yours.

To each their own.

I just tell it like I see it.

In the old Biblical days if a man raped a woman he was required to marry her or was considered to be married to her. These days, he goes to jail.

Point is, the culture was so radically different 2000 years ago the rules and laws for back then just don't make sense in today's society. I find it hard to believe that some church groups are still teaching ideas like that. People are heavy burdened with guilt about natural feelings.

That does not mean that I condone rampant promiscuity and adultery or screwing everyone you can. But if people don't know any better than that, perhaps they do need a church to tell them how to think and how to live. That's just my feeling.

Whatever works for the person. If they are happy then they should not worry what I think or do.

Truly.

Also, anyone who tells me that a sincere heart, and sincere intent, doesn't mean anything, then they can only be suggesting that God has no concept of sincerity. Or that sincerity is a meaningless concept in God's eyes.

If they want to believe in such an insensitive uncaring God, more power to them. But trying to push that kind of nonsense onto me "In God's Name" is nothing more than over-inflated arrogance on their part.

In fact, this is what religions that claim to have a book that contains the "Word of God" are infamous for. People grab the book and then start claiming that they speak for the God. That's what makes the religion so obnoxous and arrogant.

I also agree that things that may have made some sense in some ancient ignorant culture make no sense in today's world. I think back then women weren't truly free to say no to men anyway. More often than not marriages were arranged by the parents. In fact, men even sold their daughters to be the wives of other men.

So to even remotely compare the kind of laws those men had with today's society makes no sense at all. I personally doubt very much that any supreme being would have condoned their behavior either. This is just one of the many reasons that I'm throughly convinced that those ancient stories are nothing more than the gibberish of men, and in no way the inspiried writings of any supreme being. After all, if there truly was a supreme being in communication with those people I'm sure that, he/she/they would have communicated far better morals and positive examples of parenting than those authors came up with. I have absolutely no doubt about that whatsoever. This is why I'm completely convinced that these stories cannot possibly be the commandments and directives of any God.

It's just a record of the superstitions of one particular society.

I am going to speak up here on behalf of the Christian view regarding the concept of lust. Please, do not assume that I hold to Christian tenets. I will not defend every Christian viewpoint, nor do I care enough to hear all about another's entire belief system. This post is specifically about lust/love - according to my own personal viewpoint - which just so happens to be Christian inspired.

Lust seeks sexual gratification as an end. It's employment in thought necessarily uses others purely as a means to that end. That cup is never full and cannot find lasting contentment. It is a distraction, in the most definitive of ways, from that which encompasses the end itself without using another purely as a means to an end.

Love is quite different in that no other is as attractive as the one who is loved.

lol so you're gonna tell me you're only attracted to men in a sexual way? You don't "love" them, you only "lust" after them? You don't get to know a man on a sentimental level, only physical?

Lusting after someone is much more then just being attracted to them. And people are attracted to each other on more levels then just physical appearance. So yes, i am "attracted" to women all the time, but does NOT meen i lust after them and want to take them to my bed to defile them.

so with that look at it, you're gonna tell me also if it's illegal for me to steal something it is only illegal for me to steal it? Because i believe in that kind of government?

the world and society may have changed, but God has not. It is the same God today as there always has been. So the laws we are to abide by still remain the same today regardless of the society, God doesn't assimilate with the world.

I have experienced life quite differently. Whether or not people "get along" has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with personal belief, which coincidentally speaking could be belief about gender bias.

exactly. We get along or don't get along due to our personality. And that does not include gender. That is why some men get along real well with women, and some don't. Some women get along real well with men, some don't. Does not have anything to do with appearance.

that and getting along with someone has NOTHING to do with appearance in anyway. Again it's due to their personality and how they act.

Love is not lust.

Love is not marriage.

Love does not require marriage.

So to suggest that someone's sexual attraction for someone else is based on lust and not love just because they aren't married is utterly foolish.

Christianity just produces extremely judgemental people is all.

It has nothing to do with anything other than that simple fact.

That's almost easy to believe.

I think the structure of society is mainly to blame for most of that.

Not saying that I agree with the sentiment. But I can see where it almost seems that way a lot of the time.

Christianity does NOT produce judgemental people. For if ANYONE judges another they are not following the word of the lord.

Matthew 7:1-3
7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

I agree. I think everyone has their own standards, and if a Christian follows the word of Christ

""Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

,,in my opinion, they are not misguided in doing so

I'm well aware of that verse, and have been for many years. Yet, what does the verse say? "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after you had committed adultery with her already in his heart"

But the word lust is already being used in that verse. In other words, that verse isn't defining what lust is, it's assuming that a person already knows what lust is.

So IMHO, since love is not lust, and for an unmarried man to love an unmmaried woman is [n]not adulterty then this wouldn't even remotely apply to a young boy finding a young girl to be sexually attractive and imagining being with her in that way. That would not be "adultery" because neither party is married.

This is what I mean about the followers of this religion always trying to make the WORST out of everything. Not only do they PUSH as hard as they can to make everying feel like a sinner, but they also take everything to the extreme toward SIN rather than ever giving anyone the benefit of the doubt.

Instead of constantly arguing that everything is a sin, they need to lighten up and recognize that this simply isn't the case. They go overboard in their judgements of what they feel God is against.

And this is so typical of Christianity in general. Because they PUSH HARD to demand that everyone must accept Jesus as their "Savior", yet according to the scriptures Jesus himself said that he does not judge those who do not believe in him, and that he has not come to judge the world, but to save it.

This goes directly against what the Christians claim. So as far as I'm concerned they don't even give a damn what Jesus said. They just use the religion to attempt to claim that all men are sinners. It has become a religion that is obscessed with SIN.

They always seem to interpret everything in the worst possible way. And use the religoin to instill the highest level of guilt complexes that they can. The whole religion is based on a foundation of demanding that all men are sinner, and that all men must accept the blood of Jesus to pay for their sins.

In that sense it's a truly disgusting religion, and these interpretations don't even fit in with what the scriptures actually claim that Jesus said anyway. They twist the words that have been attributed to him in the worst possible way.

Of course this isn't true about all Christians. There are Christians who don't do that. But clearly they aren't posting on these boards.

I was a Christian who tried my best to present Christianity as a loving, forgiving, religion in the name of Jesus. But as such a Chrisitian I found myself constantly being on the defensive from the attacks of other Christians. I found myself trying desperate to defend the words of Jesus against the attack of Christians.

But truth be told, the scriptuers are so self-contradicting, and so open to interpretation that even a Christian who tries to make Jesus out to be a nice guy cannot succeed because a person who wants to make Jesus out to be a monster can always find verses to support that picture as well.

Of course, those verses never "wash". Just like the one you've posted here.

""Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

That in no way defines what lust is. On the contrary it assumes that you already know. And as far as I'm concerned lust in the context of sexual attraction, can only exist when it would be 'adultery'. In other words, to lust after another man's wife, or to lust after any woman when a man is already married.

However, for an unmarried man to find an unmarried woman to be sexually appealing cannot possibly be associated with "lust" because there is no adultery involved, and therefore there is nothing wrong with this perfectly natural and healthy attration.

The mere fact that Jesus said, "Hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" basically proves that he was speaking about a situation that cannot possibly be applied to an unmarried person who is sexually attracted to another unmarried person. So to push this kind of thinking onto unmarried people is nothing short of ignorant. It doesn't even fit the scenario.