Discussion: The problem with Lust

[DDGresham1]

I have some peace in this area. I use a 12 step program as a recovery tool. These steps allow me to focus on God and lead my thoughts back to him. If you have any questions or would like to discuss, please feel free to ask. Porn and masturbation are not the core problem ( they are sin). The problem is lust. I ask you brothers and sisters: why do you do these things? Or what motivates you to do so? I look forward to your answers.

[DDGresham1]

Not judging. Just asking a simple question: What draws you to porn/lust?

[Dani H]

Mod note: I went ahead and moved this to its own thread because I think it's a worthwhile subject to discuss and exchange thoughts on, rather than being an appendage to a year-old thread elsewhere where it'll just fall through the cracks.

So ... feel free to discuss.

[baxpack7]

Not judging. Just asking a simple question: What draws you to porn/lust?

I think that what draws humans to porn/lust is a weakness in mind and spirit. Weakness of mind due to the fact that you can't be satisfied with normal activities and feel a selfish need to self-satisfy. Also having too much free time on your hands(no pun intended). Weakness of the spirit due to your unwillingness to let God fill that God-shaped hole that we all have. Fill your life w/activity and the lust will go awat. Especially things involving the church.

God bless!!

[Francois Marais]

Can be boredom as well as loneliness. and might I say stupidity and still is in my folks home... So guys and girls.... If you have porn in your home, get rid of it for the sake of your kids...

- Just a thought... I knew exactly where I got the VHS and how to make it look like it was never taken out from under the old jacket dad never wore... And the video that was mislabelled... And lets not talk about my own video I made (that was stolen when they broke into our house a few weeks later)
And there are other matters as friends, peer pressure and rape.

[DDGresham1]

The reason that people are drawn to porn is that they are spiritually sick. What is the main cause of this? There are many, but the main cause is self centeredness! They also let anger, resentment and fear (anxiety) move them toward porn/lust. Men and women you cannot live with lust in your life and if you have a problem with lust/porn, you cannot overcome it without God. Until you are truly ready to SURRENDER to God, you will be drawn to it again and again. I have trouble with surrender, but I am learning. I am so thankful for God's grace when it flows over me. I have to find a way to stay in that Grace by not moving away from God and toward porn/lust and the way I do that is to Surrender to God and focus on serving others. By surrendering to God, I mean absolute and unconditional surrender. No lust, focus on God's word, serving others, becoming a better husband, leader, worker, donating time, money, gifts to the poor and the list goes on. The main thing is to realize that you cannot lust...not even a little bit. Turn your anger, resentment, fear and lust over to God and focus on the things that he values.

[DDGresham1]

I think that what draws humans to porn/lust is a weakness in mind and spirit. Weakness of mind due to the fact that you can't be satisfied with normal activities and feel a selfish need to self-satisfy. Also having too much free time on your hands(no pun intended). Weakness of the spirit due to your unwillingness to let God fill that God-shaped hole that we all have. Fill your life w/activity and the lust will go awat. Especially things involving the church.

God bless!!

Brother, there sin is no greater than your sin. We are all weak in mind and spirit. God's grace sustains us. Too many of us fill our lives with all kinds of things besides God.

[DDGresham1]

Can be boredom as well as loneliness. and might I say stupidity and still is in my folks home... So guys and girls.... If you have porn in your home, get rid of it for the sake of your kids...

- Just a thought... I knew exactly where I got the VHS and how to make it look like it was never taken out from under the old jacket dad never wore... And the video that was mislabelled... And lets not talk about my own video I made (that was stolen when they broke into our house a few weeks later)
And there are other matters as friends, peer pressure and rape.

This is the trap that Satain uses to trap generations of our families. I agree, get rid of it.

[david]

I have some peace in this area. I use a 12 step program as a recovery tool. These steps allow me to focus on God and lead my thoughts back to him. If you have any questions or would like to discuss, please feel free to ask. Porn and masturbation are not the core problem ( they are sin). The problem is lust. I ask you brothers and sisters: why do you do these things? Or what motivates you to do so? I look forward to your answers.

masturbation is not even mentioned in the bible. don't use that word. don't use the word porn either, it is not in the bible.

now let's look at the scriptures. looking at woman lustfully is adultery (Matthew 5:28). but lusting after your own wife is not adultery, because she is one flesh with you, and thus she is not a woman, but your own flesh, and one man with you (Genesis 2:24, man is flesh according to Genesis 6:3). having an emission of semen makes you unclean, but only until evening (Leviticus 15:16). but we in the new covenant are not unclean, because jesus already cleansed us once for all (heb 10.10). and god says not to call anyone unclean (Acts 10:28).

Now i ask, where in the bible does it say lust is wrong? If lust is wrong, then wouldn't lusting after your own wife be wrong? and a word cannot mean two things.

[andrew_no_one]

masturbation is not even mentioned in the bible. don't use that word. don't use the word porn either, it is not in the bible.

now let's look at the scriptures. looking at woman lustfully is adultery (Matthew 5:28). but lusting after your own wife is not adultery, because she is one flesh with you, and thus she is not a woman, but your own flesh, and one man with you (Genesis 2:24, man is flesh according to Genesis 6:3). having an emission of semen makes you unclean, but only until evening (Leviticus 15:16). but we in the new covenant are not unclean, because jesus already cleansed us once for all (heb 10.10). and god says not to call anyone unclean (Acts 10:28).

Now i ask, where in the bible does it say lust is wrong? If lust is wrong, then wouldn't lusting after your own wife be wrong? and a word cannot mean two things.

Your post is neither edifying in any way nor conducive to wholesome thought. Did you resurrect a two month-old thread to taint it in false knowledge?

[david]

Your post is neither edifying in any way nor conducive to wholesome thought. Did you resurrect a two month-old thread to taint it in false knowledge?

Can you please back up your refutes with reasons?

[Brother Mark]

Now i ask, where in the bible does it say lust is wrong? If lust is wrong, then wouldn't lusting after your own wife be wrong? and a word cannot mean two things.

James 4:1-4

4 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
NASU

1 John 2:15-16

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
NASU

James 1:14-15
14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
NASU

That should about do it.

[baxpack7]

masturbation is not even mentioned in the bible. don't use that word. don't use the word porn either, it is not in the bible.

now let's look at the scriptures. looking at woman lustfully is adultery (Matthew 5:28). but lusting after your own wife is not adultery, because she is one flesh with you, and thus she is not a woman, but your own flesh, and one man with you (Genesis 2:24, man is flesh according to Genesis 6:3). having an emission of semen makes you unclean, but only until evening (Leviticus 15:16). but we in the new covenant are not unclean, because jesus already cleansed us once for all (heb 10.10). and god says not to call anyone unclean (Acts 10:28).

Now i ask, where in the bible does it say lust is wrong? If lust is wrong, then wouldn't lusting after your own wife be wrong? and a word cannot mean two things.

Let me address your first comment:
Though "porn" and "masturbation" are not words seen in the bible, it doesn't mean that someone can't use them. There are many words that aren't in scripture that we use each and every day. Nothing wrong with that.

Second, I commend you for your commentary. I'm not necessarily taking a point of view in this thread. but you do bring up a couple of good points, as some others in this thread have done as well.

Thirdly, lusting after someone or something could cause you to overindulge and therefore create a gluttonous action. Or, perhaps the lust you have for someone/something might cause some else to stumble in their Christian walk. If you are a student of scripture, you know that God is displeased w/the former and the latter.Therefore, lust, when used incorrectly can be wrong.

Oh, and I just wanted to point out that especially in the English language (but also in many other languages as well) the same word can have 2 meanings. Maybe not this word, but other words.

[andrew_no_one]

masturbation is not even mentioned in the bible. don't use that word. don't use the word porn either, it is not in the bible.

now let's look at the scriptures. looking at woman lustfully is adultery (Matthew 5:28). but lusting after your own wife is not adultery, because she is one flesh with you, and thus she is not a woman, but your own flesh, and one man with you (Genesis 2:24, man is flesh according to Genesis 6:3). having an emission of semen makes you unclean, but only until evening (Leviticus 15:16). but we in the new covenant are not unclean, because jesus already cleansed us once for all (heb 10.10). and god says not to call anyone unclean (Acts 10:28).

Now i ask, where in the bible does it say lust is wrong? If lust is wrong, then wouldn't lusting after your own wife be wrong? and a word cannot mean two things.

Your post is neither edifying in any way nor conducive to wholesome thought. Did you resurrect a two month-old thread to taint it in false knowledge?

Can you please back up your refutes with reasons?

You are correct in saying that the words “masturbation” and “porn” are not included in Bible vernacular; however in modern English, these words both reek of sexual immorality, which we are commanded to flee from (1 Corinthians 6:18).
You are correct in saying that looking at a woman lustfully is adultery, but I do not think that lust enters into a marriage equation; love, desire, cherish...these are what is done between spouses. Husbands are commanded to love their wives just as Christ loved the Church (Ephesians 5:25) which involves a sacrificial non-selfish love, not lustful in any way. Lust is an emotion that longs to satisfy the cravings of the individual; “I want”, “I need”, “I covet”...this is lust. Never did Christ lust over the Church.
If you’re going to pull Leviticus into the mix, I’ll point out that this has to do with being ceremonially clean and not a condition of the heart.
The scripture you used from Acts relates to God commanding Peter to go to the home of a gentile, Cornelius, though at the time for a Jew to do such a thing was considered off-limits.
A man can certainly do things to make himself unclean. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:18-19
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
From your post it seems that you are advocating masturbation and lust to those who are being led by the Spirit to forsake such things (I hope that was not your intention).

[david]

James 4:1-4

4 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
NASU

1 John 2:15-16

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
NASU

James 1:14-15
14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
NASU

That should about do it.

Does James 1:14-15 talk about sexual relations between us and our own wives?

14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
NASU