Which begs the question: What is Jesus addressing? Is He addressing any form of sexual thought? I find that very hard to believe. Is he addressing a strong desire that might lead to ignoring boundaries or having sex outside of marriage? I find that more likely, since lust is, by nature, the coveting of someone sexually.
In this particular passage yes he's addressing a specific sin, but the conditions he placed on them is not something exclusive to fornication. In context, yes thats the topic at hand, but the applications go across the board, so any form of sexual thoughts outside the parameters given for a marriage. In that text, he never gave a sense that just for sexual sins, like if you lust then you committed the sin, he also touched upon murder, along those same lines when if you are even angry, you have committed the sin of murder towards your brother. So the point is more on thoughts in general, that if its in your heart, then you committed the sin already. Sin is right at the door.
Jesus went as far as saying, that if your eye is causing you to falter, pluck it out, if its your foot, cut it off. He didn't mean that literally, but that is how serious he treated it as just a thought process.
Are they automatically damned for having them in the first place? No, thats not what Jesus was there for when saying it. But it does matter when the thought arises also what you're choosing to do with it (such as: are you entertaining the thoughts, are you reasoning with it, are you trying to ignore that they are there?).And it takes more that a DIY situation, where the person is just trying to avoid off of his own might. We deal with the flesh everyday, we can't overcome those things by ourselves. This is where Christ comes in, this is why he ask us to kill our flesh daily. The flesh, even if in our thoughts we know its not of God, we will make peace in our dirt and hope no one gets harm in the process. No, Jesus wants us to overcome, and He has the power to do that. The fruition of such victory though starts with the thoughts, with the heart.
Sin is usually some form of a conscious choice, a thought, a behavior, or choosing not to control strong feelings and acting out of that feeling. Pedophilia, by contrast, is just like heterosexuality, homosexuality, or any other sexual attraction: It is something the person has no choice over and cannot change. For example, I can never change that I have autism. I can, however, choose to manage the issues that come with having autism. Saying that pedophilia is a sin issue is just like saying that autism, heterosexuality, or any other sexual attraction is a sin issue. These unchosen traits are not the origin of sin, it is where those traits lead because of our fallen world.
By itself, autism is not something that harms me, it is something that, because of society and a lack of information about autism, leads to stigma, shame, and a difficulty interacting with people from time to time.
Well for one, autism isn't a sexuality so its not comparable to other established sexualities like hetero and homo.
If your argument is that all these things are a sin issue in terms of being consequences of being born in our fallen state, then yes I agree. Anything not of God, or dealing with things that corrupts the body, or cause us death, are all consequences of something we can't control.That is just the
But if you're trying to say that autism is a sin committed in the heart, like those dealing with sexuality, then you can't compare that. No one practices autism. You don't need to have thoughts to have it. Being autistic isn't a sentence to Hell. Its a shame that this world practically ostracized those that are not basically perfect in body, especially with ailments that are beyond control, but heart matters, things dealing with desires, things that affects the spirit and soul, such as sexuality, those are things that we can deal with.
I take the position that lust is the same as coveting. It is one thing to drool over your neighbor's TV: It is another to love their TV so much you want to break in and steal that TV. It is one thing to have a sexual fantasy: It is another to have sexual fantasy over a person rule you to the point that you are trying/wanting to have sex with them, with or without their consent.
How can anyone tell that they won't go that far, the heart is deceitful and is desperately wicked, who truly knows their heart, much less is honest with theirselves about those matters? (Jeremiah 17:9). The list goes on with things that I have wrongfully done, that I didn't imagine I would have done.
I see you have already met Todd! Very nice. I could quibble further and tell you that
Virtuous Pedophiles is an organization and the term denotes membership with them (which, incidentally, is also something that researchers and non-pedophiles are also a part of), where non-offending is the preferred term to apply to a pedophile that chooses not to act. Not that that particular distinction matters much, I just know I would be in trouble with some people (like Todd, incidentally) if they saw me straight agreeing with you...
So correct term is non-offending pedophile? Interesting, lol.
I mostly agree, however, showing pedophiles to Christ does not address the fact that most of society, Christians included, confuse them for child molesters and hate them with a burning passion that has spawned many trolls, pedohunters, bullies, and extremely negative comments on the internet. You need not look very far to see that.
Pedophiles live in a world where, if they were to share their feelings very openly, their lives would be ruined. That amount of stigma and shame can only partially be addressed by Christ, I believe it is on all Christians to stand against that stigma, yet this is an issue in the church that no one wants to talk about.
So here I am, trying to talk about it.
Im glad you talked about it, its a triggering subject to talk about, but I am starting to see it come up a little in media, so its not an obsolete topic.
Church is just coming around with the LGBT topic, so unless the church are dealing with a pedophile among the assembly, i don't expect a more mainstream talk on it. Unfortunately, even with the opportunity to make it a safe space to have conversation and be open, i don't even know if professing Christians are equipping theirselves with the Word. Tend to come short on actually getting to the crooks of the issue.
On the flip side, even with the odds against pedophiles, they too while on the earth are covered by grace, and have the opportunity to know God's love and enjoy salvation. I'm a living testimony of such mercy, and understanding that I would not withhold that from anyone. At the end of the day, we are all trying to make sense of the life given, all are struggling, and trying to be at a place of joy, peace, and hope. For those who are seeking such, Jesus is here with open arms. It may not be at a church, people will fail them, or through laws that protect them, for peace is not guaranteed in this world. But God will never fail them. I point them straight to the Father.
