How far can one go in their heart?

[HTacianas]

I'm a man (surprise) and I often look at women. More and more I feel like it's looking at a flower or a painting and admiring the beauty of it rather than any kind of lustful thoughts or the like.

Where is the line crossed between admiration and lust? Any ideas?

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

I don't know if there's a "line", and if there was, there'd be a lot of dancing back and forth.

The best I can tell you is that, as long as it's with true appreciation for beauty, not desiring to take her for your selfish desires, that's where you should be--which it sounds like you're doing.

 

[royal priest]

Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful above all else. In Hebrews we read that sin is deceitful. At least two things to guard against with respect to 'just looking': playing with temptation, and objectifying the woman.

 

[Jon Osterman]

Matthew 5:29
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

 

[thecolorsblend]

I'm a man (surprise) and I often look at women. More and more I feel like it's looking at a flower or a painting and admiring the beauty of it rather than any kind of lustful thoughts or the like.

Where is the line crossed between admiration and lust? Any ideas?

Pretend your wife is right next to you and she can read your mind.

If you're comfortable with that idea, I suppose you're doing okay.

 

[Monk Brendan]

I'm a man (surprise) and I often look at women. More and more I feel like it's looking at a flower or a painting and admiring the beauty of it rather than any kind of lustful thoughts or the like.

Where is the line crossed between admiration and lust? Any ideas?

You should take this to your confessor.

That make sense?

 

[HTacianas]

You should take this to your confessor.

That make sense?

It makes sense. But believe me there are questions I have that my confessor can't answer.

 

[“Paisios”]

I'm a man (surprise) and I often look at women. More and more I feel like it's looking at a flower or a painting and admiring the beauty of it rather than any kind of lustful thoughts or the like.

Where is the line crossed between admiration and lust? Any ideas?

I am not sure where that line is, but I have found the same - that I can appreciate beauty in women without lust. I notice it because I have struggled with lust so much, especially in my younger years. I thank God that He has been gracious in this change within me, even if I have a long way to go.

Perhaps the line is drawn when desire, and therefore ourself (and selfishness), come into play?

 

[FireDragon76]

I'm a man (surprise) and I often look at women. More and more I feel like it's looking at a flower or a painting and admiring the beauty of it rather than any kind of lustful thoughts or the like.

I think its not worth worrying about, although I suppose there is always the risk of self-delusion.

Just for comparison, even a gay man can appreciate a woman's beauty but that doesn't mean he is sexually attracted to her.

 

[SkyWriting]

Matthew 5:29
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

The point of that passage is that your body is not the problem. Otherwise the speaker or His disiples would have led by example. In those days, body parts were given special purposes, as we still say "the heart" is assigned certain activities involved in love.

 

[tdidymas]

I'm a man (surprise) and I often look at women. More and more I feel like it's looking at a flower or a painting and admiring the beauty of it rather than any kind of lustful thoughts or the like.

Where is the line crossed between admiration and lust? Any ideas?

I feel for you, as I have many temptations in that regard. Since in the past I was addicted to inappropriate content, that line has to be drawn very carefully for me. If I look at more than the face of a woman, I have to immediately ask God to forgive me and help me to see her as a sister in Christ. I try not to see anything like pictures, magazines, or movies that have lewdness in it (sexual suggestions).

But that's me. Because of my perverted past, it is still difficult for me to clearly separate appreciation of a woman's beauty from sexual desire. Sin has long-reaching effects.
TD

 

[Jon Osterman]

These thoughts really aren't a problem for me, though that is partly because I don't know any beautiful women, so it is easy not to be tempted.