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Questions about lust...

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Poweranimals

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Can someone post scriptures that deal with lust outside of marriage? I've seen a lot of scriptures that deal with adultery. For instance if someone is married it's a sin to fantasize about that person. But if for instance you're both single, where does the sin come into play? I'm looking for scriptures that address the issue.
 
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Kitty.

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Philippians 4:8 sums it up perfectly

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.
 
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Poweranimals

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That is a good scipture and I'm inclined to agree with your way of thinking, but that kind of falls on how you view sex in general. For instance if your fantasy involves being married to the person, is that something that God would view as impure?

I know it kinda sounds like I'm looking for a loophole but it's something I genuinely wonder about. I'm not exactly at a place in my life where marriage is an option but I do desire a loving relationship with a girl at some point.
 
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joey_downunder

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[Jesus said] Matthew 5: 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Matthew 5 Commentary - Do Not Covet Others Sexually - BibleGateway.com
 
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ezeric

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For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world.
1 John 2:16

Lust is love turned inward, or turned to please the 'sinful nature' which is
satan.

Lust only perverts something from the value its supposed to be, and put it
at a place that it never should be.

For example, lust puts ladies in a position of not human to a thing.
Or a lust for money, puts money at a place higher than humans.

-eric
 
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Johnnz

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These comments from a well know Christian author and scholar, Dallas Willard, may help you to clarify your thoughts.

John
NZ

On the other hand, we must be careful to recognise that sexual desire is not wrong as a natural, uncultivated response, any more than anger is, or pain. It has a vital function in life, and as long as it performs that function it is a good and proper thing.

Moreover, when we only think of sex with someone we see, or simply find him or her attractive, that is not wrong, and certainly is not what Jesus calls "adultery in the heart." Merely to be tempted sexually requires that we think of sex with someone we are not married to, and that we desire the other person-usually, of course, someone we see. But temptation also is not wrong, though it should not be wilfully entered. Jesus himself came under it, experienced it, and understood it.

Therefore those translations of Matt. 5:28 that say, "Everyone who looks at a woman and desires her," or "everyone who looks at a woman with desire," are terribly mistaken. They do much harm, especially to young people. For they totally change the meaning of the text and present" adultery in the heart" as something one cannot avoid, as something that just happens to people with no collusion of their will.

That on this reading to be tempted would be to sin should have been enough, by itself, to show that such translations are mistaken. No translation of scripture can be correct that contradicts basic principles of biblical teaching as a whole

The terminology of 5:28 is quite clear if we will but attend to it, and many translations do get it right. The Greek preposition pros and the dative case are used here. The wording refers to looking at a woman with the purpose of desiring her. That is, we desire to desire. We indulge and cultivate desiring because we enjoy fantasizing about sex with the one seen. Desiring sex is the purpose for which we are looking.

Another New Testament passage very graphically speaks of those who have "eyes full of adultery" (2 Pet. 2:14). These are people who, when they see a sexually attractive person, do not see the person but see themselves sexually engaging him or her. They see adultery occurring in their imagination. Such a condition is one we can and should avoid. It is a choice. For many people, unfortunately, it has become a chosen habit.

But it still is not something that merely happens to them. These are not unwilling victims without any choice in the matter. It isn't like the law of gravity. The desire is desired, embraced, indulged: elaborated, fantasized. It is the purposeful entertaining and stimulation of desire that Jesus marks as the manifestation of a sexually improper condition of the soul. No one has to do this or be this, unless perhaps he or she has already advanced to a stage of compulsive disorder or possession. In that case, of course, the person needs help that goes beyond instruction and advice.
 
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cowboysfan1970

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That's just the kind of thinking that causes people to feel that anything sexual is contaminated with sin. They relate sexual desires and feelings with guilt and shame and impose those ideas on others. You just have to stop and think for a minute that there's just no way that can be true. If it was then it would be a sin to even desire one's spouse. Lust is intent. If someone was to take their desires for someone and then start making a plan to get with them, that's where they've crossed the line.
 
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