I know that the Bible says in Matthew 19:9 that a person can divorce their spouse if their spouse cheats on them I also know that in Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus teaches that if a man lusts after a woman then he has committed adultery with her in his heart and that he is at risk of hell fire.
God tells us that if our spouse commits the sin of lust then we can divorce them?
I learned from a Bible professor called Tim Mackie in his teachings on the book of Matthew that to lust after someone means to look at them for an extended period of time wanting this person and somehow giving your own mind release by this sin of lust. Lust is also a sin that can bring havoc to many areas of a persons life I have attended Churches where men have hit on me in front of their wives or made their wives. I have also seen cases where men made their wives attend the gym to lose weight after having given birth etc these behaviours are demonic and are the sin of lust.
I think that if a person is married to a person who never repents or tries to get delivered and they have the sin of lust then I believe that its Gods will to divorce this person to save both your soul and theirs.
Sorry, I should have quoted you Iloveroses: “Tim Mackie in his teachings on the book of Matthew that to lust after someone means to look at them for an extended period of time wanting this person and somehow giving your own mind release by this sin of lust.”
Yes, I disagree with Tim Mackie here because he seems to indicate that lust takes places over an extended period. But truly it is more biblical to define lust as something that takes place in the heart even one time and momentarily
I'm honestly not sure if lusting in one's heart is exactly the same as actually physically committing adultery. Most bible scholars fall on the side that they are the same. But I have my doubts.
Most men can easily lust after scantily clad women. But would it also be fair to say that most women dress to attract the attention of men and therefor lust after that attention?
Male & female hormones illicit different needs in each gender. Men tend to want bedroom action more than women and women tend to crave a certain kind of attention and validation.
When one or both aren't getting their needs met then seeking it elsewhere becomes a real possibility.
🌟🌟💡💡 Despite common misunderstanding, Jesus is not saying that all attraction is immediately sinful. The phrase used in Greek here is pros to epithymēsai autēn. This strongly implies something deliberate: an intentional, considered choice. "Noticing" that someone is attractive is not a sin; looking with sexual intent, fantasizing, or leering—what in English might be called "ogling"—certainly is. This phrase implies someone engaging their imagination in lust.
Some scholars suggest this phrase can also imply an additional possibility: looking at a woman in order to get her to lust. This would infer seduction: looking—or behaving—towards that person in a way that tempts them to inappropriate actions or thoughts. Whether that is the literal intent of Jesus' words here, the concept fits in the scheme of His overall point. The desire for adultery, even if it fails to succeed, is just as much a sin as accomplishing it. In either case, it's still about what is going on in the person's heart and not just the action.
Modern readers should also note that while Jesus phrases this—and other statements—using references to men and women, the spiritual principles apply to both sexes
I'm going to put it like this. If a Christian thinks about taking something that doesn't belong to him or her but never actually takes it. Should it be treated as a sin and confessed as such? I would say yes. But since the theft never physically happened, should that person go to jail just for thinking about it?
I agree with you, Ilikeroses2 and LittleDavid, even in church people lust. I guess I should go to church more often.
My mother spoke of a pastor who lost his job. He was caught looking at porn at his church office on the church computer. My mother felt it was sad he lost his job over the matter and that the church should have forgiven him and let him stay. But people in church leadership position should be held to a high standard.
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1)
Some churches lose all their members overnight because a pastor's indiscretions, so they are empty buildings. Tragic! One should never put their pastor too much on a pedestal.
Sometimes pastors go too far with people they are counseling as well.
I had a co-worker. This Christian co-worker told me that she had had an affair with her marriage counselor.
I guess pastors should not do marriage counseling.
Of Tim Mackie and lust, now days, lust is here today and gone tomorrow as people go from one image to another.
To God, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. So I wonder what a few seconds would be? That may help Tim Mackie with his EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME.
In the Bible, it speaks of getting people drunk inorder to gaze upon their nakedness.
Habakkuk 2:15
“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies!
Amnon's lust for Tamar ended when he had his way with her. Sad story! (2 Samuel 13)
Potipher's wife, her lust ended for Joseph when he fled her naked. (Genesis 39) Joseph ended up in prison for refusing relations with her. But that fixed her! A good old refusal until she was cured at least of Joseph.
Jesus got to the heart of the matter. He spoke of already doing something in your heart. He pointed out lust. He pointed out hate.
If a woman can divorce her husband for lust, perhaps we can have the death penalty for lust and hate as well and call it Biblical on the words of Christ.
Christ spoke of if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and if your arm causes you to sin, then cut if off. So then, if your brain causes you to sin, take it out! Frankenstein may be smiling! at that one.
Even if we pluck out our eyes, people will still be lusting. Ray Charles was a blind performer who had many women!
In matters of divorce, inside the Bible, it was the man initiating divorce in the Bible, not the woman. A woman did not divorce her husband. A husband divorced his wife. A woman could not divorce her husband in the Bible. A man could divorce his wife over anything displeasing to him. Only in the case of rape, he could never divorce; if he raped a virgin not pledged to be married, he was to be stuck with her. If a virgin was pledged to be married to someone else and he raped her, he would be dead.
A man was to write a certificate of divorce, not the woman. Women were not writing certificates of divorce. The man would then send her off away from his house. FREEDOM OF RELIGION is NOT REALLY BEING TAUGHT. INDEED, it is NOT BEING TAUGHT. THE GOVERNMENTS indeed, do the opposite of what the Bible teaches. Dismiss the Bible. Now women hire an attorney to write their husbands certificates of divorce and send their husbands away. The woman gets the house and leaves a man nothing. In the Bible, the man sent the woman away and he kept his house. (Deuteronomy 24:1-3) But no more! In the Bible, she was to go free without any payment of money. (Exodus 21:11)
TRUE! That is all the Old Testament. Now it is worse what is going on today. And Ilikeroses2 wants to divoce a man not for the act of adultery, which may mean death in the Old Testament ...wherein the Bible a woman has no grounds to divorce her husband and is bound to her husband for as long as he lives. New Testament teaching. Sorry moonlight!
Romans 7:2
For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.
1 Corinthians 7:39
A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.
But now Ilikeroses2 wants to divorce men on matters of lust and teaches women to feel free to marry again because their husband lust.
It is no where to be found in the Bible that women can divorce their husbands and no where to be found in God's Word that they can divorce their husband for this reason.
1 Corinthians 7:10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
Go ahead and separate from your husband. But you have no Bible grounds for divorce.
Matthew 15:18 Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man: Jesus amplified the point first made in Matthew 15:11. We are defiled from the inside out rather than from the outside in, and this is particularly true of ceremonial things like foods.
i. Jesus boldly said that these evil things come from our innermost nature. They aren’t accidents or mere “mistakes”; they reveal how corrupt we are in our fallen nature. “The heart is the source of man’s true character, and therefore of his purity or impurity…it is not merely the seat of emotion, but the true person as he really is, not just as he appears outwardly.” (France)
ii. “‘Murders’ begin not with the dagger, but with the malice of the soul. ‘Adulteries and fornications’ are first gloated over in the heart before they are enacted by the body. The heart is the cage from whence these unclean birds fly forth.” (Spurgeon)
🌟🌟💡💡 So obviously the coveting thoughts of theft that never materialize physically wouldn't substantiate jail time in a human court of law
but in heavenly court before a heavenly judge that's another story
You’re right Handyman, the person should confess all evil thoughts as a sin against God, Jesus made that clear.
Civil law can not necessarily jail someone for having an evil thought although “motive” may weigh heavily against the accused if the thought or motive is realized in an actual criminal act. For example, a crime committed in the case of shoplifting or murder. A person might commit a “criminal act” by absent mindedly placing an unpaid item in his pocket. He gets out to his car and realizes he didn’t pay. If he can make to the store in time to pay for the item he’s safe but if he’s caught then the only option he has is to argue his case by insisting that stealing wasn’t his motive.
