Our book this week is Desire and Deceit.
Product Details:
List Price: $ 14.99
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Multnomah Books (September 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1601420803
ISBN-13: 978-1601420800
In this book, the author quotes Tolkien as saying ""The devil is endlessly ingenious, and sex is his favorite subject. He is as good every bit at catching you through generous romantic or tender motives, as through baser or more animal ones"
Do you agree or disagree? Do you think we are any more likely to commit sexual sins than others? Are they more serious? If you think we are more likely to commit sexual sins than others of equal gravity, why do you think that is? What is it that makes sexual sins so attractive?
Ways to participate: 1) If you have a blog, copy the information about the book and the question to your blog, and answer the question there. In your post, include a link back here. Then come here and leave a link to your post. 2) If you don't have a blog, leave a comment here!
My Answer:
I do believe some sins are more serious than others. It is not all the same to God if I snap at my husband vs commit adultry. I also think that sexual sins are more likely to be thought of by people not to be sins. In other words, I think that if you got the average person in the pew or on the street to confess his/her sins of the last day, s/he would admit to lying, cheating, stealing, disobeying authority etc. and name them as sins, whereas many wouldn't name their sexual sins as sins. You hear people say, making it clear they don't see anything wrong with the behavior "Yes, I'm having an affair, but having this relationship makes it tolerable to keep my family together which is best for the kids" or "My boyfriend and I want to make sure we belong together before we commit to marriage so we are moving in together (and having sex)" or "I've never felt so honest, so real, so myself, so close to God as I do now that I have this homosexual partner" or "We can't afford kids right now, so we are using birth control, the Church just doesn't have to deal with our lives".
I think the devil has the most luck when he can get us to see good as bad or bad as good. Yes, we all have our weaknesses and have to admit that we commit sin x or sin y, but if we recognize it as a sin and truly want to please God, recognizing that we do it is the first step toward not doing it any more. If the Devil can not only tempt us to do something, but also convince us that there isn't anything wrong with doing it, we are all the more in his snare. Sexual sins seem especially prone to this.
I'm not going to post on my blog, however I will comment. First, the devil does not tempt us. We are tempted by our own sinful lust, and desires. Once Adam and Eve sinned, that opened up wide the gate for sin of all kinds. Our heart is by nature sinful, and can only be made righteous by God's grace.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, Sin, is Sin, is Sin. There is none that is greater or lesser in the eyes of God. Jesus makes it perfectly clear in Matthew when he said that if you looked at a woman/man with lust in your heart you've committed the act of adultery, and if you have anger in your heart go and confess that anger before going to the altar. He made it very clear about the lines of sin. That thoughts, deeds, actions, and words were sins to those who chose to follow him.
Once we are tempted and then give into that temptation and commit the sin, we've broken fellowship with the Father. There is no justification, nor rationalization. All that does is make those committing the sinful acts feel better for the moment. The real payment will be at the judgement seat of Christ.
I think the devil uses our weaknesses as our temptations. I think sexual sins can be more serious since so many times they hurt/involve so many people. An affair can have long lasting consequences in multiple families.
ReplyDelete