How exactly do you go from regular lust straight to rape? I'm not seeing the connection. Rape isn't really about sexual attraction, but about power, control and humiliation.
Actually, your post doesn't make a whole lot of sense, period.
I guess I thought of rape because of the pluck your eyes out part.
This is part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, "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. 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 5:29–30)."
This is a part of the Bible that gets debated greatly. Some interpret this as hyperbole, which I would agree with, if we're talking about seeing someone who is sexually attractive and attracted. In the Sermon on the Mount, I think Jesus is talking about lust in regards to wanting your neighbor's wife, coveting someone else's possessions, committing adultery, rape, robbery and such. These are egregious sins when our lust is carried out in our behavior. How many men fake a relationship in order to get sex? How many women use sex to get something they want or ahead in life? This is where lusting in the heart is out of control and which can lead to more serious sins. It's addictive. That's my interpretation.
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This could be a topic for another time, but I think lust also gets expanded as part of the sexual sins.
Question: "What makes sexual sin such a big deal?"
"Modern culture has tried to redefine sexuality as a personal right to be exercised any way an individual wishes. Sexual behavior is considered a personal choice, akin to the decision of whether to buy a house or rent a condo. At the same time, popular opinion has all but removed the word
sin from our culture’s vocabulary. The only sexual expression considered “wrong” is what is deemed distasteful to the definer. However, social acceptability varies so greatly that even the vilest of acts would be considered justified by many. So, before we can determine why sexual sin is such a big deal, we have to define sexual sin.
Fortunately, man has never been given the privilege of defining sin. The One who created sexuality also has the right to set the boundaries for it, and the Bible is clear about the guidelines. When God created the first man, Adam, and brought to him the first woman, Eve, He joined them together in marriage and pronounced it “very good” (
Genesis 1:31;
2:18,
24). At that time, God introduced sexuality and set the boundaries for its expression. God created a union between a husband and wife that He called “becoming one flesh” (
Genesis 2:24;
Matthew 19:6;
Mark 10:8;
Ephesians 5:31). He then defined any sexual activity outside of the husband-wife relationship as a violation of His gift.
Fornication,
homosexuality,
pornography, and
lust are all violations of God’s intent when He created the sexual act (
1 Corinthians 6:9,
18;
Galatians 5:19-20;
Jude 1:7;
Matthew 5:28;
Hebrews 13:4).
So why is the violation of those boundaries such a big deal? The first clue lies in
Genesis 2:24 with the words “
one flesh.” There is great unifying power within the sexual union. God designed it to involve not only bodies but hearts and lives. Sex was designed to consummate the lifetime union between a man and woman. Jesus said, “What God has joined together let no one separate” (
Matthew 19:6;
Mark 10:9). He designed male and female bodies differently so that they could come together in an act of physical intimacy that joins them together for life. They “are no longer two, but one flesh” (
Mark 10:8). The act of becoming one creates a new entity: a family. This powerful force also brings forth new life (
Genesis 4:25). The human race can only be propagated by the coming together of a man and a woman. And, within marriage, God blesses it (
Genesis 1:28;
9:27;
Psalm 17:3). Sex is a gift to a husband and wife to make their relationship unique among all other relationships."
What makes sexual sin such a big deal?
