What is lust?

[ProdigalSeeker]

Want to get your input on this...

What is lust? The dictionary defines it as an unnatural desire for something (money, sex, food, power, etc...). I don't believe as some of my christian buddies do, that admiring the human form is lust, as it is a natural desire (humans have the God-given need to reproduce, and especially for males- we take our cues visually).

Another way to state it... if our grandparents grandparents didn't think the other one had a cute butt, chances are we would not be here today. ;)

[IowaLutheran]

Want to get your input on this...

What is lust? The dictionary defines it as an unnatural desire for something (money, sex, food, power, etc...). I don't believe as some of my christian buddies do, that admiring the human form is lust, as it is a natural desire (humans have the God-given need to reproduce, and especially for males- we take our cues visually).

Another way to state it... if our grandparents grandparents didn't think the other one had a cute butt, chances are we would not be here today. ;)

Good question. My initial thought is that lust is like gluttony:

- Being sexually attracted to your spouse is a good thing. Wanting to have sex with anyone you find attractive is not.

- Enjoying a piece of chocolate cake is okay. Wanting to eat the whole cake is not.

- Wanting to have enough money to take care of your family is a good thing. Judging your life's worth based on your net financial worth (or someone else's) is not.

[ProdigalSeeker]

I completely agree with you. The way I see it, lust has to deal more with motives, while gluttony is the actual actions. My question is:

- Being sexually attracted to your spouse is a good thing.

However, the sexual attraction that is needed to continue our species, quite often happens before the person becomes our spouse. So can that be considered lust?

[IowaLutheran]

I completely agree with you. The way I see it, lust has to deal more with motives, while gluttony is the actual actions. My question is:

- Being sexually attracted to your spouse is a good thing.

However, the sexual attraction that is needed to continue our species, quite often happens before the person becomes our spouse. So can that be considered lust?

Another good question. I think it is normal to find another person attractive, and of course, sexuality is normally a part that attraction. I guess as long as that natural attraction does not lead to an obsession with wanting to have sex with that person, then I would not consider it lust.

Once we start dating someone and fall in love and believe the relationship is headed toward marriage, then I would say the sexual desires are definitely not lustful because by then, the sexual attraction is not just based on the physical looks of the other person.

[ProdigalSeeker]

that's pretty much where I was heading also.

Take the story of David and Bathsheba. I don't believe the lust occurred when he first noticed her, but when he set the plan in motion to make her a widow.

I belive some of my friends take the verse "...Look after a woman with lust in your heart." as literally, to "look", and not the figurative defintion.

[Edial]

Want to get your input on this...

What is lust? The dictionary defines it as an unnatural desire for something (money, sex, food, power, etc...). I don't believe as some of my christian buddies do, that admiring the human form is lust, as it is a natural desire (humans have the God-given need to reproduce, and especially for males- we take our cues visually).

Another way to state it... if our grandparents grandparents didn't think the other one had a cute butt, chances are we would not be here today. ;)
I think that if one's attraction towards a person of another sex is purely sexual - it is lust.
If one also likes the person for other qualities, besides sexual attractiveness, it might be OK.
But I am not claiming to be an expert on this topic. I'll need to research it in the Bible.

Thanks,
Ed