Causing Men to Lust

Well, FWIW, when my daughter was about 15, she came home with a pair of jeans that fit like she had been poured into them - that was the "style"!

She could see nothing wrong with showing off every curve and wrinkle on her body and got terribly upset that I did not approve.

Luckily, she asked her brother, younger by 2 years, his opinion and he told her - in what terms I have no idea - but whatever he said changed her mind and those jeans were returned.

All I know is that she said "--he told me what goes through a boys mind when he sees a girl dressed like this."

Now!! As to what this guy actually said, I have not listened to yet; but I did bookmark so I can do so tomorrow when I have a better time snippet to listen, but I agree that this topic is LONG overdue in our churches.

 

Yes, modest apparel is an issue for the church. However, the person who is being lusted after is not the person at fault on the occasion of lust.

Nonsense! I do not say what follows to shame you, but encourage you. I too, for many years, was taught that there's no hope for change, even though we are Christians. But that's not true at all!

If you are Christ's, you have the ability to become a person who does not lust. The Spirit will empower you if you cooperate with the grace of God. The change is not usually immediate, because we have often built up habits of lusting, but a person can make enormous progress on this front through careful and intentional practice of spiritual disciplines which make room in our lives for the Spirit to transform our motivations, and thereby, our actions.

I am afraid you are confusing noticing the beauty of a woman with the act of lust (that is, looking upon a woman in order to use her sexually -- either mentally or in actual practice). Lust is treating another person as something to be used for physical gratification, not as a person created in the image and glory of God.

 

I agree, it is one thing to find a woman attractive and another still to allow ones thoughts to go where they should not.

 

*click* I am still counting you, Brother. I am the new "thumbs up" police!! You need to make one post with four of these------>:thumbs: or I will do my best to have them take one post from your post count........I'll have my eyes on you, Brother!!

Now to the OP, this topic should really be taken on in a men's only atmosphere, if you ask me. As you can already tell, this could have offened some females in that congregation. Just my $0.02 worth!!

 

I agree!

If my pastor gave a sermon with all that "detail" about women's bodies with all the women sitting there (including me), I would have been mortified.

 

Just wanted to make sure everybody got the full message of what I said--and not the snipped, edited, or out of context version.

...Bob

 

I'm not trying to cover my sin. I wouldn't be caught dead in the clothes that pastor described. I always dress modestly. I know we all have a responsibility to do what we can to keep our brethren from stumbling. My opposition to the sermon is that it was done in mixed company. None of the women at my church dress immodestly.

 

I do not say what follows to shame you, but encourage you.

Who are you kidding?

. . .

Why do women try to make themselves beautiful?

. . .

I spent many years of my business career in advertising. I know the power of sex appeal. If a woman or girl walks in public with a slit-skirt, but tells her father or brother or husband they are not trying to look sexy--and those guys believe it--well, somebody is kidding somebody.

. . .

Maybe it is time to pull in scripture? But frankly, I am too tired this evening. And you can look it up as easy as I can. And you can look up dress for various religions around the world, as easy as I can.

Don't kid yourself. This discussion is about modest apparel. Google modest apparel and see what you get. You may be surprised.

And if you are a preacher, you should be doing something about it in your church. We have to first clean up the churches before we can clean up the streets. The church should be the church!

In my opinion, the pastor in the video did what was right. As I said in my earlier post, the thing I think should be different is that there should have been two sermon times--one for boys and men, and a second for girls and women. If the practice in his church was for the sermon to be delivered by him or another male pastor, then he did the right thing by preaching it himself.

...Bob

 

Free,

How about you being the one to define "modest" apparel for us.

 

If this pastor delivered such a message as part of my church, we'd have a sit-down afterward. To make such a spectacle of the women who had to sit through this, as well as their husbands and children, is absolutely horrible. The embarrassment he caused (to his own admission as some women were hiding their eyes from him) does more harm than good. If he is having such a problem with modesty within the church, he needs to make it known to the mature ladies through his wife or another aged woman who will in turn teach the younger women how to be modest.

His descriptions have no place in such a mixed audience. Nothing wrong with being concerned with immodesty, but be smart in the handling of such a problem.

 

If the person was intentionally targeting someone else in order to get them to lust, then they would share some blame. However, most men don't need anyone to tempt them, they go looking for women to lust over. The women are the victims of lust, not the person at fault.

Nice pronouncement/accusation... (I assume you are accusing me a being like Cain, not someone named Cane.)

We are certainly supposed to help our brothers and sister in the way off righteousness, but we are not responsible for their sin when they sin against us when they use us as objects of lust.

Don't be so sure. My wife is curvy and dresses modestly, but there is no mistaking that she has an exceptional figure. She has had to bear the indignity of street evangelists publicly accusing her of being immoral because they apparently found themselves lusting after her figure (this has happened on more than one occasion in my presence and I had words with the street preachers). She faced this is college and has had guys try to grope her in the past. Knowing her very well, I know she didn't invite any of the attention, but she was the victim of sexually out-of-control men, many of whom claimed to be strong Christians. As you might imagine, this is a pet peeve of mine since I know what my wife has endured. I also know what it is like to be a guy who used to have a severe lust problem and has had a very significant amount of victory in this area. Lust is definitely an area where we have a lot of control over, if we want to have control. The blunt truth is that many Christian men really don't want to have victory over this sin and they create a theology and practice that blames women so they can protect their sin. What's worse, is that many men who genuinely want to be free of lust believe the lie that they can't change and live in misery and guilt.

As I have said before, women (and men) need to be careful what they wear and how they carry themselves, but there is no possible way to keep oneself from looking "lustful" (whatever that is) if someone is interesting in lusting after you.

No, it's about lust (notice the title of the sermon in the OP). Immodest clothing is just what is being blamed for lustful acts.