Hey Everyone,
Since my original thread has been actively resurrected (sorry, wisebeardman!), I'm going to take a post I just added to the current discussion in that thread and use it as the basis for a spin-off discussion:
What are your thoughts?
Forgive me, Kim.., I'm not sure that I'm qualified to answer (and am also piggy backing responses to other statements apart from your own), but I do appreciate your thoughtfulness and willingness to approach the various aspects of life and people. ^_^
Jeremiah 17:9 says that a person's heart is deceitful above all else, and desperately wicked. Depending on translation, it asks who can really know or understand it, and The LORD says in the next verse that He does. (He also says that in 1 Samuel 16:7.)
In Matthew 5:28, Jesus says that even looking at a woman lustfully is like committing adultery with her in your heart/mind, so that pretty much answers any argument about it being a sin. That said, I don't think most people are overly deluded. Most of us in some form of addiction know that it's wrong, but do it anyway.
It can be both hard to understand and easy to describe, so here's an anecdote in this regard. No one on earth needs a particular kind of food and drink. We only need something enough to nourish our bodies. That said, I know and have seen many men and women who will be tempted by some decadent desert; give in to that temptation; and even then overindulge in it as they revel in the perceived pleasure it brings. However, as tasty as it may be, the ingredients within and continuing indulgence can actually harm their health, grow to limit their abilities, and ultimately, in some cases, shorten their lives.
We know all that, but we eat the cake anyway. That example actually holds true most anywhere in our lives. Without God living inside and changing us, almost all our thoughts and actions are, in reality, entirely selfish, and I believe that selfishness is really the root of all sin.
The thing is....that's easy enough to talk about, but incredibly rare to see people do. I have seen it, but sparingly.
So, Christ, through His death on the cross, offers us the opportunity of grace. We can be forgiven and given a chance to change and grow, even though we don't deserve it. As Paul said, this freedom should not be an excuse to live in or indulge sin, but encouragement we need, with God's help, to resist and even overcome it.
That also said, many of us fight a times, but are not making a habit of being a spiritual soldier against evil both within and without us. We serve other gods. Our moods and mindset and misgivings change day by day, or even change within a day.
as Paul also said, the law of sin and death is surely alive and well in each of us, but thanks to be God that through Christ Jesus we have victory!
That said, it's always a choice. Do we choose Christ? Do we choose ourselves? Do we choose something or someone else? It's a constant choice in each and every place and time.
So, the same is true for marriage or relationships or addictions... What will you choose? What will I choose?
I hope one way to be free from my burden of sin by the power in The Blood, but as Mr John Wesley said, we have both Holy and Unholy affections. Like the Native American Parable of the wolves, the one we feed is the one which will win the fight. I hope to feed God's version of me more and other versions less, but that takes my choosing and God's help.
So, there are consequences to sin and our choices, just like in science there are reactions to actions. What price will we pay ultimately? I don't know. I hope to take Christ's payment in my behalf, but just like you, that depends entirely on what I choose. Everything costs something, and maybe ineligability, damage to myself, damage to my partner or others, and/or several other things could be the price I pay.
I suppose...it just depends on the people in question. I've seen those who overcome through Christ, and I've seen those who don't. I seen relationships, through the pain and struggle, come out beautifully and last, and I've seen them crash and burn. I can't say what will be, but I can say that whatever it is will be either a choice or the result of one.
