Since When is Lust No Longer a Sin?

In the past couple of years, I have become very selective about what I read.  Other than reading the Food Network Magazine subscribed to by my mother-in-law, I rarely read a magazine.  I find the content and visual images of many women’s magazines to be a place of temptation – even in the grocery line.  And so I “avoid the near temptation of sin”.

Recently, as I was waiting for my fingernail polish to dry in a salon, I perused the magazines. I avoided Star, OK, In Touch and even People for an edition of Redbook.  What harm could there be in reading this mainstay of women’s magazines?  As turned the pages and skimmed the copy, I decided to read an article titled the Best Love Stories of 2012. (Note that the article clearly touted love, not sex or erotica.)

The article mentioned the royal couple William and Kate who are sweet in public and have been horrified at having their private moments splashed across the tabloids. I turned the page to find an article on the “Smorgasbord of eye candy this year” avowing that women are “loud and proud in our appreciation”.  There was a photo of a famous male in a skimpy bathing suit and the article suggested another man to “Google if you want to get the home fires burning - but don’t do it at work”. The take away was that “your husband doesn’t care what’s got you so worked up, as long as he reaps the benefits”.  I actually read the sentence twice.  I don’t know about other men, but my husband would not be happy knowing that I am fantasizing about another man while we make love.

The next article about “love” touted the effect a soft porn novel has had on martial sex, stating that the movie version “can’t come fast enough”.  Since when is lust no longer a sin I thought as I slapped the magazine shut and moved it far away from my seat.

This mainstream women’s magazine is promoting activity that not only diminishes the value of the intimate marriage relationship, but promotes sinful behavior as something to boast about.  I closed my eyes and my mind ranted at the outrage of including this material in an article about love.   A Casting Crowns song came to mind.  I can’t remember its name, but the lyrics include “be careful what your eyes see”.

The harms of lust are more far reaching than our current society will admit.  When sex is a form of recreation, not an act of creation or comfort, it damages the love between wife and husband.  And we, the women of today, have bought into the current culture’s theme that sex is far more important than love. 

We do need to be careful what our eyes, the eyes of our husbands, and the eyes of our children see.  How much of the crumbling family structure can be blamed on confusing love with erotica?