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What is lust?

Halcyon

Lord of the Badgers
No of course not, i'm not saying that. We'd be pretty boring if we never did what our emotions told us to!

But what about the people who do go after married people, or keep eating chocolate after they start feeling sick? No control?
 

Prima

Well-Known Member
Well, that's what I'm saying. They're still CAPABLE of thinking like a human being, they're just choosing not to. It doesn't make them animals - just really stupid humans. :) Animals, on the other hand, don't HAVE that capability.
 

Nick Soapdish

Secret Agent
I agree with the definition that lust is an uncontrolled or unrestrained desire.

We all have impulses of desire. Any guy is going to have an instinctive reaction when a very attractive woman comes in contact with them. However, as someone once told me, the birds will always fly over our roof, but that does mean we have to let them build a nest there.
 

Hope

Princesinha
Runt said:
Okay, I guess I can see your point, somewhat. However, I think deliberately depriving people of certain things fuels desire. Think, for example, of the stories so recently in the news about priests molesting children. I doubt that this is a case where lots of dirty old men are attracted to a religion where they will have to take vows of chastity. Instead, I suspect that perfectly normal males succumb to lust because the very ABSENSE of sexuality in their lives actually reminds them of what they have deprived themselves of, and in this way feeds sexual desire.

But I will agree, now, that sexuality that is flaunted is going to incite more lust than sexuality that is hidden... but I think BOTH can cause lust.
These are good points. I have been to a Muslim nation---Morocco---and the lust emanating from most of the men there was almost tangible. I have never been stared at or boldly approached by men, as in the manner I was while there. I was told not even to make eye contact, if possible, with men while in public, lest they take it as a come-on. Even though I and some other females with me followed this rule, and dressed very, very conservatively ( loose shirts, long skirts, etc.. ), we were still harassed. So, yes, in this case, I believe the forced separation of men and women in society, and the women's 'duty' of covering themselves, has actually created more lust, as opposed to lessening it.
 

No*s

Captain Obvious
Personally, I go for the "really strong desire" bit. I take my division from the Scripture, Church Fathers, and the philosphers of the Hellnic and Hellinistic eras. The closest term for lust in Greek is epithymia. It denotes any strong desire. For instance, Jesus had epithymia, and He said so.

The English connotation comes in when the target is considered. If, for instance, I have a strong desire, a passion, for a new computer, it would still be lust. That passion then breeds selfishness and pride. Those, in turn, breed terrible children. Thus, lust/passion is very damaging here.

Conversely, if I have the same emotion for other people's welfare and for God, then my passion is well-placed. It reaps positive benefits not just for others but within my own spirit as it is transformed.

Unfortunately, the word has narrowed in English almost to the point that it is useful only in evaluating sexual desire, and then only negatively. Sadly, it is still used to translate words in the Bible and whatnot from whose meanings its connotation has long since drifted even if it may be used to denote it.

Maybe it can be broadened back up some :).
 
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