curtins Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 ok i was having this debate with my freinds (both catholics) and my freind likes this girl partly cuz shes good looking and he says thats lust even though he has no sexual intentions of it- and i sed its not lust because lust has to do with some sort of bad sexual intention or something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Its possible that she is a beautiful girl and he naturally has a physical attraction to her. I think its normal to be attracted to beauty. There can be a fine line between this and lust though. But I think you are right in making the distinction because some people go too far and act like it is a sin to be attracted to someone. It can be hard to judge from the outside whether this is lust. If he insists that it is, he could be right since he knows his own heart. The main thing with lust I would say, is that you objectify the other person. You are attracted by their sexual value in an inordinate way which does not adequately respect the fullness of the person and their dignity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There is nothing intrinsically wrong with admiring beauty. Lust is when we desire to take what is beautiful for ourselves. In particular, lust is self-serving, love is self-giving. To love means to trust that God will give us that which we admire, to lust is to skip over the "God's gift" part and to try to reach out and take what we admire. For instance, I will readily admit that there are several very beautiful young ladies on Phatmass, but that doesn't make it lust. In fact, I love every one of them (not romantically), because I see them as children of God. Lust destroys the concept of personhood and makes a human person into a compilation of attractive body parts with nothing else, particularly mind, soul, etc., and then wishes, as I mentioned above, to grasp those things for oneself, rather than wish to share and to give oneself. Romantic love takes it a step further; it is fulfilled in the complete giving of oneself to another, and thus, two people share themselves. A man who has true love desires to give himself completely as well as to receive completely, thus, to be in complete union with his wife. A man who lusts wishes only to receive, and then, generally, not even completely. Thank you, Pope John Paul II and Christopher West! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaeldra Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 What Raphael said. Your posts are all [i]very[/i] good Raphael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 [quote name='Kaeldra' date='Oct 4 2004, 01:03 PM'] What Raphael said. Your posts are all [i]very[/i] good Raphael [/quote] Thank Christopher West for explaining Pope John Paul II to me! I seek no glory for stating the truths of God. But thanks for the flowers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmerf Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 [quote name='curtins' date='Oct 3 2004, 08:45 PM'] ok i was having this debate with my freinds (both catholics) and my freind likes this girl partly cuz shes good looking and he says thats lust even though he has no sexual intentions of it- and i sed its not lust because lust has to do with some sort of bad sexual intention or something [/quote] I'd argue that Lust is when you desire to use use another person for your own sexual gratification. Finding someone attractive is part of Our Lord's plan. It's what we do with that desire that matters. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaeldra Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 [quote name='Raphael' date='Oct 4 2004, 12:06 PM'] Thank Christopher West for explaining Pope John Paul II to me! I seek no glory for stating the truths of God. But thanks for the flowers. [/quote] Anytime...I love giving people flowers and cookies hehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Hey I'm Shadow, and I am the kid who Curtins is talking about. I like this girl (not only cause shes beautiful) but becuase of her personality (so don't think that I like girls because of the physical appereance) anyways....... It's the 21 Century. The English language is constantly changing. (EX: I am high (up on a mountain) or (I smoked some pot)) and meanings to words have changed as well. My personal opinion (being so opinionated and byist) I believe that lust has 2 meanings. Lust: 1. Wanting to use a human as a sex toy, or just drawn to them because you want to have sexual relationships with them. 2. Liking a girl partically/all becuse of her looks, with NO sexual intentions involved. This is what I believe. (after all I am talking about the girl of my dreams, so it's not like I DON'T know what I'm talking about.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Well, Shadow, ultimately we can't judge what's in your heart, but being physically attracted to someone is not necessarily lust. It is when that attraction causes us to objectify a person that it becomes lust. Let's try this from another angle... God's original plan for humanity was for man and wife to love one another and to give themselves to one another through their bodies (cf. Theology of the Body). Adam and Eve were certainly physically attracted to one another, and certainly they would have had sex regardless of the fall, because sex is a figure of God's love. This attraction doesn't mean that they had lust for one another, because it was pure love. Recall that they were naked together and felt no shame. There cannot be lust without shame. They saw each other naked and were completely innocent about it. Sex, to them, was pure. This is God's plan. If the fall had not occurred, we would all be walking around naked right now, and none of us would mind, and when we looked at each other in our nakedness, we would see an image of God. We would have attraction, but not lust. It is, however, very difficult to discern between the two in our world of sin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Lust is when you look at someone and drool. Love [ and romance] is when you look at someone and say "am I good enough for them", and "how can I make them happy". The first is self-directed, the second is other-directed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Fine. I guess you are all right about this. (and no i don't lust towards my crush.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 [quote name='Shadow' date='Oct 4 2004, 07:35 PM'] Fine. I guess you are all right about this. (and no i don't lust towards my crush.) [/quote] You seem upset. We don't mean to be critical, just to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 nah it's cool, bro. I HATE BEING WRONG. i usally win, dammit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtins Posted October 5, 2004 Author Share Posted October 5, 2004 yeah he hates being wrong and he hates being insulted too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 beaver dam straight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now