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Island_Oak
Guest
IF EATING ICE CREAM WAS A SIN, I’D BE DIGGING A TUNNEL TO THE DEEPEST RECESSES OF HELL ONE SPOONFUL AT A TIME. Thank goodness it’s a harmless vice!! (as long as I keep exercising)
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Ridgerunner
Guest
I am relieved to learn that this is just an analogy. If it really was a sin to eat ice cream, then I wouldn’t even have to die to go to hell.
Merely observing a sin is not the same as committing the sin. However, if I revel in the observance thereof, for personal titilation or out of a kind of vicarious thrill of seeing something pornographic, cruel or violent, then I’m sinning. Kind of hard to picture getting that worked up about watching somebody eat meat on Friday, but I suppose a person could. If I’m observing out of a “What the hey?” kind of motivation, and if it really is that; like watching somebody steal a tv from a store across the street, (and not being able then and there to do anything about it, which is a different issue) there’s no sin in it.
Some things might not be sinful because of the content itself and its overall intended effect. Kind of hard to excuse watching pornography under any circumstance. But if, say, I’m watching the awful stuff in “Schindler’s List”; the purpose of which is to impress on me the awfulness of of what happened in that era and to show me how evil can be taken so casually, then that’s not sinful even if I can see a bit of the commandant’s cruelty in myself when I find in myself the slightest appreciation of his extreme decisiveness and abrupt action or the smoothness of the SS general’s explanation to Schindler that the Jews “don’t have a future. It’s not just old-fashioned Jew hating, it’s policy now”. Evil can coexist with charm or any other human attribute that can also be admirable. I think, in truth, that’s part of the purpose of the movie. But if I enjoy the suffering and keep watching even so, it’s sinful to do it. I don’t see a lot of difference between “watching” and “thinking”. If a thought is evil, then watching it acted out is no less so.
Merely observing a sin is not the same as committing the sin. However, if I revel in the observance thereof, for personal titilation or out of a kind of vicarious thrill of seeing something pornographic, cruel or violent, then I’m sinning. Kind of hard to picture getting that worked up about watching somebody eat meat on Friday, but I suppose a person could. If I’m observing out of a “What the hey?” kind of motivation, and if it really is that; like watching somebody steal a tv from a store across the street, (and not being able then and there to do anything about it, which is a different issue) there’s no sin in it.
Some things might not be sinful because of the content itself and its overall intended effect. Kind of hard to excuse watching pornography under any circumstance. But if, say, I’m watching the awful stuff in “Schindler’s List”; the purpose of which is to impress on me the awfulness of of what happened in that era and to show me how evil can be taken so casually, then that’s not sinful even if I can see a bit of the commandant’s cruelty in myself when I find in myself the slightest appreciation of his extreme decisiveness and abrupt action or the smoothness of the SS general’s explanation to Schindler that the Jews “don’t have a future. It’s not just old-fashioned Jew hating, it’s policy now”. Evil can coexist with charm or any other human attribute that can also be admirable. I think, in truth, that’s part of the purpose of the movie. But if I enjoy the suffering and keep watching even so, it’s sinful to do it. I don’t see a lot of difference between “watching” and “thinking”. If a thought is evil, then watching it acted out is no less so.
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BrownR
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Verisimilitude
Guest
Do we risk being overly influenced or de-sensitized to things that would shock and embarass an earlier generation? Are we more sophisticated now that graphically simulated torture and murder is acceptable because actors portray it? It’s ok as long as some moral justice is intended?
I want to treat sensitive subjects with care which is why I used the ice cream analogy to begin with. Ted Bundy was a real monster. Is art imitating life? Is there anything moral about the story of Jeffery Dahmer or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Psycho?
Why is the fantasy sin acceptable there, but not in violent S/M bondage married couples-only gangbang sex? I think they are equally deplorable. Assume I think it’s less of a sin to watch extreme sex by willing actors/characters than, even the depiction of the taking of a human life.
There should be nothing more obscene to us than the taking of a life at any capacity or age. The unborn like the living need protection.
I can’t help but admit that watching two attractive females being intimate does not repulse me as two intimate men. Does it matter if they are doing it in public or on the video you are watching? I am now assuming you buy or rent them.
Gossip used to be considered a small sin, yet arguably the most powerful influential woman is queen of gossip and well respected. Oprah. I admire her in som eways but her talk show isn’t just always harmeless and informative.
Ice cream anyone?
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BobP123
Guest
Eating ice cream is not a sin. However, gluttony is. And it’s ugly to watch too.What the heck are you talking about? Eating ice cream is not a sin people!! I think even the Amish people can eat it!!!
If you are watching them because of some sexual fascination with the licking action that might be different story.
STRANGE!!
If it were a “sin” (which it never would be) it would be no different than watching someone eat meat on a Friday during lent!
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MichaelTDoyle
Guest
The analogy breaks down almost immediately because the sin of lust can be violated visually. Ice cream has no significant visual component.
I also think drawing parallels between pornography and violence in drama is poor. One is in nitself a sin “to watch with lust in the heart” the other is simply a component in storytelling, e.g. the violence of the flood in Genesis.
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I also think drawing parallels between pornography and violence in drama is poor. One is in nitself a sin “to watch with lust in the heart” the other is simply a component in storytelling, e.g. the violence of the flood in Genesis.
2 cents
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goofyjim
Guest
Amen to that. Of course I have discovered that I am lactose intolerant so that helps me quit. But I would be right up there or down there with you if it were a sin.
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Verisimilitude
Guest
How is that a breakdown? The sin of anger can be heard.
The paralles are sound. Pornography is dramatised too, and people can watch violent films with the same lust for death as some watch porn for entertainment.
Only to the undisciplined do the analogies breakdown when they do.
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MichaelTDoyle
Guest
The Lord specifically used the word “looked” in regard to lust. Arousal is a distinctly visual phenomenon because our eyes in a special way are the lamps of our souls and lust can be so easily found with the eye.
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mesquite_magic
Guest
So… say my dh and I have some soft core, um… ice cream for umm… foreplay, that would be as much a sin as hard core umm… rocky road. Not that we do either. No really,We don’t. We’re pretty um, vanilla, that way 
What if we like “Gone With The Wind” and it’s some-what arousing? Is that as bad as that soft serve stuff? Or Rocky road for that matter?
Is watching CSI Miami as bad as Saw II? Would that make it as bad as actually watching a murder?
Then there were all the “rightous folk” watching the “heretics” burn way back when? Were they good for being rightous? Or were they bad for participating in murder? Yuck, can’t imagine THAT
Kind of OT, but it makes ya wonder.
Kim
What if we like “Gone With The Wind” and it’s some-what arousing? Is that as bad as that soft serve stuff? Or Rocky road for that matter?
Is watching CSI Miami as bad as Saw II? Would that make it as bad as actually watching a murder?
Then there were all the “rightous folk” watching the “heretics” burn way back when? Were they good for being rightous? Or were they bad for participating in murder? Yuck, can’t imagine THAT
Kind of OT, but it makes ya wonder.Kim
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Verisimilitude
Guest
Excellent response. Thanks.
But why limit that to just the eye that be evil and make us dark? Other things beside lust with sight shapes our sin. Swearing in anger is both heard and seen.
Is it implied that He is speaking with regard to all the senses, unless everything is to be taken literal? He also says “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
I work with a man; very nice, tall & good looking, single, never married, 46 yrs old who went blind just before he turned 30… He’s always on the hunt
(with a Christian attitude). I haven’t asked directly, but I’d guess he can lust. Or is he spared that particular temptation?He could read and/or listen to erotica, or feel it with a touch, or smell it. Lust is not exclusive to sight or sin. But just as sight can invoke lust it could also invoke anger. The more violence we see the more it makes our body darksome if we get too used to it, even if it is staged. We can hear a lie as well as see one.
And we can act on these stimuli or not, and thus exercise our free-will (which includes restraint). Porno no longer excites me like it used to. I don’t lust everytime I see a nude woman. We can tell a lie because we heard our brother tell one and get away with it, or hit our parents like we saw on that show, or we can lust after our cute 22 year old neighbor. All of these things darken our soul and body if we allow it to be the master.
A kid who sits at home every day, killing swearing cyborg mutants on XBox might be learning the slow art of being sloth. The young man who listens to death metal and gangsta rap might be absorbing too much anger, and pride, released without warning. Both of those and many more, all begin to devalue life which is what sin does.
18"But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.
If (eating ice cream) were a sin…
Q#1: If having sex out of marriage is a sin, is watching people have sex out of marriage a sin? A#1: Only if it arouses.
Q#2: If cutting off a screaming persons leg while they are chanied to a door is a sin, is watching someone cutting off a screaming persons leg while they are chanied to a door a sin? A#2: Only if it’s not acting and only if you enjoy seeing torture death?
Q#3: Is listening to violent, vulgar, demeaning and disrespectfull music a sin? A#3: Only if you are that way to your family, friends or strangers.
Q#4: If speaking against God in ones pride is a sin, is listening to someone speak against God or of their own pride without recognizing God a sin? A#4 Only if you believe it or don’t care?
Q#5: Has modern society made many of these sins so common place that we no longer recognize them as grave sin, praise/honor those who do them, and risk a decaying moral society, or is observable lust the main danger?
A#5:
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Verisimilitude
Guest
What is dh?So… say my dh and I have some soft core, um… ice cream for umm… foreplay, that would be as much a sin as hard core umm… rocky road. Not that we do either. No really,We don’t. We’re pretty um, vanilla, that way
and don’t worry, none of us are like that either. We’re all vanilla. (It’s all very philosophical)But as long as it is not Dairy Queen- Ben and Jerrys Rocky Road is OK! (all natural
)As long as you don’t give a damn, but be carefull, southern girls like it pistachio but not in the sherbert.
I saw a commercial when I was about 16. It was for a home security system and showed a silly looking theif cutting a circle of glass out of the window to get to the lock and get in the place. I thought to myself, ‘hey, I could do that. My highschool doesn’t have that system.’ It worked!
I suppose I should blame that on my parents for not watching everything I did- isn’t that what we do today? Blame the parents for rotten kids?
Then there were all the “rightous folk” watching the “heretics” burn way back when? Were they good for being rightous? Or were they bad for participating in murder? Yuck, can’t imagine THAT
They would have been better off eating an ice cream cone instead.
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mesquite_magic
Guest
What is dh?
But as long as it is not Dairy Queen- Ben and Jerrys Rocky Road is OK! (all natural
As long as you don’t give a damn, but be carefull, southern girls like it pistachio but not in the sherbert.
I saw a commercial when I was about 16. It was for a home security system and showed a silly looking theif cutting a circle of glass out of the window to get to the lock and get in the place. I thought to myself, ‘hey, I could do that. My highschool doesn’t have that system.’ It worked!
I suppose I should blame that on my parents for not watching everything I did- isn’t that what we do today? Blame the parents for rotten kids?
They would have been better off eating an ice cream cone instead.
they would have been better off eating ice cream.DH = dear husband Depending on what he’s done on any given day it could mean D@$n husband too
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empacae
Guest
How can it be a sin. I so LOVE HEAVENLY hash… yummy!
emp
emp
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