Is it a sin to appreciate the sight (not lusting) of beautiful women?

[TLM08]

With God’s grace, I am free from the shark infested waters of pornography, but I am now aware that there is a problem at the other end of the spectrum called “angelism”, where one can develop a fear to even go to the beach or the mall for fear of seeing a beautiful women… or heaven forbid seeing and appreciating the God given beauty of the female form. I know one young man who walks around all day staring at the ground. That’s simply rediculous.

I am particularly interested in having men with a good deal of spiritual maturity weigh in on this. Immodest and sinful material is obviously evil and to be avoided at all costs, but blinders in the course of day to day living seems unrealistic as well.
Any thoughts gentlemen?

 

[StCsDavid]

There is no sin in appreciating everything God has created. It is when we distort our view with lust that sin comes into play. There is a lot of great art in churches throughout Europe depicting the female form either naked or nearly so. Each man has to search his heart and decide if he has the maturity to look at a beautiful woman and not lust after her and want to “have” her. Your friend who stares at the ground has some growing to do; however, at least he knows his limitations.

 

[Newbie2]

No problem with appreciating beauty in any form.

 

[TLM08]

There is no sin in appreciating everything God has created. It is when we distort our view with lust that sin comes into play. There is a lot of great art in churches throughout Europe depicting the female form either naked or nearly so. Each man has to search his heart and decide if he has the maturity to look at a beautiful woman and not lust after her and want to “have” her. Your friend who stares at the ground has some growing to do; however, at least he knows his limitations.

The fact that female beauty and sexual attractions are so intrinsically linked, makes discovering the place to draw the line a bit murky.

I don’t think a man must stare at the ground whenever a bikini clad babe enters the pool area, but he obviously shoudn’t be soaking a generous eyeful into his memory bank so he can “pleasuring” himself later on that night, or the next day to that visual memory either. It’s safe to say that to do that would likely be a sin.

Again, it’s my hope that good men will come forward and share their thoughts. God made them beautiful for a reason. We must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

 

[Allen537]

Moderation and self-knowledge are, in my opinion, the best ways to deal with situations like that.

In Carmel,

Br. Allen

 

[chevalier]

The answer to the titular question is that it is not a sin.

It can never be a sin to appreciate something God has created. People sometimes describe their relatives as pretty or handsome. Still, they don’t (normally) lust for relatives. People have friends they are not interested in - even though those are nice to look at. There’s also a ton of art. Is it all a sin? By far not. As for moderation, I agree with the previous posters.