philosophical Thoughts, Life Advice, and Unpopular Opinions

Deadly sin #4- lust

Oh yes, let's talk about everyone's favorite deadly sin! Who's excited to talk about lust!? Okay maybe not that excited, but we should talk about it anyway. Just like gluttony and greed, lust is an excessive desire. Gluttony is usually characterized by an excessive desire for food, greed is an excessive desire for money/possessions, lust is an excessive desire for sex. Now the stereotype is that men are the most notorious perpetrators of this sin, but let's not discriminate! Women can be just as lecherous, but they tend to get away with it more often because no one ever suspects them. Having been on the receiving end of lust and being guilty myself of dishing it out in the past, I can honestly say I don't know which is worse. 

Being on the receiving end of lust can be flattering at first, but it NEVER ends well, EVER. I think lust is a deadly sin because it kills relationships, and destroys love and intimacy, which are basic human needs. 

It can be a very embarrassing thing to talk about, because lust plays on our instinctual desire for intimacy, which God created. We all know God created sex, eros, and intimacy to be fulfilling, beautiful things, but as with all good things God created, Satan had to take it, twist it, and come up with his own worthless, cheap counterfeit of it. Lust is Satan's worthless, cheap counterfeit of love and intimacy. The difference between love and lust is that love cares about the other person, lust only cares about itself and sex. As my former professor Ed Rybarczyk said, "Lust is when he/she becomes an 'it'". 

I have a theory. I'm not sure it's true, but it's a theory. If we were built to love and to be loved, and we all had those needs met, what need would there be for lust? What if those who struggle with lust don't feel like they're receiving or giving the love and intimacy that us humans thrive on, and they're looking for it elsewhere? If you talk to a guy who struggles with porn addiction, I bet nine times out of ten, he will have some unresolved problem with this parents or a close family member. I'm just imagining all the possible responses to this:

But all guys watch porn! It's normal!

Guys and girls just have raging hormones, it's a part of growing up! 

That's just how guys are!

Again, is it really just guys who commit this sin? And don't you think God is greater than the hormones and desires that he himself created!? Let's drop the excuses and humble ourselves. Let's run to the one who created these desires in the first place, and run away from the one who seeks to twist these desires into something awful. 

To those of you who struggle with lust, understand that lust is just a worthless counterfeit of love. Lust will never truly fulfill that need for love and intimacy. Only God can do that. 

God bless you.