AphroditeGoneAwry
failure to thrive
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2009
- Messages
- 5,585
- MBTI Type
- INfj
- Enneagram
- 451
- Instinctual Variant
- sx/so
Why do you have a sexy avatar?
Because I'm sexy?
Why do you have a sexy avatar?
OMG THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!!!!! How do you cure someone of being a man-whore?
Just hang around. I'm sure examples will arise. Or bring me a specific question, and we will work through it together.![]()
What does "Impulse of one's mind to enjoy God on his own account" actually entail?
Does this imply that one who doesn't believe in God is not capable of love, and can only lust?
If it does not imply that, then what does this have to do with God?
I take it to mean you can lust in your own mind, but if you are glorifying God in your mind, that is love; using your mind for love and Godly purpose, not allowing your mind to stray on things without being somehow tethered closely to God.
God graces us with gifts all the time, whether we choose to acknowledge him or those gifts as from being from him. He makes you capable of love. You can choose not to lust whether you believe in God or not. People can act nicely without believing in God. But I think the best people do believe in God.
Well ok, but the point of that was an aid in distinguishing between lust and love - love apparently being "Impulse of one's mind to enjoy God on his own account" - so how is this useful to a non believer in distinguishing the difference?
If one is able to not lust and also not believe in God then there must also be another distinguishing factor aside from what is described above.
I'm pretty sure I know the difference anyway, but that seems like a strange way of explaining the difference.
What if God wants you to have sex before marriage for spiritual growth?
He wrote it that way, I'd imagine, because he wanted to point out that one can lust in one's own mind, not just with another person.
When I didn't believe in God, I had another paradigm to live by. I just found it harder to navigate because it was more vague and I was more likely to err. So if you don't believe in God, how do you differentiate love and lust? I probably would have said something like Green Fairy says, to the effect that there is no love, only our sexual nature. And go with it. So yeah.
How do you feel about sex before marriage?
Whoa. This makes a lot of sense and is succinct. Nice.When I didn't believe in God, I had another paradigm to live by. I just found it harder to navigate because it was more vague and I was more likely to err.
That's a good way to reframe the question.Does pornography glorify God?
Well to me love carries a positive and sustaining energy, with which one feels complete and aligned. I'd imagine this to be acceptable to God if there is one.
Lust on the other hand is visceral, transient, and fickle. It's not just sex, because neither one is really sex only.
To me love is like eating a proper meal that gives you wholesome energy, it's good for you in the long run and you ultimately feel better and live better, and lust is like living on chocolate cake. Sure it gives your brain a pleasure reward for the time being but ultimately you suffer if you get carried away in it.
It feels good. I particularly enjoy when I am with a partner who I can bond with. It is rare though. I'm not sure I could marry someone without that connection. Could you?
Whoa. This makes a lot of sense and is succinct. Nice.
That's a good way to reframe the question.
In some of the cases I listed, it pretty clearly doesn't; in others, it's not so clear.
It's not a qualifier or justification. Frankly I'd prefer to never eat cake, literally or figuratively.So, you can partake in moderation then? That is your qualifier?
I find that even just a little bit of evil puts me on a slippery slope that has deposited me into the armpit of the antichrist on occasion. I cannot dabble, nor do I want to. The answer for me is simply to love, which is my nature anyway.
It's not a qualifier or justification. Frankly I'd prefer to never eat cake, literally or figuratively.
I was explaining how I tell the difference, which I find to be more meaningful than some arbitrary "because I said so!" rules.
I'm not going to take incomprehensible things on authority alone if I do not feel an understanding for them. To me, that in itself would be immoral.
Well one thing I learned when I was a Christian is that none are righteous.Are you being defensive? Data thinks he hears a note of irritation in your response, but cannot be sure. Because it makes sense to do things in moderation. I just have come to the belief that one shouldn't always do everything in moderation.![]()
Love is the most important connection for me. The rest would depend upon my partner.