First off, I just wanted to formally thank all the participants in this thread for what has been a fascinating and thoroughly engaging discussion. Well done, CP!
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Originally Posted by Daradon
...First, I do believe the action of a crime or sin is worse than the thought of it. We all get tempted, we all have bad ideas, we all lose our path.
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This gets close to the heart of why I broached this topic in the first place. I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable with growing emphases on targeting thought crime in Evangelical churches, and the increasing access to sexually explicit material in our culture has provided a prime target. I have personally seen people's lives utterly ruined—not because of internet pornography, but because of their inability to cope with the guilt, a viciously circular cycle of self-loathing, and public shame that they also must deal with.
Invectives directed toward thought crimes are demoralising and destructive.
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Originally Posted by Daradon
It's the struggle and the overcoming of it that makes us human and is a moral triumph. Without the temptation, there would be no triumph. There would be no free will, no point, and no reason for Jesus to even have to teach us.
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In a contemporary context I think Jesus's teaching might be redeemed on the condition that it is an effective hyperbole. The lesson being that all actions are rooted in ideas. Ideas are not benign, as they have the potential to produce tangible fruit. It's a thoughtful observation, but too easily pushed to an extreme: Thoughts and ideas ought not be discouraged, and distasteful behaviour cannot be eliminated by way of their repression.