Follow Jesus Christ

Jesus’ remark “whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” is not something that people like to mention. It’s not just that we can’t learn to control our sexuality. It’s that most people are confused that neither priests, nor preachers, nor the church can boast of sufficient “grace” to immediately fulfill this commandment. In theory, Christians should have everything they need from above to consistently fulfill the commandment, but no. There is no power. Sexuality is still part of the instinct of all Christians. As well as unbelievers. So is it possible to talk about deliverance from sin at all?

In the authentic teaching of Christ, instincts are not “sinful”. It is in the teaching of Paul that the world “broke” in Adam and everything was distorted by sin, including the instinct for reproduction. In the minds of millions of ancient Christians, sexuality probably should not have existed at all: let us recall the strange theological term “immaculate conception”. It seems like a conception like a conception, one for all, so why “vicious”? Jesus did not teach that the entire world natural system collapsed in Adam: He simply did not mention this statement. But since Paul himself made such a statement, no one can dare to doubt the correctness of his thesis that reproduction was once possible on our planet without the sexual instinct. Allegedly, the world was created perfect: reproduction through sex probably existed, but there was no sexual attraction. Or was there attraction, but it was strictly legal? Or was there no reproduction through sex at all? And what about the created organs? This is where things can get confusing.

Science says that the sexual instinct is only a mechanism by which subspecies reproduce. If there is no reproduction, all living things will die, including people. Accordingly, “basic instinct” is the mechanism that makes living beings engage in sexual contact. Nature makes all living things reproduce in this way. That is why they say that “hormones have no conscience.” They do not care which priest married people and what vows were taken. Nature rigidly pursues its goals no matter what. It is precisely this fact of blindness, heartlessness and cruelty of nature that makes us think that the world was not created by God or that sin has thoroughly spoiled it. Nature is imperfect!

But Jesus did not condemn nature. Many of His parables were based on examples from nature. A seed is thrown into the ground, it falls on bad rocky soil and dies, dries up, without producing fruit. Isn’t this a pattern, isn’t this natural diversity? So why throw a seed in such a place?!? Because in nature everything is like this: as it happens and where it happens. It is a mechanism that exists on its own and independently of anything. A camel cannot fit through the eye of a needle, a twig is unlikely to fall out of an eye by itself, a bird is obliged to look for food, dogs and pigs cannot judge beauty. Jesus contemplated nature as it is, and did not complain about it. He did not claim that the world was created beautiful, and Adam ruined everything. Jesus loved nature. He did not say that once upon a time all seeds thrown anywhere, without exception, produced a hundred times more fruit. Why? Since Jesus did not speak of it and did not show any regret, most likely nature has always been like this. This is the most logical assumption. What is the point of regretting something that never happened? Based on this, the sexual instinct has always been there. The world was originally designed and created with this and other instincts. With all the patterns that science impartially records.

Why did God create such an “imperfect” world, where a random fire can burn down a sleeping family? What a relief it would be to believe that Adam, Eve and sin are to blame for the imperfection of the world! However, if we accept the fact that nature was created this way by the instructions of God himself, then we will have to resign ourselves and accept a different idea of God’s plan. Yes, nature is blind, it is only a machine. A very complex chemical, electrical, physical, biological, but a machine. And man is a natural robot, but with the ability to stop being one. Nature causes inconvenience, sometimes very painful in its manifestations, but it works. It is sometimes beautiful. When the sun goes down over the horizon to the sea. She gives us life, although she then gives death. She gives us joy and sorrow. But this is our nature, and we are all her children. She is really our mother, from whom we leave forever when our body dies. The hard, inconvenient and shocking material world is only an incubator, a shell, a womb, whatever, from which a living immaterial soul appears. The material world forces, compels a person to make a choice: how to live, what to believe, what to say, and finally, forces to answer the main question: to be a person with God or without Him. This world sometimes torments us, cripples us, tortures us. However, we must understand that on the scale of infinity, these torments are only a millisecond, only the first moments of the life of a newborn immaterial human soul. Excuse me, so this is the plan: to go through pain. Although, not only through pain: nature often gives us moments of happiness, doesn’t it?

From this perspective, Jesus’ call to break the connection with “mental” adultery through a single glance appears in a different light: it is a victory over one’s own (natural) nature, not over sin. If instinct is an inseparable part of human nature, and at the same time, the body is doomed to death, then Jesus actually called to overcome and conquer one’s earthly nature, directing one’s mind and heart to the spiritual world. One should not shudder at the supposedly terrible body and its instincts, one must only overcome them, control them, without condemning oneself for what one is. What one is, one is. What one was born, one was born: one does not choose one’s ancestors and DNA. People are not guilty by birth. They become either saved or condemned only on the basis of their personal conscious decisions. For example, by refusing to believe. And here everything comes together in a logical, consistent picture: Jesus called for faith, purity and the pursuit of perfection. A person accepted or rejected Jesus’ call. And if a person is born again and strives for the Divine light, then sooner or later, as a result of spiritual growth, he can fulfill the commandments of Jesus. If a person and God want one thing, then everything will come true. In particular, Jesus’ disciple does not look at a woman with lust when he has become much more than just a man with all his earthly instincts. Instincts, hormones, chemical and electrical processes in the body can be completely subordinated to reason and will. With the help of God.