Eye Candy, romantic stories and pornography
Submitted by Forgiven on October 15 2000 04:49:30
|
I see a boy on the street whom I don't know - I wish I could have the chance to get to know him because I think we could have a good time together, in a non sexual sense. I see a boy in church whom I'm not allowed to get to know better because his parents know of my inclination and have asked me to only talk to him at church. I know from past (unsexualised) relationships that I could mentor him to grow as a Christian, but there is no prospect of it happening. I watch a romantic film on TV and watch as the guy gets his girl. Not a lot of sympathy, 'where's the fun in that...' - but it is a socially acceptable pastime for our hetro sisters. Just occasionally there are buddy movies where the relationship is between a man and a boy.... I find the 'gynaecologically exact' sites on the Internet (as a reviewer recently described some porn). To be honest my response is rapidly one of boredom - seen one .... seen them all. I've given up going to weddings - the celebration of the union of two people into a depth of relationship that it is extremely likely that I will never share is just painful, not fun. Yet for other people this is a shared legitimate celebration of the value that is to be found in such relationships. I think the question I'm asking is about what is right before God for us to respond to, and what is illegitimate. At what point do we cross the line between rejoicing in the boy's beauty and looking lustfully at him in our hearts. The Christian tradition has generally endorsed the enjoyment of beauty in representational art. But clearly at some point a line is crossed and we have strayed into 'lust'. Where do we draw the line, and why? I suspect it has something to do with sexual fantasy, but that is a highly slippery concept. I look forward to others offering their own perspective. Of course we are 'fed' by beauty - and to survive in a sterile world where we are deprived of it is not to prosper, no to have the 'eternal life' which God promises us. But... |
Follow ups: