[RoosterRedux]

It seems to me this type of statement tends to minimize and normalize the actual physical adultery

Not at all.

Physical acts are punishable by law and by God. But sins of the mind and heart—though hidden—are judged by God alone, which is far more serious.

Jesus wasn’t minimizing sin; He was exposing its deeper root—our deeper rot. The rot that infects the soul. The infection we humans brought into the world—the source of all its evil.

And if someone asks, “But what about demonic evil?”

Perhaps we invited them in. In fact, we may have caused their fall by our own corruption—“the daughters of men were beautiful” (Genesis 6).

Scripture hints they fell not only from pride, but from desire for what they saw in us. Either way, it was our sin that opened the door—and keeps opening the door into human souls.

[af_vet_1981]

Physical acts are punishable by law and by God. But sins of the mind and heart—though hidden—are judged by God alone, which is far more serious.

No, physical acts are the culmination of the heart's conception. "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

It is not less serious, but more, as there is then no remedy in that it has occurred. What is in the heart may still be remedied, avoided (flushed down the toilet as it were), and not have the consequence of death. Look at the scourge of homosexuality within the Church that led to the great scandals. The sins of the heart lead to sins in the flesh. One can hardly say the latter are less serious than the former.