Passion's Jesus Tells J-Lo To Put Clothes Back On

but it's obvious he's still a sinner in need of grace and growth.

As is every human being who ever lived, except for one.

Dear Mrs. Heep,

Have you seen the 1935 film version of David Copperfield? If so don't you think W.C. Fields makes the perfect Mr. Micawber?

Have you seen the 1935 film version of David Copperfield? If so don't you think W.C. Fields makes the perfect Mr. Micawber?

Yes and yes. But I never bring up the subject around the house. It gets Uriah upset.

I'm not sure if that's simulating sex or not, but I'd guess from your posts that he sinned by kissing onscreen

Come on, man. The article says it very clearly -- that he acted out "a raunchy sex scene with her." I haven't seen the film, and don't plan to, but I'm just responding to what the article said. If it's not in the film, then the article was wrong. Quit being cute, twisting the intention of what I'm commenting on.

Can't remember any objectionable scenes in either..

I've seen Frequency twice, and loved it. It *was* refreshing to watch such a captivating, well-made movie and not feel yucky/polluted afterwards.

If I were to go up to your wife (if you're a married man), and simulate having sex with her, even though we're both fully clothed, do you not think that would be wrong?

I would knock your block off

If I said I was an actor, would that make a difference?

I wouldn't give it back

If your wife consented, would that make a difference?

I would walk away and let you have her (after inflicting further pain on your person)

But if my wife was an actress, and this "simulated sex" was a necessary part of the story things would be different. We would have discussed the requirements before she accepted the part, I would have trusted her judgement during the filming, and would have appreciated her decision to ask for changes if she felt uncomfortable.

It's illegal to impersonate a police officer. Do you think it's wrong for an actor to play one? Is it sinful for an actor to play a character comitting a sin? Did the actors who played the Romans that tortured Jesus in The Passsion commit sins in doing so?

Sometimes we have to get a grip, hence my post regarding blasphemy.

Text: Matthew 5:27-32

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in
his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown
into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into
hell.

31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital
unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

Sermon:

You who believe Jesus is your Savior are God's cherished children, called to faith in Jesus Christ so you may be his holy nation and new Israel. You are foreigners on
earth, who are passing through enroute to your real homeland--heaven. Being pilgrims in this world, you are surrounded by evils of every kind, into which the devil,
society, and your own sinful natures try to lure you. To preserve you for the Lord and his salvation, you need to be encouraged and strengthened to walk by faith the
narrow path of righteousness, lest you fall from faith into sin.

So it was also for the Christians of the first century. The apostles encouraged them to walk in righteousness, so they would not fall from faith into sin and damnation.
Sexual immorality was one temptation the Gentile Christians especially faced. They had been raised as pagans in pagan societies where immorality was normal and
customary.

You also live in an immoral society. Immorality abounds. Sex is flaunted. You are encompassed by it and bombarded with it. Thus I speak to you as the Lord’s apostles
spoke to the first century Christians. In view of the grace and salvation God has given you in Christ, as you have begun to live righteously to please God, excel even more
in doing so. To this end Jesus teaches us in his Sermon on the Mount. “Do Not Commit Adultery. By Thought. By Divorce.”

As Jesus’ disciples our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law of Jesus’ day by living morally pure lives. Our righteousness must also
exceed that of the religious leaders in large segments of the visible church today who have embraced free love, homosexuality, and divorce. Otherwise, like them, we
won’t be in the kingdom of heaven in which Christ rules in our hearts by his Word.

Jesus taught his disciples who listened to his Sermon on the Mount to be righteous. In verse 27 Jesus told them. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit
adultery.’ ” Jesus’ disciples had heard from the Pharisees and the teachers of the law what they thought the sixth commandment, “Do not commit adultery,” meant. The
disciples had heard that so long as they did not have sexual relations with someone other than their spouse, they did not violate the sixth commandment and were
righteous.

In verse 28 Jesus told his disciples. “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Now the disciples
heard what Jesus said was the deeper moral principle of the sixth commandment. Any man who looked at a woman who was not his wife with sexual desires and thoughts
on his mind was guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart. Sexual thoughts and desires for someone other than a spouse violate the sixth commandment, just as
well as sexual relations outside of marriage do.

God wants our thoughts to be holy as well as our deeds. To avoid immoral thoughts and desires, we need to pray: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a
steadfast spirit within me.” David wrote this prayer after he had fallen into the sin of lust for Bathsheba and committed adultery with her. David knew that to avoid such
sin the Lord needs to give us a pure heart.

The lust of the eyes is a commonplace sin in our society. Pornography is prevalent. Pornographic websites are among the most popular and frequently visited websites on
the internet. Porno stores, otherwise known as adult video stores, spot our communities like unsavory blemishes. Sexy magazine covers and the sexual headlines of the
gossip papers stand in the racks along the check out counter of the grocery store. The television flaunts sex before our eyes.

It used to be that only the men typically fell into the lust of the eyes. Now women have become increasingly guilty of it as well.

You are living in a society in which sexually suggestive materials that arouse the lust of the eyes are everywhere. Be careful. Don’t commit adultery in your hearts with a
lust of the eyes like the rest are doing, who are going to their eternal destruction. Heed what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 and Ephesians 5:3-5 to the first century
Christians when he had to deal with the problem of sexual immorality in their societies: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual
immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God... But
among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should
there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person
—such a man is an idolater —has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”

Paul’s words expand on what Jesus told his disciples in verses 29, 30: “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one
part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one
part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Jesus is not telling us to cut off the organs of our body which commit the lust of the eyes and sexual sins. For
even if we cut them off, we still have sinful hearts where the sin of lust arises. He is telling us to cut off and remove whatever tempts us to commit such sins of adultery.

Divorce is another common sin of adultery. In verse 31 Jesus told his disciples: “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ”
Divorce among the Jews of Jesus’ day was rampant. They divorced their wives for any and every reason, whether for burning their toast, for not scrubbing the house
clean enough, or because they saw another more attractive woman whom they desired. According to the rabbis, if a woman lost favor in her husband’s eyes, that was
grounds for divorce.

This parallels our own society today. Divorce is rampant. The state’s no fault divorce law has helped to escalate the numbers of divorce. The no fault divorce law reflects
what the people want, an easy divorce. A 50%+ divorce rate indicates that the marriage vows of many today are not understood as “till death us do part” but as “till
problems do arise.”

Because of such rampant divorce, Jesus told his disciples in verse 32: “But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to
become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” The disciples had heard what the Jewish leaders and teachers had told them. Here
they heard what Jesus said about the moral meaning of the sixth commandment regarding divorce.

Jesus’ words in the original Greek text are difficult to put into English. When speaking of the wife who was divorced by her husband, Jesus did not use an active verb but
a passive verb. To try to give you a simple comparison to aid your understanding, it is not like Jesus said, “The wife hit her husband,” but that he rather said, “The wife
was hit by her husband.” The wife did nothing. She was the one acted upon by her husband’s divorcing her. Our English translation attempts to render this by stating, the
husband “causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” About the closest we can come to explaining in English
what Jesus said is to say: “The husband’s divorcing his wife when she was innocent of adultery adulterates her, and any man who then marries her is also adulterated.”
The wife is caused by her husband’s action to suffer the committing of the adulterous divorce. She is made a divorced woman by her husband through a divorce that
should never have taken place. Her husband’s divorcing her then led to her remarriage, a marriage which otherwise would never have taken place. In this way both she
and her second husband are adulterated and made to look like adulterers.

Having explained this, the point for you to focus on is this: Where there has been no sexual immorality, there is no ground for a divorce. A divorce, for other reasons,
except for desertion, violates the sixth commandment. Divorce is a way of life in our society. Be careful that as disciples of Jesus you don’t commit adultery through an
unwarranted divorce. For marriage is a life-long relationship to be maintained until the death of either of the spouses.

We all are guilty of sins against the sixth commandment in thought, word, or deed. Who has not committed adultery in the heart through lustful thoughts and desires?
Perhaps we have also committed adultery through a sinful divorce in the past. Whatever the nature of our sins which deserve God’s punishment, let us do this: Confess
our sins to the Lord, for as the Scriptures state: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise.” And when we
confess your sin, we need to believe what the Scripture says: “The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” Jesus died for all sins, including the sins we have
committed against the sixth commandment. In the blood of Jesus we can go in God’s peace.

Having God’s forgiveness and peace, let us all heed what we have just heard, for we are told these things to preserve us as God’s holy people and to keep us from falling
into the evils so prevalent around us. Amen.