1.4.2 – Luxuria: Lust

Luxuria – intense longing, usually thought of as intense or unbridled sexual desire [including] fornication, adultery, rape, bestiality, and other sinful sexual acts, [but also includes] desire in general [such as] for money, power, and other things

– Wikipedia (grammartorial)

Recognize this sin? It’s one the world advertises most these days – without the disclaimer that it’s bad for you, body and soul. Despite its prevalence, it remains socially unacceptable to discuss in even unmixed gatherings. For example, as a Catholic discussing this with another self-professed Catholic, one might think we’d be on the same page. More often, I’m instead mocked or yelled at (or both).

Dicey.

Luckily, this is a busy week, so I don’t expect anyone to throw digital rotten tomatoes at me.

Luxuria and Lust

Luxuria – luxury; extravagance

– Wiktionary

Lust is an inordinate desire for or pleasure from something. The something may be anything – money, power, pleasure, anything. The key here is the inordinate desire of something or a disordered way of desiring it. For example, desiring enough money to pay the bills in and of itself isn’t sinful; wanting an extreme amount of money may cross the line into inordinate desire, and trying to get money by stealing it certainly crosses the line into obtaining it in a disordered manner.

Lust – a psychological force producing intense wanting or longing for an object, or circumstance fulfilling the emotion; can take any form such as the lust for sexuality, love, money or power.

– Wikipedia

Wikipedia covers the swath that lust entails. Specifically, it is “an inappropriate desire or a desire that is inappropriately strong” for anything. However, given several moving parts (including gluttony, another deadly sin to cover the rest), this one focuses on sexual desire in particular.

The focus of luxuria is on the sexual side of the sin for a few reasons. First, it’s different from other foci because it is the distortion of the self whereas everything else is a warping of externalities. It takes a gift that God granted humanity, darkens it, twists it, and allows that charred inner self to make a claim on the light against both the self and the rule and love of God. In other words, it takes a God-given gift and turns it against us.

Second, it is not only specifically a distortion of the self, but it may also be a distortion of the marital partner. Specifically, a spouse has full claim to the other’s body, and denying them the spousal right is contrary to the dignity of the spouse as a person. Put simply, if you are married, your body belongs to your spouse; if you are not married but one day will marry, actions you take against your body are taken against your future spouse. The lust need not deprive the spouse in a way that we can measure (such as cheating on them or even simply disinterest in involvement as a result) because it impacts the relationship on an emotional level regardless of physical evidence.

Why is Lust Sinful?

You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

Exodus 20:14, 17 (6th and 9th commandments)

First of all, it goes against the sixth and ninth commandments. Second, the Catechism of the Catholic Church discusses how it causes a divide between us and God. Lust attacks the integrity of the person and personhood in general. Further, it wrings purity from our hearts, driving us farther away from God.

The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

– 1 Corinthians 6:13

Further, the body is meant to glorify God and bring us closer to Him. You have a divine nature because you are made in the image and likeness of God! Thus, sinning against that nature is also sinning against God, twisting His nature to use Him against Himself.

What Counts as Lust?

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

– Jesus in Matthew 5:27-28

It takes less than physically acting on a desire, but more than simply having one. Clearly, fornication falls into the realm of lustfully sinful action, and appreciating someone as beautiful doesn’t. The line is somewhere between the two, but where?

I’ve heard of the idea of “second look” or “second glance.” The concept is that the first look doesn’t count because you don’t know what you might see (it could be a turtle, or a car, or a rock), but after knowing what it is, looking again because you specifically want to see it again.

It’s not quite complete, but it’s a good base to build on. The intentionality has to be there, and you only need the first glance to form intention. However, you also need to build the inordinate desire from the first glance – not mere curiosity or confusion or nothing at all because you weren’t really looking. There would need to be intentionality as a result of rousing inordinate desire.

Summary

Lust is the excessive desire of something. In the context of the deadly sins, it’s sexual in nature, appealing to basal instincts and animalistic traits. It’s sinful because it harms ourselves as people, at least mentally and emotionally, and also to our spouses (present time or otherwise). More critically, it harms our relationship with God because it perverts gifts that He gave us.

Thoughts? Questions? Digital rotten tomatoes? Let me know in the comments!

Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

– Ephesians 4:22-24