Thursday, December 3, 2009

Why Do Men Cheat?

 1My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
 2That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
 3For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
 4But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
 5Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
 6Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
 7Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
 8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
 9Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
 10Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
 11And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
 12And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
 13And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
 14I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
 15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
 16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
 17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
 18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
 19Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
 20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
 21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
 22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
 23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. (Proverbs 5, King James Version)

The ongoing Tiger Woods scandal has got us talking again about adultery, marriage, and money, and asking the age-old question: Why do people cheat on their spouses?

I cannot help but feel bad for Tiger and his wife, and I am sure they are both going through a rough time right now.  I do not know why he cheated, or if there is a really a real reason  for cheating, except for lust.  Oh yes, that four-letter word called lust, which is the root of all our sin problems.  Lust, by definition, is an evil desire, or a desire for something you ought not to have.  Apparently, Tiger's lust got the better of him, and he not only desired what he ought not to have, but also indulged in what he ought not to have.  I tell you, when lust gets a hold upon you, it is very hard to resist.  Sometimes the only way out of the hold of lust, is prayer, for the desires of lust can be extremely strong, and can hold you captive.  Now I am not making any excuses for Tiger, but I am just showing how lust, when played out, can lead to devastating results.

It was only a few weeks ago that I was writing extensively on sacred Biblical sexuality.  Some people probably thought it was inappropriate, but what has happened to Tiger has proved to me, more than ever, the importance of sacred Biblical sexuality.  In sacred sex, each person in the union is held as special, and everything is done as a way of honoring the body, soul, and spirit of your mate.  When one holds such a high regard for one's mate, there will be little to no opportunituy for lust to find a place in your marriage.

2 comments:

Daughter of Wisdom said...

In sacred sex, all your sexual desires are directed towards your mate, and sex becomes an expression of love.

Daughter of Wisdom said...

I was just wondering if the fact that Tiger is Buddhist, and not Christian, has any bearing on his thoughts about marriage? Buddhism, like many ancient religions of the East, including Judaism, has a history of polygamy; therefore, having a wife plus concubines would not have been considered a sin in those ancient times. I was just wondering.