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HumbleViking -> RE: Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Magazine (3/9/2008 4:24:40 PM)
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Well, as with any other sin we committ (whether Christian or not - we all still live with our "other half" that lusts after sin), it is not to be taken lightly. So, I'm with the crowd out there that says something like "it's bad, it's tempting young boys, men, etc. to focus on the sexual aspect of women, in neglect (by way of comparison) to the whole person of that woman".
Is a beatiful woman beautiful - (???). What's the bottom line to a woman, contemplating "showing herself off" like this? 1Pe 3:3,4 "3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward [adorning] of arranging the hair, and of wearing gold, or of putton on apparel; 4 "But [let it be] the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, [even the ornament] of a meek and quiet spirit, which isn in the sight of God of great price". I say that any man that forgets how it is that a SI woman got on the cover to begin with, is TOTALLY missing the whole counsel of God!
To you fathers out there - what if that woman was YOUR daughter???? My daughter is 17, and (not just because I'm her father) she is EXTREMELY beautiful, and (though I risk sounding wordly by saying it) she has a knock-out body (...which is very unsettling for me to say, as I contemplate the kind of world we live in). Would you want your daughter to pay attention to 1Pe 3:3,4, or would you like her to comtemplate that she could "show off" some of her stuff, and that would be ok? I've been asking my daughter for years: How do you catch sharks? (answer: By using SHARK BAIT!). My sweet daughter, do you want to be shark-bait? Is that what you want to catch?
NOW I KNOW that there are MANY fathers who agree with the 1Pe 3:3,4 perspective, but the other (obvious) side to the problem is the potential for the boys/young men out there seeing this SITTING IN PLAIN SIGHT in the store on the SI cover.
So, what to do to help our youg men avoid this temptation? I know it sounds like a canned-answer, but - fill their lives/instruction with teaching about how God wants a man to behave towards all things - especially women (and, I don't necessarily mean just quote scripture to them). Teach them about the whole person of a woman, HER special talents given to her by God (by nature) that are meant to HELP a man. Teach them that a woman's beauty (and I don't mean just physical, although that is the focus of this post) is the glory of a man 1Co 11:17, as the flower is the glory of the field. Teach them that outer beauty is very temporal - seek the invisible beauty of a woman's heart! Especially, teach young men/boys OFTEN that outward attraction to a woman is ABSOLUTELY INSIGNIFICANT as compared to her inward beauty. Teach them to avoid the temptation to take the bait of beauty, only to find that their is a perilous spirit within that woman. Teach them that marriage is the focus of that attraction, and therefore, the REALTIONSHIP with that woman is the focus - not the body!
BTW, I have a 20yr old son too, and we often talk about these things, since he (as just about all young men) is very attracted to attractive women - and (sadly to say, it very much seems that) he is not born-again. BUT, the message is still the same! Whether you attribute it to a verse in the Bible, or "what God wants", that doesn't have any bearing on the fact that - what is right is right; what is good is good; what is healthy and uplifting, edifying, etc. is what it is whether or not you SAY "thus saith the Lord". We should be talking OFTEN with our young men and women about the temptations in this part of our sinful world!
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