VII

7. You shall not commit adultery.

here is another of those "appears easier on the surface that it really is" Commandments. according to the wikipedia, adultery is defined as "the voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and another person who is not his or her spouse." pretty cut and dry there.

naturally, The Bible takes this simple restriction and digs down quite a bit deeper. Matthew 5: 27-30 reads: "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 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." i think that defination might be a bit more in depth and specific versus the wikipedia version.

but how difficult is this to do? how has our culture taken this idea of adultery and glorified it? turn on the tv, what do you see? rich women and yard boys having an affair on desperate housewives. flip on grey's anatomy and what happens? married men 'playing' doctor with other married women. i'm picking on women's tv shows right now for a reason...because i think that hollywood has long glamorized the male aspect of adultery, so now they're trying to play 'catch-up' if you will for all the programs steered toward a mostly female audience.

men, we have it far too easy to be tempted in our television culture. flip on any football game and what do they show before a commercial break? nearly nude cheerleaders smiling and waving at the camera in 40 degree weather. then, once they commercials are upon us, what is there to greet us? why, beer commercials with everyone's 'ideal' mate. hey, she even drinks your favorite brew, who wouldn't want to be with her, right!? television shows are rendered toward this exact vice.

remember mtv's reality show, "the real world"? now, i know the show is still on the air, but i say remember in the past tense because the reality of that show ended several years ago. back in the day, the housemates had to have 'real' lives...jobs, school, family, etc. but the producers 'got smart' and realized that sex sells. so, they dropped anyone who had a real job, morals or ambition and installed a stocked liquor bar and hot tub in every real world house since. talk about a recipe for adulterious disaster!

television, magazines, the internet...they're all crawing with displays just like this... which bleed over into reality, our malls, our schools, our community. how difficult would it be to cut all these things out of our lives...these things that are put in place to tempt us, to trip us up? if you removed all these barriers, what would be left? the good stuff! of course, even when you look up Christian song lyrics and guitar chords online, what's there to greet you? why, it's half naked women on the sponsor sidebar with the caption "click here for more". is nothing safe anymore?

by the way ladies...like the picture of david beckham with the tattoo VII up above? remember, he's married...be careful not to slip!