Dear Friend: Thank you for
your question.
This reminded me of a Muslim
friend who given a Bible to read. After reading the following passage he
said, "I did not think that Christianity and Jesus spoke very strongly
against adultery. As I observe what is happening in the profane,
blasphemous, Christian West, I wondered if the Bible did say anything
about adultery."
Despite what we see on the
movies, which come primarily from the West, about sex and violence, it
is by no means representative of the Christian view. There are many
people in the West who do not believe in the Bible or Christianity. They
might have Christian names, but they do not adhere to the Bible
teachings and moral codes. I hope you understand that not all the people
in the West are Christians, because they are not. It is the same with
Muslims. Not every Muslim is a true Muslim. Thinking of the West as
being Christian countries is not correct. Actually what you see
happening in the West is contrary to norms and moral codes.
Now let us find out what the
Bible says about adultery. One of the Ten Commandments in the Torah says
in Exodus 20:14: "You shall not commit adultery." Jesus said this in the
Injiel in Matthew 5:27-30:
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.
It is very important to see
from this passage that adultery starts before the act itself. It starts
when you have the wrong thoughts. Even if witnesses do not see you
commit adultery, in the eyes of God you have committed adultery with
your eyes, thoughts, as well as your heart. The Bible says, in very
strong terms, it is better to pluck your eye out than cause the whole
body to go to hell.
Another passage in the Bible
that confirms this is Mark 7:20-23:
He went on: "What comes out
of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s
hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance
and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’"
It is very important to
realize here that outward cleanliness is not enough. Washing up or
bathing is not enough. We need to be clean from the inside as well as
the outside.
Galatians 5:16, 24-25 says:
"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of
the sinful nature…. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the
sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the
Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
David sinned and committed
adultery. He thought as long as there were no witnesses he can get away
with it. But God sent him the prophet Nathan to confront him. God saw
him, even though people did not. When he was confronted with his sin,
these were his words: (2 Samuel 12)
The LORD sent Nathan to
David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain
town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large
number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one
little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him
and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even
slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveller came
to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own
sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveller who had come to
him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and
prepared it for the one who had come to him. David burned with anger
against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the
man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times
over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." Then Nathan said
to David, "You are the man! …" Then David said to Nathan, "I have
sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away
your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have
made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you
will die."
As you read this passage, you
can see how David, with his own sense of justice, condemned himself to
death. He sinned against God. Because God is holy he will not tolerate
his children to be unholy.
Christians, we need to keep
their thoughts and actions clean. David realized this after he sinned
and he said the following prayer (Psalms [Zabour] 51:10): "Create
in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
Till we meet again friend.
