Actually Jesus wanted harlots to repent and change their lives, he never said that it was okay.
Also, my new avatar is better then yours.
And once again, you missed my point… but alas, I do need to search for my KY jelly. 
(Okay, it’s 3AM and I am kidding. Her Bessiness does like to have a bit of fun too. I do like to express my human-side to the IL-sheeple. Then again, there is another contest on Utopia and I have been known to like my poetry… so much hard drive, so little time.) 
There once was a chick named Bess
Who would burst if she didn’t confess
etc. etc. etc.
(I am feeling another third prize win in the works any day now.)
Hah. I saw you delete that one reply.
3am, girl, get some sleep!
It’s mah job to stay up antil 8am, not yours!
Yes, Dan… double posting is a sin. 
I found this essay about lust/love and God. This thread has dwindled to nothing because we are coming from such a different place…
Much of what we feel in our hearts is the same even thought you (Astral) don’t seem to think so. This essay I found brings together that which we cannot seem to do - crystalizing the confusion. Sometimes in the quest to explain ourselves, we get lost in the true meaning of what we are trying to say. This essay explains it without the notion of a judgemental or controlling God, but the God whom I have known - the force of love among us all.
See what you think:[i]
Love Versus Lust
Love–many people say that they know love. We also repeat now and then that God is love, our soul is of the same essence as that of God, love is innate in our soul, and the way back to God is also through love. Love is innate in our soul and it requires somebody to love and to be loved by somebody. This is a natural desire of everybody. Our soul is a conscious entity and it should have love for all Consciousness or God. Instead, it has been attached to worldly or material things. The result is, wherever you have love, there will you go. The soul should love God, who is the very Controlling Power in this temple of the man-body. It has been attached to the body and its environments, the outgoing faculties and enjoyments of all lusts outside. This is the reason why we have become enslaved. We are coming again and again to where we are attached. If our soul is attached to God, who is the Controlling Power within this man-body, who is eternal and even beyond eternity, it will become free and will not be subject to bondage. So the difference between true love and lust is that true love cannot be broken even after leaving the body. This love is developed in the body but absorbed in the soul, not in the body and its environments. So this is called true love or charity. The other is called lust or attachment and there is a vast difference between the two. Love of God makes us free, makes us all joy, all happiness, all bliss. Lust or attachment enslaves us, it makes us very narrow minded. In the worldly way, if you love somebody, you will be envious if another person shares that love, but those who love God will also be loved by you, because they love God. So the love of God gives you love for all the world over. Love of the outside things will only make you narrow minded, close fisted, and the result is, one lives for God, the other lives for the world.
Ever since we left the Home of our Father, we have been attached to outside things, because our love has been misfitted to the worldly things, the physical body and outside environments. So what is the criterion of true love, or charity? It starts from the body, but absorbs the attention into our soul and higher self. The other just keeps you attached to the physical body and outward environments. To meet with your own wishes is no love, in the true sense of the word. That love gives you bondage and slavery.
Ever since we left the Home of our Father, we have been going around and around, and have not yet found our way back. There is a story of one Majnu, who was a lover of Laila. Laila was a princess and she was everything to him. Among the Mohammedans, there is a title that is given to one who is most devoted to God. Once Majnu was asked to whom should this title be given. He said that the best suited person was Laila, whom he loved. He was so much devoted to her that once he was seen licking the feet of a dog that had been roaming in the street where his Laila lived. One lesson we can derive from this is that if we are devoted to God or to the God-in-man, then we must love each other. This is but natural. But any love which is coloured with your personal interest or selfish motives makes you narrow minded. You would like that the person whom you love should be loved by you and nobody else. But if you have true love for God, then naturally all who love God will be loved by you. This is the vast difference between the two. So when Majnu was told that Laila had died, he said, “No, she cannot die–how can she die?” When he was told that she was truly dead, he said, “Is it true then? That happens to every man who lives and why should I love a thing that is not lasting!” So he turned, you see, to the right way.
So love is love, which is with God, all Consciousness. Even when you leave the body, that love won't leave you. Love for the world, outer attachments, to meet with your own wishes or purposes, is lust or attachment, not love. One prophet said that love is like a bridge to cross over the river underneath. It is only for the purpose of crossing, not to remain on the bridge. So your love for the God-in-man is for crossing the bridge, to be attuned by His company, where naturally the love of God is radiated. [b]If you are receptive to it, then your love is true. If you are attached to the physical body and outward attachments, that is no love. [/b]Love is blessed if directed to the God overhead, all Consciousness. If it is directed to the physical body and its attachments, it is bondage, it is slavery, it is attachment. You come again and again to the world where you are attached. This is the difference between the two. Guru Amar Das said, "Let us love the God-in-man, because He is overflowing with the love and intoxication of God. In His company, you will have the radiation of the love of God". That will give a boost to your soul and direct it towards God. It is the true criterion to find out whether you love the God-man's body only for the God in Him. If you love the God in Him (His body is blessed of course), then that is the bridge to cross over the ocean of the world to our Beloved.
So love is innate in our soul and we are conscious beings. If it is directed to all Consciousness, it is true love. That will give you freedom, all bliss and all joy. If it is attached to the worldly things, the physical body, its environments, the enjoyments of outward faculties, then that is bondage and a sure way of coming again and again to the world where you are attached. So love is good. Even poison is very good if you take it in small doses to help you. But if you misuse it, then you will die. True love, which will help you, should be directed to God or to the God-in-man, for the sake of the God in Him, not the physical body. Then you are saved, otherwise you are doomed, I would say. It is a very delicate subject. We should see where we stand, where we are going. These things are referred to in the books, though they are not very clearly put. So now, what is love should be clear to you.
Love is innate in our own self but with all that, we are attached to the world because it has been misfitted. Instead of being attached to God, who is all Consciousness, it has been attached to the physical body and the world. Love is a bridge to cross over the ocean of life, from this physical world to all Consciousness. If this love is directed to the worldly things, you will be attached to the world. It should be directed to God or to the God-in-man, the human pole at which God is manifested. He is overflowing with the love of God and the intoxication of that love. By sitting near Him, you will have the radiation of that love and naturally you will begin to love God. If you go to a man who sells perfume, and if he does not give you anything, you will still have the aroma of perfume, free of any cost. If he gives you a phial full of perfume, then ...... ? So the society of a God-in-man gives you perfume, love of God, by radiation. He gives you a contact within your own self by directing your attention from outside to the God in you. He gives you a contact and what more is wanted? Love of the God-in-man for the sake of the God in Him is love of God. If you love the God-man for the sake of His physical body, that is still attachment. The love of the God-man is a bridge to cross over into the Beyond, mind that! It is a very delicate subject, as I told you before. We have to judge how we are proceeding. If every day our love for God grows more and more, and becomes, more dear as compared to anything else in the world, that is love for God. Even if you are loving God, and your worldly things are more dear to you than compared with God, then that is not, so far, love of God. One is attachment, bondage, slavery, and the other is freedom, all joy, all bliss.
It is better to have the company of someone who is imbued with the love of God, rather than have the company of those who are imbued with the love of the worldly things. If you can't get such a society, you can have the society of those who are after the love of God, not the love of the worldly things. If you can't have that, then live in your Master speaking through books, that's all. Live to your own self, just in the company of the Masters who came in the past and who are speaking through books. This will help you to go back to your true Home. But still, as God is unsaid, love is also unsaid, I would say. The more you go into it, the more it widens like God, who has no end. One poet has said, "Love is an Ocean, a limitless Ocean, without any shore". [/i]
So, as much as I have come off like a lust-driven wildwoman… I do get your point, astral even though this essay is a tad “biblified” for me. Where we differ isn’t in our view of lust, but of our view of God and the nature of God. Lust is not a bad thing to me, but a human thing… the bottom line is that love pure love is simply so much better. Hotter, in fact.
I have been sleeping in the living room because of our new pup, last night i fell asleep with the TV on. I woke to a televangelist screaming at his audience to love God, repeatedly, (rude way to awaken) through sleep soaked eyes I watched him prance back and forth on stage screaming at people to love god and praising himself for loving god.Blah blah blah, well it got me thinking about this thread. I drank my coffee and I pondered and watched this bouncing loud monkey beating his chest with pride for loving god while chastizing others for not loving god like they should.
It made me remember all the sermons I have ever been to. You know, I realized that most priests, preachers ministers etc. are quite lustful. Lust takes many forms and to fall for it and to become trapped with it can be easily done. Lust and pride go hand in hand with most religious leaders, and they don’t even see it. hell, I never even thought about it before.
I’ve been reading this thread off and on, mostly off, because of the constant “I know God and you don’t” blah blah blah.
Kris, like the television, there is simply no way to talk with those who already know how it is. They have no questions, only answers. They don’t even have opinions because it’s all in the operators manual backed by almighty God him/herself. Have a chat with the wall or a convenient fence post. You’ll like the answers you get and either one is a much better listener.
Humans carry many qualities, including lust, which can be expressed many ways. Whether it is sexual lust, a lusting after material things, lusting after power, the question isn’t about defeating or over-coming lust, but in controlling it and directing it in beneficial ways. Lust isn’t a negative thing, but a positive attribute that can be turned into a negative force. Of course that is true of any human quality, which is probably a different thread…
Bessy, thank you for the raspberries. They were deluscious!
Tent, I know that and I agree. but, it really is more amusing for me that when one preaches so fervently against lust they can’t see the lust in themselves. Is not a strong lust for your religion just as wrong as a strong lust for possesions? Lust is needed but obssesive lust is wrong and unhealthy, even for lusty religious folks, right? So, if they are so knowing about lust then why do they not open their eyes to their own words. I just had to comment because I find the irony and hypocracy amusing more then anything. 
Bessy -
Did I miss something here? I think I missed something here. I say a lot of stupid things - this is not one of them.
I will wait for Bessy to answer that one, LMAO.
Did I have another blackout? They said I could go off the meds for a while, and I would probably be okay. What happened? Did Binky come back? He’s my bornagain alter-ego. I thought I had eradicated him. Years of battery terminals, hydro-therapy, (prescribed) drugs - all wasted? It cannot be!
Ah, that explains a whole lot. Well, don’t worry Faust, Binky wasn’t too bad he did not stick your foot in too deep You might try a light socket with a wet hanky that might shock Binky into submissiveness For you others don’t try that at home, Faust is a professional. Try it at the store first.
faust,
Get ahold of yourself! No… wait… don’t get ahold of yourself. 
ummm, just read a few chapters of Augustine while kneeling on peach pits. Yeah, that ought to do it… You can triumph over your evil self. We’re pullin’ for ya’
Sometimes I think I’m not the only one around here who’s nuts.
Uh oh ! You were not supposed to see that. Forget you ever noticed, it would be healthier that way.
faust says,
Was that aimed at someone specifically or some sort of blanket statement?
From the article Bessy posted:
Lust is not another word for attachment and a dangerous assumption. There are many forms of attachment unrelated to lust. Someone reading the article could think that it is better to suppress lusting so as to support an imaginary concept of God and love it. That just leads to further imagination.
For those who have experienced a dog’s love: do they love you or lust after you? They are personally attached to you so a case could be made that a dog doesn’t love but just lusts after you. Is that true?
tent - let’s just say the scope of that statement may be ever-widening.
Welcome to bedlam… home of misanthropes, kooks, numbnuts, imagined royalty, faith healers, and the like. Admission is free, just step through the one-way mirror… Oh, too late. You already did that. Enjoy the cotton candy… 
I have been certified crackers not nuts but, I think crackers and nuts compliment each other and are best served warm.