The Eight Daughters of Lust
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
105.67686
Summary
Sex is the most powerful instinct in the world, but it is also one of the most dangerous because it can lead to sins that are very destructive of your soul. Sexual sin is the root cause of many of the world s problems, but is it really a sin? What are the dangers of sexual sin, and why is it so dangerous?
Transcript
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the sexual instinct is the most powerful instinct that we have and this is for a very good reason
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if it weren't so powerful if it didn't drive so much of our behavior most of us would choose
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celibacy the act of sex the consequences of sex these are terrifying to us just ask any teenager
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that's first feeling those stirrings and wants to approach the opposite sex but is just so nervous
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of what's going to result the the challenges of trying to bond with the other half of the species
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who thinks differently than us who who needs different things than us who is our complement
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but nearly impossible to understand think about raising children the amount of effort
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and work that goes into it and the amount of heartbreak that results if the sexual instinct
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were any less intense most of us would choose celibacy and because it is this intense it is very
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very prone to abuse it overwhelms us it dominates the mind and so it's very easy to go into sin
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sin meaning that you're missing the mark you're not doing something quite right you're going off in
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the wrong direction and when you're overwhelmed with lust it is very easy to do this
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now sex in and of itself is one of the least of the sins it's it's up there with overeating
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having a little bit too much cake after dinner lust is pursuing something that is good but simply doing it
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slightly the wrong way and if you're going to talk about sins that truly damn the soul
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envy envy treachery hatred pride those are demonic sins whereas lust is a human sin
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it's something that everybody has experienced and everybody has messed up to one degree or another
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it's hardly the worst of them but it's dangerous because of what results from engaging in sexual sin
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the physical consequences are self-evident having sex the wrong time with the wrong person when you're
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not ready for it can result in a lot of cruelty a lot of damaged emotions it can result in unwanted
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children or children that you're not prepared to raise or that you're now raising with the wrong
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person sex exposes you to infections to disease it's a very powerful vector for these bugs to get into
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you on the purely material sense sex is very dangerous but even on the spiritual side even though sex
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itself is not that great of a sin it can lead to sins that are very very destructive of your soul
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thomas aquinas listed eight daughters of lust which he identified as being the result of sexual sin
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the first four are sins of the intellect failures of the intellect whereas the last four are failures of the will
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so what does this mean what is the intellect what is the purpose of our intellect and what is the purpose
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of our will the purpose of our intellect is to behold the truth to perceive the truth
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this is scientific truth this is personal truth moral truth
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is to perceive the best way to go about achieving our ends because the truth is just one of the many
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faces of god co-equal with the others truth and goodness are equally embodied in god and when we fail to use
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our intellect we fail to accurately perceive god and the will the will has again a twofold nature
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the will is there to regulate our animal instincts animals need do nothing more than follow their instinct
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but men being half animal and half angel we are called to regulate those animal instincts and employ them in the best manner possible
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our will is used to regulate that but our will is also there to look towards the ineffable to look towards the good
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to will good in the world to will good in ourselves and to will good for those around us
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and so a failure of the will is when the will is weak or where the will is looking elsewhere
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they are of the intellect and they tend to be a confusion of means and ends
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the first is what Aquinas calls the blindness of mind
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the intellect is still there regulating the means
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as opposed to simply one step towards a higher end
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that pleasure from eating is only one part of what eating is
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without realizing that it's just one facet of something higher