The elders met with the two couples to resolve the problem, if possible.<\/p>\n
One of the women sat and sobbed quietly. The other sat staring at a wall with red, swollen eyes. The first husband stood, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, while his counterpart sat off to himself, anger and hurt on his face.<\/p>\n
What problem needed to be resolved? Adultery!! Two Christian couples, the best of friends, now find themselves having to deal with the heart-rending sin of adultery.<\/p>\n
The husband who was standing spoke, “I didn’t mean to do it; it just happened!” It just happened! <\/strong><\/p>\n How is it that sin happens? James tells us, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man: but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beared sin: and the sin, when it is full-grown, bringeth forth <\/em>death. Be not deceived, my beloved brethren<\/em>” (James 1:13-16). The temptations of man come from his own lust. When we sin, it is because we first had a desire to commit the act. The only exception is when one sins in ignorance; I doubt very seriously if anyone thinks that the sin of adultery can be committed in ignorance.<\/p>\n The age-old problem of sin is man’s unwillingness to admit he has committed a sinful act and then take full responsibility for it. We want to blame others for what we do.<\/p>\n Adam and Eve fell prey to this weakness: \u05f4And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat<\/em>” (Genesis 3:12-13). Adam first blamed the woman for his sin. Then he even went so far as to blame God by pointing out that it was God who had given him the woman. Eve tried to lessen her guilt by blaming the serpent for her sin. If we study the incident of Adam’s and Eve’s sin, we will discover that Eve succumbed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vain glory of life (I John 2:16). With these forces against her, I guess she could say, \u05f4It just happened.\u05f4<\/p>\n Paul adds to this discussion by saying, \u05f4For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression: but she shall be saved through her childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety<\/em>” (I Timothy 2:13-15). Adam not being beguiled reveals the power Eve had over him and that he knew full well what he was doing. Surely, he could not say, \u05f4It just happened.\u05f4<\/p>\n We need to be like King David and be willing to admit our sin without blaming others (II Samuel 12:7-13). The simple words, \u05f4I have sinned, are most refreshing.<\/p>\n What happened to the incident we spoke of in the beginning? Two homes were destroyed, unscriptural marriages resulted after the divorces, and a congregation was thrown into turmoil and anguish. And all this because\u00a0it just happened<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Beware, “lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin<\/em>” (Hebrews 3:13).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Glen Young via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22 No. 4, December 1996 The elders met with the two couples to resolve the problem, if possible. One of the women sat and sobbed quietly. The other sat staring at a wall with red, swollen eyes. The first husband stood, shifting his weight from one foot to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[66,156,179],"class_list":["post-98068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-adultery","tag-lust","tag-sin"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51551,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-god-have-sent-a-married-man-to-be-my-husband\/","url_meta":{"origin":98068,"position":0},"title":"Could God have sent a married man to be my husband?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Could a man who is married be the husband God sent to me? The reason why I ask this question is that I have never felt this way about anyone, especially someone who is married. The shocking thing is that he feels the same way that I feel, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23019,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-matthew-528-apply-to-other-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":98068,"position":1},"title":"Does Matthew 5:28 apply to other sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Matthew 5:28 says \"But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\" Does this apply to other things? If I had a desire to smoke and drink, but I actually don't do it, does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12782,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-matthew-527-28-only-apply-to-married-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":98068,"position":2},"title":"Doesn’t Matthew 5:27-28 only apply to married people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: With the Scripture:\u00a0\"You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart\" (Matthew 5:27-28). Only married people can commit adultery, so as I see it, this Scripture is not meant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1334,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-adultery-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":98068,"position":3},"title":"How does adultery start?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How does adultery start? In what way then is it looked upon as adultery Answer: James describes the steps leading to death from sin as thus: \"Let no one say when he is tempted, \"I am tempted by God\"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2726,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-divorce-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":98068,"position":4},"title":"Is divorce a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been a Christian and a member of the church for ten years. I have been studying and I have some Bible questions: In\u00a0Matthew 19:18\u00a0Jesus gives direct commands concerning murder, adultery, stealing and giving false testimony. Since Jesus gives us a direct command not to do these things,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9823,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-boyfriend-and-i-have-been-falling-into-lewd-behavior-and-we-trying-to-stop-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":98068,"position":5},"title":"My boyfriend and I have been falling into lewd behavior and we trying to stop it","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. Good day to you. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read my email. My boyfriend and I have been dating for a few months. He is sure of me, saying I am what he wants in a woman and in a wife.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}