Time for Eye-gouging? Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Time for Eye-gouging?------------------- Date: 4/22/2003 Keywords: “eye" "hyperbole" "lust” Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Mark 9:47* And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell. Questions 1. What does this passage mean?   2. How can we apply Jesus' words to Web porn?   Practical help Before you reach for an ice pick to get rid of your problem with Web porn, consider this: Sometimes Jesus uses exaggeration to get a point across. That's what he does in Mark 9:47. After all, if eye-gouging were a legitimate way to deal with lust, why wouldn't he have suggested destroying both eyes? It's safe to assume that we could be as lusty with one eye as two. Jesus employed hyperbole to communicate another message, but what? Answer: Take aggressive action against things that encourage us to sin. To do this, take a quick inventory of your life to look for weaknesses that can lead to Web porn. For instance, does the privacy of your home computer encourage you to cruise smut sites? If so, "eye-gouging" Jesus would counsel moving your PC into the living room. And so on. Don't let over-the-top language keep you from missing the point of this passage. Put down the ice pick. But put on your thinking cap. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2003 by eXXit *Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version, © Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved. ---