Sex Offenders And Free Will

Discussion in 'Women's Rights' started by ibshambat, Feb 5, 2018.

  1. ibshambat

    ibshambat Banned

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    I once had a conversation with a very intelligent American woman named Celeste about criminals. She said that we do not rehabilitate sex offenders.

    I have had profound religious experiences, and I know for certain that anyone can choose to act rightfully. We are not animals. We have choice and we have will. So that even if someone has sexual cravings for children, he does not have to give in to these cravings. He can choose to act rightfully whatever his nature or his psychology tells him to do.

    I have known a number of homosexuals who became Christians. Now I do not see homosexuality in the same way in which many people see pedophilia; but these people were able to overcome their natural tendencies and live in a manner that accords with the teachings of the Bible. If homosexuals can do this, then so can pedophiles and other sex offenders.

    Once again, we are not animals. We have choice and we have will. Even someone with the most diseased psychology can choose to act rightfully. The solution for them is to stop listening to the desires of the flesh and to live according to the law of God.

    So we have many people claiming that some people are evil and can only be evil whatever they do. This contradicts most basic reason. If we are responsible for our actions then anyone can choose to act rightfully; and if some people cannot choose to act rightfully whatever they do then people are not responsible for their actions.

    Now I am most certainly not in favor of men raping children. But neither am I in favor of witch hunts. And this is exactly what we have here. We have people claiming that some people are evil and can only be evil whatever they do. This is irrational, this is cruel and this is wrong.

    In my experience, teenagers these days are dangerous. I have a friend who went to jail for a year and lost everything that he had because he got drunk and chatted up a 16-year-old. My solution to that is to not have anything to do with teenagers at all. Do not make eye contact. Do not pay them any attention. Simply pass them by and do not look like the mark.

    If someone has errant sexual urges, it does not mean that he is a demon. He is a human being. Human beings are capable of controlling what they do. Simply do not give in to these kinds of sexual urges. Keep your mind on God and God's righteousness. And then you can choose to act rightfully and be a good person, whatever your psychology happens to be.

    If Paul, David and any number of other sinners could become men of God, then so can anyone else. This, once again, includes the sex offenders. Do not listen to your flesh's cravings. Listen to the mind of God. And then you will do the right thing even if you are – a sociopath, a “pervert,” a narcissist, what have you.

    So in this whole mess the solution is introducing free will. It is introducing intelligent choice based on values. It is reminding us that we are not animals but people. And this will do far more to solve these kinds of problems than anything that the participators in these witch hunts seek to do.
     
  2. tecoyah

    tecoyah Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Attempting to inject religion into societal issues is a terrible idea and ALWAYS leads to the opposite of freedom.
     
  3. Renee

    Renee Well-Known Member

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    I find it interesting that you know all these gay people who aren’t gay anymore. Forgive me but I don’t believe it
     
  4. Maquiscat

    Maquiscat Well-Known Member

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    Quote me where he says otherwise, but I do not see any claim of no longer being gay in this OP. An implication of no longer acting upon those urges, yes, but no actual claim, implied or otherwise, of no longer gay.
     
  5. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    There are plenty of men who would have sex with a 15 year old girl, if it was legal, and if the girl was actually willing to have sex with them.
    That doesn't mean these same men can't find sexual fulfillment with a 25 year old girl, or 35 year old one. So it's not like all the options are taken off the table and they can never find sexual fulfillment through legal & socially sanctioned routes.

    Now, we can ask an interesting hypothetical. If a man (let's say 25 years old) lived in a world where the entire female population was either over 85 or under 15, could he be "excused" for committing rape?
    I think most of us would still believe that's wrong.

    But all this speculation may be besides the point. 95% of these offenders are just looking for easy prey, and are not inherently more attracted to a 5 year old than to a 20 year old. It's just a 20 year old woman would fight back.

    Back to the question of free will, how is it that monks, who also have sexual desires, can live celibate? I know there are some of them who are unable to keep their celibacy vows and slip up, but many of them are able to.

    Maybe it's not entirely black & white, maybe there's a spectrum between free will and human nature.

    Or prisons, if you keep a man for 20 years on end away from female contact, it can start messing up and twisting his sexuality where even men will start looking good (the more feminine-looking the better). So this demonstrates that even "only being attracted to X group" isn't something that's necessarily entirely fixed.

    One last thing I'll say, if you talk to many men who've experienced a divorce or death of their wife, to whom they loved and were married to for many years, many of them will tell you that they were going through so much stress and grief they felt absolutely no sexual desire for 3 months. So even human nature can be affected by outside emotional factors.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2018
  6. Maquiscat

    Maquiscat Well-Known Member

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    Lacking any further context or source, I believe she may have been noting more that most sex offenders are not rehabilitated. That is to say that the recidivism rate of sex offenders is quite high.


    This only goes so far. There are indeed mental conditions, such as kleptomania, where the urges can be overwhelming without proper medication and/or therapy. Pedophila is also potentially one of these types of conditions.

    Again, more easily said than done. Not all can do so on the word of God alone. But then I am reminded of the joke where a woman drowns in a flood after three people attempted to rescue her. She waved them off claiming God would save her. When she got to Heaven she asked God why He hadn't saved her. He said, "I sent you two boats and a helicopter. What more did you want?" Our medical knowledge and technology is very similar to that. He has helped guide it so that those people can get help, whether they believe in Him or not.

    Yes we have will and choice, but not all have it free of contamination that reduces their capacity. Now a lack of capacity does not mean that they go totally free of consequence if they do something wrong, even if it is only a restriction on where they can go. But assuming that religion alone can solve these problems for all is foolish.
     
  7. Renee

    Renee Well-Known Member

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    Wjat does no longer acting on these urges mean?
     
  8. Renee

    Renee Well-Known Member

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    That is not true. Healthy men are not sexually attracted to girls in kindergarten
     
  9. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Where did I say that??
     
  10. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I'm sure there are many 80 year old men who are not that sexually attracted to women their same age. Well too bad for them. They will just have to enjoy the perks of romantic attraction as best they can.
    That's why most 80 year old men don't have a very strong sex drive.
    Some of the very rich ones may be able to get a 20 year old girl. But you'll see they very often have to take pills and hormones to make the sex act possible, because otherwise the physical drive isn't really there.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2018
  11. Renee

    Renee Well-Known Member

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    Sorry...you said 15 and I thought you said 5! My first mistake ever and you witnessed it.( When I was in the classroom and perhaps spelled a word wrong I would tell my students that was my first mistake and then they would tell me I said that yesterday… And then I flunked them)
     
  12. ibshambat

    ibshambat Banned

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    I am good friends with a man like that. His father kept anally raping him since he was 3, and he felt that he was not pure enough to share himself with a woman. He may very well be continuing to have sexual feelings for men, but to the best of my knowledge he has abstained from sex for many years.
     
  13. Renee

    Renee Well-Known Member

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    What a sad story. It’s interesting that he views men as not pure.
     
  14. Maquiscat

    Maquiscat Well-Known Member

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    It means that you are still gay and not acting upon those urges. Typically that means celibacy. I don't see any claims of these people turning to heterosexual relations.
     

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