In Sociolinguistics class, we were taught that there is an imaginary device in human beings that allows us to pick up any language we have repeated contact with. This device, the Language Acquisition Device, isn’t programmed to help one pick up one particular language but any language the individual comes into contact with. This is how our hearts work, by ‘heart’, I mean the soul, not the ever-beating lump of flesh in our chests.
I am just using this borrowed-knowledge to address the issue at hand. I feel like the problem isn’t the fact that we have hearts, but that we have exposed our hearts to certain impurities that have made them depraved. There is a hunger for sex in all of us, both men and women, but it seems when it comes to men, it is cool to have an out-of-control sexual appetite. *pardon me, I can only speak for men* It seems when it comes to sex, men are allowed to behave like beasts and beastly. There is no justification for rape. No matter who the woman is, her age or what she wore. The problem isn’t external it is internal – it is inside us. Hungers need to be tamed. Even our hunger for food is tamed. Let’s just look at how unhealthy obesity is – obesity, which is birthed out of untamed hunger for foods of all kinds, kills many people each year. If there is a resultant effect, untamed hunger for food has on the individual, then there should be a corresponding effect that untamed hunger for sex has on an individual too. When it comes to dealing with the issue of discipline in dieting, we think about 1. The time an individual eats 2. How much food he should have 3. How the food should be eaten 4. What the individual eats etc. It isn’t advisable to eat at certain times, especially immediately before bedding. The quantity of food one eats should also be taken into consideration, as too much food may cause discomfort and result in excessive weight gain.The way and manner in which an individual eats is also very important. In most cases we are advised by dietitians not to drink and eat concurrently. Eating a lot of fatty foods is one sure way to build up a very unhealthy and almost inactive body. My question then is, if there are dietitians who are responsible for helping us regulate our eating habits, shouldn’t there be a system of regulation for human sexuality? When it comes to sex, everybody wants to have the final say in his/her life. Nobody wants to obey a bunch of rules. So far as the mode of sex is backed by law, then it is okay. It is a shame people don’t realize that all the foods we eat are pretty much legal, yet dietitians advise adamantly against the consumption of some of those foods. Not everything that is legal is good for consumption. Just recently in Kenya, a law was passed allowing men to legally go in for additional wives even without the consent of the first. It is even more sad and pathetic when society and the law backs men in pursuing their wild sexual dreams.
It’s already hard for us as men. Temptation literally stalks us every step of the way. Pressure to succumb is heavy and very compelling, hence the reason most men fail when it comes to fidelity in relationships. It is a jungle out there, not only out on the streets but every where else – the internet, in our conversations with friends even in the quietness of our deepest thoughts. The sort of lascivious images and episodes that jump at the average brother, is as fierce as a rain storm. More often than not, the worst evil isn’t that which the eyes have seen but that which is conceived in the heart. Mostly it is too sophisticated to be carried out in the physical world so it remains in the storeroom of the heart. It is however imperative that we keep our thoughts pure. Look, that is almost impossible – but highly attainable. The problem is within us, so if we win the battle from the inside-out, we are assured of less corruption in this world. if the statement, ‘out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks‘ is true, then we can conclude that most of our actions originated from the meditations of our hearts. Men like Job, lifted the bar up by a notch. He said, ‘I have made a covenant with my eyes NOT TO THINK UPON A LADY‘ (king James bible). Note: the covenant was made with his eyes, but the resultant action is that he won’t THINK upon a lady. Ha! Job is just like me. He is just like you, he is like the average man. I am sure he had a problem with ‘lustful thoughts‘ like most men do. Thank God he decided to kill the problem at the roots – at the thought-level before it materialized in the physical. That is indeed the solution – clean thoughts conceived in our hearts.
You know, the heart is neutral but very fickle. It easily sways in the direction you swing it. So over-exposure to sexually immoral material produces a sexually immoral individual. We have hearts, our hearts are originally depraved; what we expose them to worsens the situation.