I heard a pastor who has a regular radio program talking about "looking lustfully" at women. He said that you may not be able to help the first look, but it's that, "long, linger second look that you aren't supposed to be taking." I think the question of whether not we can know what's in someone's heart (and we can't really, unless one tells us) comes into play here.

For one thing, it seems to me that from an early age, men are most often taught to appreciate and pursue aesthetic ideal of the female form from everything from television to billboards and these days, the computer. These are all the wrong influences. There's a huge difference between being able to appreciate the aesthetic beauty of God's creation in the female form and in just looking with lust.

My dad took art classes in college to prepare for a career as a commercial artist. More than once (my mother tells me) he worked in class with live nude models, male and female. He knew the difference (my mother tells me) between lust and aestheticism in that the models were never aiming at seduction, but simply modeling. It is interesting though that when the professor at the art class asked my father to have my mother pose nude, he never mentioned it to her until many years had passed. (laughing here)

It's my thinking though, that scantily-clad ladies are usually trying to capitalize on their features, and before any ladies take exception to that statement, know that I have also known more than one guy who thought taking his shirt off would be an instant attraction to most women. Like I said before, it depends on the person's heart, the one looking and the one being looked at.

However, it also depends on something else. There is certain behavior, and with that certain behavior, certain dress that ought to at all times remain private and within the bounds of marriage; lingerie, almost-there bathing suits, see-through clothing, that type of thing. You can do a nifty job of trapping yourself into your own lusts by telling yourself that you're just appreciating the aesthetic value of someone's look or form when you look at them publicly, but we're told in Scripture to flee from the lusts of the flesh.

You just shouldn't try to win that kind of a battle, and it's always better to turn from such temptations. If it weren't so, the Book of Proverbs wouldn't be so stuffed with material concerning lust, fornication, adultery and the like.