We last talked about how seduction makes its way through our TVs. It also has a way of creeping into books we read. Today we are going to talk about those kinds of reading materials. I used this title because Fabio is the only god of romance I can remember seeing my grandmother read! Some of you may be too young to know who he is. That is okay!

Have you ever thought what you might be reading could be affecting your life in an unhealthy way, specifically your love life? Is it possible that what we are reading could allow us to fantasize? Remember, a fantasy can just be a mental picture of immoral sexuality. Picturing two people in any sexual act is immoral.

Name a few things that you are reading or have read that allowed you to picture any level of sexual activity outside of a covenant marriage? I promise you are not alone!

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I can remember when I used to read certain books that were not particularly a “romance” novel but it had some steamy sex scenes in it. I would find myself being aroused by it. I have found from talking with some women, that some of the books they read cause them to fantasize as well. For instance, a close friend of mine read some of those romance novels that seemed harmless. As we began to talk about the book and the sexual scenes in it, I asked her if she ever found herself visualizing a sexual scene when she went to bed with her husband. Of course reluctantly she answered “yes”. I believe at the time she didn’t realize this was dangerous. As we talked about it, she realized that she was taking those kinds of visuals from the story and placing those expectations on her sexual life with her husband. She began to question why she didn’t get those kinds of arousing feelings when it came to her sexual life with her husband. She began questioning if something was wrong in their relationship because she didn’t feel as turned on when she had sex with her husband as she did when reading about a sexual encounter in the book. How do you think visualizing a sexual encounter can be harmful?

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Sometimes, there are novels we may read that have a wonderful love story to it without much sexual content. The reason that these can be dangerous to us is that it can leave us feeling empty in our own love lives. If you are someone who tends to follow your feelings, these books can be especially dangerous. Have you ever read a love story that left you desiring feelings of love in your own relationship that you did not feel were there? Possibly you ended up feeling disappointed because the story painted a beautiful picture of a couple in love, which at some point you allowed it to cross the boundary from fantasy into reality by longing for that in your own relationship. Fantasies are unrealistic. They paint a picture that is not real. Seduction comes into play when you find yourself longing for something that is not real. Seduction tells you that your love life is dull and something is wrong with your relationship. Seduction tells you that you deserve a better man. It tells you that you will be happier with someone other than your husband. It tempts you to think the grass is greener on the other side. It tempts you to think that your high school sweetheart still has feelings for you and encourages you to give him a call. We have got to become more aware of seduction and how it seeps into our lives, even through reading materials. Tomorrow we are going to see how seduction works through some movies we watch.