14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
-James 1:14-15, NLT
Emotional Affairs (EA) are wrong. They are sin as they are the breach of marriage vows to “forsake all others.”
The problem with many is how EAs are often nebulous enough to be manipulated in keeping a faithful spouse stuck. They can be weaponized–sadly–to shift blame upon the faithful partner.
The line of attack is to treat the Emotional Affair as if it was simply a symptom of a bad marriage. Then Cheaters turn the professional loose on the faithful spouse’s supposed deficiencies.
This shouldn’t work on Christian leaders. Sadly, though, I know it often does. They are taken in by the idea of the affair as secondary to the marriage problems–namely, the faithful spouse’s “issues.”
Setting the part that EAs are often easier for Cheaters to admit than physical affairs and might be physical already, Christians ought to understand them as sin and locate the responsibility for such sin in the hands of the actual sinner–i.e. the Cheater (see 2 Cor. 5:10).
Emotional Affairs are not symptom’s of general marriage issues. The problems are not solved by looking at the relationship.
Emotional Affairs are sin, and sin revealing evil in the heart of the Cheater that they failed to resist!
