Why did Christ forgive the woman who committed adultery?
“Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.”
By the words, “neither do I condemn thee,” said by Jesus to a woman who had committed adultery, he is saying that it’s appropriate to hate the sin but not the sinner. By “go and sin no more,” Jesus is saying that when old sex habits are eradicated by self-control or by regular, deep meditation, they should not be resurrected by fresh adulterous activities.
A crime is a transgression against society. A sin is a transgression against one’s own spiritual happiness. Adultery is both a social crime and a sin against the true happiness of the soul.
Adultery is committed when two people of opposite sexes indulge in coition without love, solely for the purpose of pleasure. The habit of adultery leads to uncontrollable sexual habits and ultimately to the destruction of physical, mental, and spiritual happiness. Adultery can also be committed in married life when a marriage is devoid of love. Such marriages lead to difficulties, bitterness, and separation.
Adulterous actions, when repeated often, develop into tenacious habits, causing their victims to lose both energy and happiness. When adulterous habits are conquered by repentance, self-control, good company, and meditation, these habits must not be stimulated anew by fresh sex activities.
In marriages based on love, adulterous sex desires vanish, giving birth to spiritual love and the divine unity of two beings. The sex force, when governed by wisdom, can be used for the creation of a child on the physical plane, the creation of great thoughts on the mental plane, or the development of spiritual powers of self-control.
Jesus understood human nature and its sex transgressions. He realized that social or religious persecution could not stamp out deeply rooted sex habits, but that such habits could be overcome by a repentant individual who understood the evil effects of those habits. Once a repentant individual becomes free from the octopus-grip of sex habits by meditation and the help of a guru-preceptor, he should not revive them by sowing fresh seeds of sex thoughts on the tender soil of the mind.
