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Matthew 27-28"You know the next commandment pretty well, too: Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' But don't think you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody noticesthey also corrupt." (The Message)

A lot of people think that adultery can only be performed in a sexual way. Some who are married even go so far as to believe that anything said over the Internet to someone other than their spouse is okay as long as it never morphs into sexual contact. Compare this thinking with the words of Jesus above, however, and there is a significant difference.

Here is one family's story of the pain that emotional infidelity causes. Names and some personal details have been changed. This concerns a common-law couple named Jake and Hannah, Hannah's daughter Nuala, and Diana, the other party in Jake's emotional affair.

Jake, who had previously been a loving husband and stepfather, started to go through a serious depression. Almost overnight, he changed into someone Hannah and Nuala didn't know. He became very verbally abusive and started leaving home anytime Nuala and Hannah were home, and even went so far as to tell them they were the reason he wouldn't stay home. This was especially hard on Nuala, who had been walked out on by her father.

Jake then started searching for an ex-girlfriend, Diana, that he had dated as a teenager, spending long hours doing searches to find her whereabouts. He became convinced that only she could "save" him from whatever he was going through. Hannah was, of course, rightfully concerned, especially knowing a bit about what the relationship had been like. It had been largely sexual, very emotionally charged, and she had manipulated and controlled Jake for the several months that they dated.

To both his wife's and his stepdaughter's dismay, Jake got in touch with Diana, started sending her gifts, and chatting online via instant message. Diana was a housewife who spent most of the time online when her husband was at work, claiming that she helped him with his business paperwork. The conversation was often very intimate and became suggestive on several ocassions. He kept his door shut tight when talking to her, minimized his screen when someone came in the room, and seldom spoke to his family other than to scream at them.

Diana knew how to push his buttons. She'd guilt trip him into eating at his computer instead of eating with his family,

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