Are we really supposed to pluck out our eyeball if it offends us?

The answer is:

NO, of course not! We should never mangle or disfigure our bodies in any way, as that serves to help destroy “the Image of ELOHIM” (Genesis 1:27) It’s simply a metaphor meaning to “remove sinful visions from your mind as if you had no eyes and could not see!”

Let’s examine that particular passage and then apply some science and common sense:

Matthew 5: 29 If your right eye makes you sin, gouge it out and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom. 30 And if your right hand makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom. (CJB)

The Bible, as you know, contains many metaphors. (A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas.

For instance, the old adage, first used by Shakespeare, “All the world is a stage,” is obviously not true. We humans are not all actors, playing roles. He used points of comparison between the world and a stage to convey an understanding about the mechanics of the world and the behavior of the people within it.

So, the same holds true for the passage about plucking out your eye, or cutting off your hand, etc. Our organs and limbs are only doing what God created them to do. Eyes and hands don’t sin, per se. It’s the resulting THOUGHTS IN YOUR BRAIN that are the problem (which is why Yeshua said we are to take every thought captive (2 Cor 10:3-5).

It’s the brain that controls WHAT our bodies do. The brain is where our thoughts originate; it interprets what we see, smell, touch, and feel. If our eyes see something (i.e., we happen upon a porn site while perusing the ‘net), we will automatically react because of the thoughts the sight invokes.

(By the way, we react according to “where we are spiritually.” Those who know what constitutes sin, will immediately remove the offending sight from our eyes. Those who are “weak” and have little respect for, or fear of God, will “want more” of whatever their eyes are seeing…)

So, consider the following explanation:

A February 2003 article in Nature Reviews on the human brain by Jacqueline Wood and Jordan Grafman called, "Human Prefrontal Cortex: Processing and Representational Perspectives" explains that our Prefrontal Cortex supports functions involving the integration of information about emotion, memory, and environmental stimuli, and the dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex supports the regulation of behavior and control of responses to environmental stimuli."

Without going into a long explanation about the various parts of the brain and their functions, the above-mentioned parts of our brain “integrate inputs from many sources and implement more abstract behaviors.”

In other words, the prefrontal cortex handles your behavior! It is where you make decisions to take action on a thought.

SO, AS YOU CAN SEE, the bottom line is: “The eye” is NOT the problem. “Seeing” something is NOT the problem. The problem comes into play when what you see reaches the brain – and you allow the resulting thoughts to lead you astray! (It's all instantaneous.)

Therefore, it is imperative to always keep your thoughts in check, especially when it comes to things you know are considered evil in YAHWEH’s Eyes…