Many non-Christians feel that porn is just a fun way of spicing up one's love life...or dealing with the lack thereof. But Christians understand that a pure thought life is essential to a smoother, more fruitful walk with God. Of course, porn isn't the only thing that can clog your brain. Anger, resentment, fear - all of these are things that prevent us from focusing on the good things of God and push us to act in rather ungodly ways.
Pornography can become an addiction like drugs or alcohol, not because of the chemicals you put into your body, but because of the chemical reaction in the brain TO the pornography. Some people can look at pornography and not develop a major problem, but I can think of at least 2 people I know who have lost everything because it turned into a major battle they couldn't win.
There two points that I think are important to make.
1. Temptation is not a sin.Jesus was tempted in every conceivable way and did not sin. What's the difference? Temptation is a longing to act on something. It becomes sin when we act on it. Because God wants us and instructs us to have a pure thought life, acting on the sin of pornography can mean actually indulging in it, or dwelling on the virtual rolodex of images we have in our heads from past experiences. The Bible tells us that if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. 2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to "take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ." If you've looked at a lot of porn, or maybe have sexual abuse in your past, sometimes you need someone to come alongside you and help you do those things.
2. Why look in the first place?Why would a healthy, thriving Christian need to look at porn in the first place? I think the article makes an excellent point.
“If you spend your time in session talking about what God thinks and what the Bible says, you don’t get to understand what the patient thinks and what happened in their life up to that point that explains why,” Giugliano says.
Now, obviously, I don't agree with removing God and the Bible from the equation. But I do agree that every problem has a starting point and that you can't stop a weed from growing without tearing out the root. Being a new creature in Christ doesn't mean that actions don't have consequences - either your own actions, or someone's actions against you. Why would you retrain a mind that was trained properly the first time? What is there to guard your heart from?
My friend Shaunti Feldhahn did exhaustive research into the "inner minds" of men and discovered that a lot of men - Christian and otherwise - view porn out of a sense of inadequacy. Seeing an all-too-willing and enthusiastic woman on a screen, willing to do anything to please anyone, gave them a small-but-important esteem boost. It made them feel like they could do anything, and were sexually adequate.
Where do we get our sense of adequacy and esteem from as Christians? From God. He makes us adequate and worthy, it's nothing we can do for ourselves. We often need the help of Christian counselors to help us see who we are in Christ. It's important. Secular therapists don't get it, and it's sad.
But there's something to be said about finding out why it's so hard to grasp all of that in the first place.
Modern-day knowledge with ancient Truth can make for a great combination.
Pin It
0 comments:
Post a Comment