Genesis 1: 27 NKJV
We've heard a lot about the #metoo movement lately. Women across America who are tired of being taken advantage of by men. My only question would be, what took people so long to speak out against this behaviors? Whether you agree or not with the movement, it remains unquestionable that people have been being taken advantage of for ages. King David used his influence as the leader of Isreal to lure Bathsheba. Many politicians in our own country are now walking on eggshells with the arrest of financier Jeffrey Epstein. Here's a man who had more money than he could ever spend. However, he chose to spend it luring underage girls into his own perversions. Being one who once fell victim to the addiction of pornography, I can see how it is that he would be seduced by such behaviors. I was there at one time. Maybe not on the scale of Jeffrey Epstein, but I was there nonetheless. I won't spend much time on that subject of how God sees pornography. That's a useless endeavor. I know from first hand experience that knowing the religious scriptures and rules against fornication only give rise to guilt and shame in those who are afflicted with this addiction. Think about it, people know that there are laws against robbery, but every day we see jails full of robbery suspects. You can preach to people until you are blue in the face about how wrong pornogrpahy is, but that will never lead to a healing of their condition. Through the course of my own addiction I sat through countless sermons hoping against hope that they would free me from my behaviors. Predictably, they never did. Nevertheless, I continue to see pitch after religious pitch for books, seminars and sermon series which are often touted as "Gods sure fire method" of ridding men of the pornography addiction. Like I said, simply telling someone that something is wrong will never lead to a healing. See, I knew that engaging in pornography was wrong, yet I still did it. If you believed many of todays institutional pastors, I was going against God and I surely deserved His judgement. Tell me again how this type of judgement within the church leads to healing for the afflicted.
“I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it.”
― William P. Young, The Shack
I know a man, a man who I thought I knew pretty well. He was smart, hard working and pretty well liked among his coworkers. One day all of that changed when he decided to pay a visit to a woman from a former relationship. Well, the trouble with that is that she had a restraining order against him. Yes, my friend knew about that, but he chose to go through with his plans nonetheless. How does knowing something is wrong change a behavior? It doesn't. If it did, then my friend would be in a much better situation right now. Yes, pornography is a bvery bad thing. It degrades women as well as advocates using them to fullfill our own personal needs. There have been countless studies showing the effects of pornography on the addiction/pleasure centers of the human brain. There is absolutely NO difference between that crack coccaine addict on the street and myself. Our drugs of choice are simply different. How does telling a crack addict that his behavior is wrong lead to the healing of his condition? It doesn't. So, go ahead and tell me that what I was doing was wrong in Gods eyes. I already know that! When I tell my story to others I'm often asked what it was that led to my transformation to healing? First off, let me get one thing straight, I'm not "healed" in the common sense of the word. The turning point for me came when I fully realized how it is that God sees me. See, God has never seen me as some sort of outcast deserving of His harshest punishment. This is a teaching embedded in the old testament. No, what my heavennly Father sees when He looks upon me is...Himself. That's right, for I am created in His very image {Genesis 1:27}. Not only that, but the perfect gift of Christ Jesus has guaranteed that my sins have been forgiven me {John 3:16}. Then what about our sins? Well, Jesus took care of that too. The apostle Paul tells us that we are now dead to those sins which once defined us {Romans 6:6}. All of that institutional church crap about God never being in the presence of sin no longer applies to me. Paul also tells us that it is the Spirit of Christ who lives in us {Galations 2:20}. Yes, this was true even as I was going through my own addiction. The trouble was, I didn't realize who I truly was inside. I wasn't, and never will be, that man who the world tells me that I am. No, I am who God claims me to be.
~Scott~
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