All is allowed me, but not all is expedient. All is allowed me, but I will not be put under it's authority by anything.
1 Corinthians 6: 12, Concordant New Testament
Addictions are funny in the way that they change our perception of things. There are former drug addicts who have a overwhelming fear of needles, fearing that they will somehow slip back into that former lifestyle. I was recently talking with a friend of mine who shared one of his struggles as he began to know the Lord. I can honestly say that I can relate to this man, because we share a common story. My friend, as I did before him, struggled with the enticements of pornography for years. Not only did it change his view of women, but he almost lost his marriage and family in the process. Even now, as he considers himself free of the grips of his former addiction, he still struggles at times with his own view of women. However, I consider him to be free of his former trials as he has been free of pornography for some time. The scriptures speak to us about our experiences searing themselves into our consciousness {Proverbs 6:27, Romans 7:23}. From my own experience, how can someone be exposed to such images of pornography and not come away with a different view of the opposite sex? Indeed, this is something which I have continued to struggle with as well. Not with pornography per se, but with it's ugly aftermath. For years I was degraded by the church, like I was somehow a wicked person for allowing such thoughts into my righteous Christian mind. Yet, if I had known the truth of my own identity back in the day, I have a feeling that things might have been a bit easier on me. What sucks about pornography is that it is a poison pill which affects the very way we think of those around us. We began to see someone's wife/daughter/child as a object for our own gratification rather than their one true image created by the Father. Imagine pornography as a flame, what happens when you are exposed to that fire? Well, for one thing, there are always scars to deal with once we are burned. Our perceptions of those of the opposite sex are the scars we endure from any pornography addiction. Don't fool yourself, pornography IS an addiction.
To put off from you, as regards your former behavior, the old humanity which is corrupted in accord with its seductive desires, yet to be rejuvenated in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new humanity which, in accord with Godis being created in righteousness and benignity of the truth.
Ephesians 4: 22-24, Concordant New Testament
While my conversation with my friend brought back some uncomfortable memories, it also served as a reminder for me to be watchful for the remaining scars of that which I once dabbled in. Make no mistake, experiences cannot be seared into our consciousness and not confront us from time to time. The trick is knowing that we are not defined by those experiences. This is not how or why we were created. I was not created by the Father simply to languish away in the aftermath of my bad behaviors. I was meant for so much more than that. The apostle Paul reminds us of this in his passage on the indwelling Christ we find in Galatians 2:20. Paul knew that his experiences and his former life as a persecutor of the early church did not define who he was. Whom he now realized was in him. In a way, this is why we were created, to be vessels for the Spirit of the Lord Jesus in us. Just as Paul was not defined by his former behaviors, I am not defined by that which I once engaged in. They are but experiences I've come across. It is also Paul who speaks to no longer judging others according to their actions of the flesh {2 Corinthians 5:16}. We do well to remember that the ultimate and righteous judge is the One who does not condemn, but loves His children.
So that we, from now on, are acquainted with no one according to the flesh. Yet even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, nevertheless now we know Him so no longer.
2 Corinthians 5: 16, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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