Rescue is the constant pattern of God's activity. ~ Francis Frangipane.

[Jennifer Lea Akins]

Excerpt from a conversation I had about pornography (and its affect...

“All I’m contending is that porn is what it is because it’s more twisted and ingrained in the heart.”

-THE MIND…so ingrained in the mind, when it takes hold.

“Porn lives in feelings of acceptance, and feeling loved. It takes hold when people are alone, but only when they feel the most alone.”

-True..but not Only when they are the most alone. Sometimes, it is just a means to feel the connection they do have, that intimacy they crave not being
fully met, and without the battling…the easier enticing choice;
whisper of the Deceiver, like you said Sean.

I see the shame as coming from not meeting that Warriors call, feeling less than, not because they do have a woman of God behind them
(although being a woman of God would help, as they are the companions
that should encourage the leader of the home…ironing sharpening iron)
but because they feel as if they deserve something more that really
that wife is not necessarily able to fill.

It’s not always about sexual need, is my point.

Although we all crave that and have those drives, as I believe Adam and Eve were all about it, before the fall. It’s a oneness I believe they had
with God, that we will never have on earth again, until Christ’s
return..

If something is left in the marriage, truly I think, as the case with my family, there were some spiritual walks that were stale and that intimacy
wasn’t met vertically, and therefore not horizontally.

I also experienced this in my own lack of intimacy and security in my identity in Christ. I turned to fantasy, as a woman does, with books AND movies/shows, to meet that need..but of course they failed.

I then went to pornography, after chatrooms..and I NEVER thought that I would enter that world. But, as the need grew, as it often does..you don’t control it, it controls you.

It doesn’t shame often enough, in fact, I believe that with any sin, we can justify it actually being good for us and not shameful. With me, I
will say that I was shameful at points because of conviction, but I do
think that the majority that are IN that sin, live with it because it
is comfortable. That most don’t feel an once of guilt or shame, because
they have convinced themselves they are owed it, or deserve it.

Knowing that it is a battle of the mind, that Christ is able to help us overcome, I don’t think castrating will make men stop watching. This
doesn’t fit the sin, because it’s not as much physical as it is mental.

“Sean, are you talking about believers or just people you meet out there? I think it’s naive in the extreme to think that taking a guy to a
party to meet nice girls will “cure” his lust for pornography. I
think you confront a believer about sin on the grounds that it’s sin.
”AND then, you can take him to a party...

But if a believer does not care about anything but his own gratification, then something is wrong with him on the INSIDE. And meeting a nice girl and even LOVING her and marrying her will not necessarily stop him from going home or to work and watching more porn.

"The cure for sin is Jesus, not parties at his house." -I agree with this.

And, it IS personal, before it is relational.

You personally have to deal with this sin/addictions before and with God, first. The wife/husband, pastor, mentor, friend can be there to
intercede, walk alongside, and encourage you out, but it is your active
choice not to do and overcome.

This is the battle..this is what makes a man/woman..to do the hard thing, by looking at what separates us from God and his good for us, according
to his word, and for those around to speak in love against sin that
they see or know of.

Shame is what the devil wants. Redemption is the way of the Lord. There is no condemnation when sin is revealed, when it is put in the proper
context and light of Christ’s love and forgiveness. He can and does
wash us clean.

For whoever is struggling with this, there is Hope.

The truth is:

It is not in the will of God for you, for us, and God desires your purity, your mind, body, and soul..solely devoted to him..above ALL ELSE.

In that relationship, there is freedom…and perfect intimacy.