SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 060 (9:18)
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There seem to be two extreme camps of sexual addiction recovery that like to oppose each other. For lack of creative terms, I’m just going to call these the Religious Camp and the Secular Camp.
Religious Camp: Addiction is a spiritual problem.
- God is the only one who can help you overcome addiction.
- God is not large enough in your life.
- You are weak in your faith, prayers, religious actions.
- Real Christians (or strong Christians) wouldn’t struggle with sexual sin.
- You have to drive out the flesh, old nature, lustfulness.
- Some say that you need to cast out the demons of “Pornography, Lust, Adultery, or Masturbation.”
- You can be delivered from your addiction.
- You need only read the Bible, the works of C.S. Lewis, and Jonathan Edwards.
- Books that are secular can’t be helpful for the Christian.
Secular Camp: Our addiction is an emotional, behavioral, relational problem.
- Recovery comes through self-realization, behavior modification and therapy.
- We have the power within ourselves to overcome our addiction.
- 12-step groups are the best help for the addict.
- A person will always be an addict.
- Our background and genetics largely contribute to our addiction.
- The church is a place of hypocrites and doesn’t understand addiction.
- Books that are religious can’t be helpful for the addict.
- The real experts in sexual addiction are the psychologists & scientists
Granted, there are a lot of resources that are balanced in their approach. But these extremes are definitely here.
MY BEEF WITH THE RELIGIOUS CAMP
There are too many churches that think we can fix our porn problem if we just get more of God, or if we get serious about our faith.
So for those of you in the “All Spiritual” camp, I think you are missing some essential components of sexual addiction recovery. God has made us physical, emotional, relational and spiritual beings. That’s a lot under the hood! It’s not unspiritual to work on emotional and relational health. It’s not unspiritual to see a counselor or attend a 12-step group.
MY BEEF WITH THE SECULAR CAMP
My biggest beef with the secular camp is that self-discovery, will power, and therapy only take a person so far.
The Oprah philosophy would say that I can make my own reality. Each person has deep stuff inside of them, broken things that only God can fix. But my I can’t atone for my sins. I can’t break the stronghold and bondage that I have to sexual pleasure. I don’t have it inside me to desire truth and to truly be able to serve others.
Sexual addiction wields a power over people too great to stop by themselves.
God is critical to our recovery. Yes, God is the only one who can get to the deep stuff. But God uses a lot of other people to help accomplish His recovery plans for us. I like to think that God overshadows all the components of my recovery.
Look for a more balanced approach in your recovery and stay away from the extremes.
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Resources
www.porntopurity.com (Main Website)
http://porntopurity.wordpress.com (Porn to Purity Blog)
Show Music from MusicAlley.com
Show Theme – Derek K. Miller “Hotcake Syrup”
Background - Plastic Soul “005-1 Electric Guitar”
The 104 Podcast
Top tips for sexual purity. The meat. Get to the most important stuff in bite-sized pieces.
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