This weekend someone from another state called me to ask for help. Pornography. The demon lust enslaves so many men, even among the followers of Jesus.
I recommended to this brother a book I always recommend - Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave, Ed Welch, P&R, 2001, 297 pages.
I recommended to this brother a book I always recommend - Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave, Ed Welch, P&R, 2001, 297 pages.
Here is a tidbit from the preface to entice you should a need in this area or any other "rapid bodily experience" tend to enslave.Addictions are ultimately a disorder of worship. Will we worship ourselves and our own desires or will we worship the true God? Through this lens, all Scripture comes alive for the addict. . . . since all Scripture addresses our fundamental disorder of worship, all Scripture is rich with application for the addict (p. xvi).
I wish I possessed a tool like this in the heyday of my battle with sexual addiction. If you fight the same or similar foes, see that you include this weapon in your arsenal for warfare.
Wow,brother. I just got off the phone with two brothers in Christ who are dealing not only with pornography but also sexual addictions. I would also reccomend a tool for the fight which was written by John Piper called 'Anthem'. Go to www.desirringgod.org and search for 'anthem'. The article should appear.
ReplyDeleteFor the Gospel,
Michael Ervin
Truthfully, instead of talking about 'addiction,' the weaker term, shouldn't it be called for what it is,'sin,' the stronger, and biblically accurate term?
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you, sir. Great acronym, ANTHEM. Thanks for the reminder. Piper's chapter on lust in Future Grace is another powerful weapon in the battle for purity.
ReplyDeleteRC, you have a point. Welch doesn't dodge the term "sin" at all. Perhaps "enslavement" would be more biblical a term but there is a difference between a man's normal battle with sin and something that so grips him it may rightly be called addiction. Unfortunately, I speak from experience. Not everyone takes all the therapeutic trappings that go with a term like addiction. It still serves its purpose, I think, in describing a dreadful and intolerable state, enslaved to sin. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLearning this all too late...just read a great blog that, although doesn't specifically attempt to prevent sexual addition, may be a great way to build a foundation for kids that will certainly face this as a challenge in today's culture. Found this on Monergism.com. Check out: http://takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-do-we-raise-kids-in-pornified.html
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