Notes from Sunday sermon by Pastor Mark Driscoll
http://marshill.com/media/real-marriage/the-porn-path
Bottom line: People can be addicted to pornography. Yes, ADDICTED. Neural pathways can be conditioned to need pornography the way they can be conditioned to need another hit of cocaine or heroine or your-favorite-drug. For non-Christians, this is a big deal because the industry takes advantage of abuse and assault, making money because of other people's shame. For the Christians, ultimately, pornography is idolatry! To worship anyone or anything more than we love God, we are idolizing whoever or whatever! Pornography is not "just a bad habit." Pornography is the result of our heart gone astray.
My notes below do not contain all details of the sermon but points of thoughts I personally found inspirational. For those interested in the entirety of the sermon (which includes a Q&A session with an ex-porn star--very powerful story), please check out the entire sermon, which can be found within the link provided above.
Sex is a gift of God for a man and a woman, bound by God's covenantal marriage
God created sex and the passion associated with it for marriage.
Whatever pleasure we receive, we become bonded to it, connected to that person or thing. Can we see how this would be a magnificent gift for a marriage? If we remain pure--and we're with our spouse, and we love them emotionally, and we are committed to them covenantally, and we agree with them theologically, and we invest in them verbally, and we enjoy them physically--we are habituating ourselves, conditioning ourselves, to be bonded to our spouse, to be into them, to be connected to them, to desire them, to be satisfied with them, to long for them. And in a marriage, that is wonderful!
What is pornography?
1. Porn hurts.
Porn breaks the heart of God. Porn hurts daughters. Porn hurts children.
2. Porn is making someone else than our spouse our standard of beauty.
3. Porn is coveting.
4. Porn is idolatry.
God conquers the inequities of the flesh
Galatians 5:16-24
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
1. Be a Christian
Don't be guilt-ridden religious moralist; if we can solve the problem ourselves, we wouldn't have that problem in the first place. Jesus can conquer our deepest problems. Give Him our yolk; trust Him to pull us to safety.
2. Be honest with God
3. Be honest with our spouse
4. Kill our sin before it kills us
Jesus died for our sin. There is no reason for us to be dead in our sin. Put our sin to death because Jesus already died for it.
5. Fight and keep fighting
Battle of the heart is not easy. Our enemy is the Satan, and he has many tricks up his sleeves. It may take us several hard falls before we can totally break free. Do not give up. Rely on God, and He will save us from the tight grasp of Satan.
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