the Requiest

I just got back from breakfast with a very dear Godly friend. We were discussing people we know (ahem ahmhemhemhemmm) who struggle with an “addiction” to pornography and masturbation. My friend himself is not unfamiliar with that particular struggle so what he subsequently said to me was not out of self-righteousness or condemnation but rather a desire to “get it right”.

After I used the word addiction he had a puzzled look in his eye and he leaned his head back and said “I disagree with the use of the term addiction. Rather someone should say ‘I am a disobedient child of the Father’.”

He justified this with a wonderful discussion that I wish I had tape recorded. (ok in the new digital age do we say “tape recorded”?) I hate to realize I will slowly forget the wonderful truths that he spoke as time as it always does erodes my sieve-like memory…

I will try and capture the gist of the conversation here as best as I can remember it as it is fresh in my mind.

First he asked me “What is the greek word for confess?” Gloriously of the two or three greek words I remember from my seminary days I responded “homologeo” which means “to agree together with”. He then reminded me that when we confess our sin we are agreeing with God about what He calls it. He said one of our problems in dealing with the issue is that we don’t accurately describe the issue and in a sense let ourselves off the so-called hook. So if we were to agree with God about pornography and masturbation we would call it an abominable idolatry and were we living in Moses day abominable idolatry ended with the earth opening and an entire generation of people being sucked into the depths. We need to not trivialive sin with therapeutic terms…

Immediately we respond upon hearing this but hold on that causes me to experience even more guilt and shame, dejection, despair, etc. which is exactly what should happen and is why we should “confess” in this fashion.

Now look at the second part of the phrase “child of the Father”. We need to confess this as well. When we say “I’m a porn addict” we’re calling ourselves at best fatherless or at worst a child of Satan. That’s not who we are. By calling ourselves that we tend to sit back in despair, defeat and despondent acquiescence to this label of who we ARE. That’s not who we are.
We are not agreeing at that point with God about who we are as His children, clothed in Christ, rescued from the reign of sin and placed under the reign of grace. How shall we who died to sin still live in it.

Alas … even with the memory of the conversation still fresh the ability to explain this as he did is not within my capabilities.

“He certainly preaches the gospel better than I but he cannot preach a better gospel”

To sum up: Sin is far worse than we tend to “confess” that it is and we need to agree with God that it is that bad. We also need to “confess” who we now are and quit listening to the defeating talk of the Evil One.

I’m not an addict, I’m disobedient.