Romans 6:15-23

What is it about sin?

We know it's bad for us, we don't want to do it but we keep falling back into it. Why does it have such a hold on us?

In MDG, we talked a bit about how common the problem of lust is, really not surprising given that our congregation has young men in their early 20's. I would be more surprised (and frankly a little weirded out) if our church was full of young men utterly disinterested by girls. Moreover I would say the scope is much, much larger, to wit;

1. Eastlake church recently hosted a debate with Ron Jeremy and
2. this article popped up on CNN.

Again, not trying to minimize things at all, but just that we, at UNL, aren't freaks for confronting the same demons as the rest of the male population.

I wasn't always interested in God. It basically took both of my parents dying, my job nearly being axed and the birth of 2 kids for me to really perk up. In my not-so-interested in God days, I've seen my share of porn, strip clubs, bars, etc.

If you read the links above, everything that Pastor Meeks and Ryan Buckingham sounds right to me. But on my own, I been thinking about why porn holds onto mens' minds the way it does and I have a theory. There's obviously a biological component to it. But on top of that, there is an aspect that lines up very much with a Christian understanding of sin.

We know Matthew 22:36-40, so we can probably figure that when we love other things the way we are supposed to love God instead of God, that's the quintessence of sin. Porn and strip clubs and other lustful endeavors sell a fantasy, they themselves will tell you so. When you're into them, you're indulging a fantasy that you're something special. You imagine it's you and that this desirable girl(s) (or guy(s), I suppose) needs and wants you because you just got that special something and something about you is just that fulfilling. Again, I hope I'm not taking this into like, a bad place, but the most intoxicating strip clubs aren't necessarily the ones with the prettiest girls. More often than not, they're the ones with the best saleswomen (who most convincingly sell you the fantasy.)

The subtext is we get to be God. We imagine that we're the ones being worshipped and adored. We love and cling to that fantasy that we're a virile tower of Awesome that is desirable and fulfilling to the woman (or women or men, whatever you perv. just kidding) who is so lucky as to worship before us. And, like a lot of other sin, when it's done, instead of being satisfied, we come back wanting even more. By looking for more, we're saying we want to be enslaved. We want to live in fantasyland.

In sexual sin, in addition to all of the terrible consequences that it wreaks on society and interpersonal relationships and in a man's view of women, it twists and warps a man's heart. We can't stop craving that illusion, even though we know it's an illusion, that we're the king on the throne.

I could be totally wrong, but at least for me, I think that it explains a lot. And, even knowing this, I still struggle. Sexually-charged imagery is everywhere and I have to remind myself, "It's not real. Indulging your imagination will take you to bad places that are hard to climb out of"