Line Upon Line

Now that I have your attention...

This week (October 26 - November 1) is Pornography Awareness Week.

Here's an excerpt from a "Question & Answer" interview with Eli Machen, LCSW, founder and president of The Omega Recovery Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, about the problems, dangers, and signs of sexual addiction:

Q: What is sexual addiction, and how much of a problem is it in our society today?

A: Sexual addiction is the continual repetition of sexual behavior with negative consequences. Most individuals can point to an age that the behaviors started and say they have increased in intensity, frequency, or danger over time.

Q: Even today, most people find sexual addiction a subject that makes them uncomfortable. People sometimes seem very unwilling to step forward and seek help or even ask questions about this illness. Why do you think this happens?

A: Most sex addicts experience a lot of shame around their sexual addictive behaviors. This shame and belief about themselves leads to covering up or being secretive with their behaviors, for fear of rejection or abandonment of loved ones.

Q: This week dedicated to Pornography Awareness is a relatively new emphasis. Do you see benefits from such efforts?

A: Yes, I do! There are many individuals who are not aware that what they struggle with can be named, treated and overcome. When individuals find out that they are not alone in their struggle and that they can overcome this addiction, they often experience hope for the first time in many years. Spouses who are married to sex addicts gain hope by learning that they can also change their lives and find a supportive community in which to heal and grow.

You can read the entire article and interview at Crosswalk.com

You might also want to check out this article from CBN news: Dark Secret: More Women Becoming Addicted to Porn

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think on these things...

Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You are doing this already, and we encourage you to do so more and more. For you remember what we taught you in the name of the Lord Jesus. God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin. Then each of you will control your body and live in holiness and honor-- not in lustful passion as the pagans do, in their ignorance of God and his ways. Never cheat a Christian brother in this matter by taking his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. God has called us to be holy, not to live impure lives. Anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human rules but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

-- 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8(NLT)

When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn't talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or who are greedy or are swindlers or idol worshipers. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Don't even eat with such people.

-- 1 Corinthians 5:9-11(NLT)

Don't you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which belongs to Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don't you know that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, "The two are united into one." But the person who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Or don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

-- 1 Corinthians 6:15-20(NLT)