Porn addiction has run rampant in the world today thanks to the internet. Anyone can access pornography from their computer, and thanks to phones and tablets, now it’s even easier to access porn! You don’t even have to be glued to a computer to look at it! I’ve seen many statistics of how many men and women are addicted to pornography. What pains me even more is how many Christian men and women are addicted to it! I won’t go into those statistics. You can look them up yourselves. But I think once you look at them, it’ll be clear to you that we’ve got an epidemic on our hands. As I said above, even many Christians are addicted to pornography, or they’re not addicted to porn, but they’re addicted to masturbation and pornography is only a means to that end.
For the truly born again Christian, being enslaved to such a sinful activity as masturbation can be extremely painful emotionally, for the one born of God loathes sin and desires not to have anything to do with it. As scripture says "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God." (1 John 3:9) and moreover, The Bible teaches that if we truly love Jesus, we will strive to do His will. We will try to please Him rather than displease Him. Jesus said “If you love me, you will obey my commandments” (John 14:2) and He said “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.” (John 14:23) So, if a person loves Jesus, he will do everything he can to make Him happy, and it will grieve him when he fails at that goal. Porn is clearly a sin, for Jesus said “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matthew 5:28
I know of some people who have struggled with these things for years and have still yet to break free from the hold sexual sin has over them. They’ve prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and prayed, they’ve struggled to resist, they’ve even tried to emulate Jesus by quoting scripture when the temptations came (see Matthew 4) to make the devil leave them alone, and they’ve scanned the scriptures for answers, but after years of fighting the addiction, the withdrawals still overcome them.
After a trillion failures, it can be next to impossible to continue to believe that you’ll ever be able to live a life without getting your sexual fix. It can be so easy to give into defeatism. I have a logical argument that will give any war wary Christian hope that he WILL be freed from his porn or masturbation addiction some day. It goes like this:
1: If we pray for something that is God's will, we will receive it.
2: It is God's will that I be freed from sexual immorality, to control my body, and to not live in lust like the pagans.
3: Therefore, if I pray to be freed from sexual immorality, to control my body, and to not live in lust like the pagans, God will answer this prayer.
This is a logically valid syllogism, following the rule modus ponens. Premise 1 is proven true by 1 John 5:14-15. Premise 2 is proven by 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5.
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." - 1 John 5:14-15
"It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;" - 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
Since both premises are true, the conclusion logically and necesarilly follows. God's Word is truth (John 17:17) because it is divinely inspired (2 Timothy 3:16) by the God who cannot lie (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18). Not to mention we have very good independent reasons to believe that The Bible is divinely inspired besides The Bible's own attestation to its inspiration ((see "5 Reasons To Believe The Bible Is Divinely Inspired”)).
Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for this conclusion to be false! The only way for it to be false is if one of the premises were false! But the premise cannot be false! God's Word proves the premises of the argument! Therefore, anyone who struggles with sexual sin, be it masturbation addiction, porn addiction, or what have you, will be given the power to break these chains and be free, provided that freedom is truly what they desire ((i.e don’t be like Augustine and pray “Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.”)). If God hasn’t yet freed you from your pornography/masturbation addiction, the best (and only) explanation is that He plans to do it at some time in the future. The answer cannot be “yes” if you’re still enslaved, but it cannot be “no” either. The best (and only) possible explanation is that His answer is “not yet”.
Therefore, you would do well to remember the parable of thew persistant widow and the unjust judge (see Luke 18:1-8) and continue praying day after day until God finally answers your prayer and frees you from the chains of sexual addiction.
Keeping this argument in mind will help you be confident and certain that you will not carry this problem with you to your grave. It’s important that you believe God will do this because The Bible says “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." - James 1:6-8
This argument – the premises of which are backed up by scripture – should provide you a gigantic boost of faith. 1 John 5:14-15 tells us that if we pray for something knowing that it is God’s will, we will receive it. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 tells us that it’s God’s will that we avoid sexual immorality, that we be able to control ourselves, and not live in lust like unbelievers do. So since both of these are true, it follows that if you pray to God, asking Him to help you get freed from your porn/masturbation addiction, you WILL be freed from it. There’s no possible way you won’t be freed from it! Any argument that is logically valid and has true premises has a necessarily true conclusion! It is absolutely impossible for the conclusion to be false provided those conditions are in place! The only way the conclusion in an argument can be avoided is if either 1 or more of the premises are false or if the logic is invalid. Neither of these are the case. The argument is logically valid because it takes the form modus ponens. The premises are true because they are said to be true by God’s holy, inspired, inerrant word. The logic is valid and the premises are true, so only an irrational person could deny the conclusion.
Now, again, perhaps you’ve been praying and perhaps you’re still caving into to your withdrawals. Remember that God doesn’t always answer our prayers right away. Sometimes the answer isn’t “yes” or “no” but “wait”. Considering the soundness of the argument, it’s clear that only the third answer is the one that is true. God isn’t saying no to you, but to wait. He WILL do it some day!
If you’ve been severely doubting whether God will help you, there’s your problem right there. James 1:6-8 is clear that if ask and doubt, you won’t receive anything from The Lord. But hopefully this Bible based argument will remove the doubt factor and allow the blessing of freedom to flow into your life.
By the way, this applies not only to porn and masturbation addiction, but to any sin you can’t stop committing. This applies to alcoholism for scripture states that getting drunk is a sin (see Ephesians 5:18, Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 13:13), it applies to drug addiction, it applies to any sin. God’s will is for everyone to do what is right. If we pray to be strengthened to do what is right, God will help us. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).
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Other relevant scriptures
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" -- Matthew 7:7-11
"if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself." - 2 Timothy 2:13
"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." - Hebrew 4:12
"Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’" - John 8:34-35
This post was written by Evan Minton. You can find his blog here: http://cerebralfaith.blogspot.com
For the truly born again Christian, being enslaved to such a sinful activity as masturbation can be extremely painful emotionally, for the one born of God loathes sin and desires not to have anything to do with it. As scripture says "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God." (1 John 3:9) and moreover, The Bible teaches that if we truly love Jesus, we will strive to do His will. We will try to please Him rather than displease Him. Jesus said “If you love me, you will obey my commandments” (John 14:2) and He said “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.” (John 14:23) So, if a person loves Jesus, he will do everything he can to make Him happy, and it will grieve him when he fails at that goal. Porn is clearly a sin, for Jesus said “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matthew 5:28
I know of some people who have struggled with these things for years and have still yet to break free from the hold sexual sin has over them. They’ve prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and prayed, they’ve struggled to resist, they’ve even tried to emulate Jesus by quoting scripture when the temptations came (see Matthew 4) to make the devil leave them alone, and they’ve scanned the scriptures for answers, but after years of fighting the addiction, the withdrawals still overcome them.
After a trillion failures, it can be next to impossible to continue to believe that you’ll ever be able to live a life without getting your sexual fix. It can be so easy to give into defeatism. I have a logical argument that will give any war wary Christian hope that he WILL be freed from his porn or masturbation addiction some day. It goes like this:
1: If we pray for something that is God's will, we will receive it.
2: It is God's will that I be freed from sexual immorality, to control my body, and to not live in lust like the pagans.
3: Therefore, if I pray to be freed from sexual immorality, to control my body, and to not live in lust like the pagans, God will answer this prayer.
This is a logically valid syllogism, following the rule modus ponens. Premise 1 is proven true by 1 John 5:14-15. Premise 2 is proven by 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5.
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." - 1 John 5:14-15
"It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;" - 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
Since both premises are true, the conclusion logically and necesarilly follows. God's Word is truth (John 17:17) because it is divinely inspired (2 Timothy 3:16) by the God who cannot lie (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18). Not to mention we have very good independent reasons to believe that The Bible is divinely inspired besides The Bible's own attestation to its inspiration ((see "5 Reasons To Believe The Bible Is Divinely Inspired”)).
Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for this conclusion to be false! The only way for it to be false is if one of the premises were false! But the premise cannot be false! God's Word proves the premises of the argument! Therefore, anyone who struggles with sexual sin, be it masturbation addiction, porn addiction, or what have you, will be given the power to break these chains and be free, provided that freedom is truly what they desire ((i.e don’t be like Augustine and pray “Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.”)). If God hasn’t yet freed you from your pornography/masturbation addiction, the best (and only) explanation is that He plans to do it at some time in the future. The answer cannot be “yes” if you’re still enslaved, but it cannot be “no” either. The best (and only) possible explanation is that His answer is “not yet”.
Therefore, you would do well to remember the parable of thew persistant widow and the unjust judge (see Luke 18:1-8) and continue praying day after day until God finally answers your prayer and frees you from the chains of sexual addiction.
Keeping this argument in mind will help you be confident and certain that you will not carry this problem with you to your grave. It’s important that you believe God will do this because The Bible says “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." - James 1:6-8
This argument – the premises of which are backed up by scripture – should provide you a gigantic boost of faith. 1 John 5:14-15 tells us that if we pray for something knowing that it is God’s will, we will receive it. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 tells us that it’s God’s will that we avoid sexual immorality, that we be able to control ourselves, and not live in lust like unbelievers do. So since both of these are true, it follows that if you pray to God, asking Him to help you get freed from your porn/masturbation addiction, you WILL be freed from it. There’s no possible way you won’t be freed from it! Any argument that is logically valid and has true premises has a necessarily true conclusion! It is absolutely impossible for the conclusion to be false provided those conditions are in place! The only way the conclusion in an argument can be avoided is if either 1 or more of the premises are false or if the logic is invalid. Neither of these are the case. The argument is logically valid because it takes the form modus ponens. The premises are true because they are said to be true by God’s holy, inspired, inerrant word. The logic is valid and the premises are true, so only an irrational person could deny the conclusion.
Now, again, perhaps you’ve been praying and perhaps you’re still caving into to your withdrawals. Remember that God doesn’t always answer our prayers right away. Sometimes the answer isn’t “yes” or “no” but “wait”. Considering the soundness of the argument, it’s clear that only the third answer is the one that is true. God isn’t saying no to you, but to wait. He WILL do it some day!
If you’ve been severely doubting whether God will help you, there’s your problem right there. James 1:6-8 is clear that if ask and doubt, you won’t receive anything from The Lord. But hopefully this Bible based argument will remove the doubt factor and allow the blessing of freedom to flow into your life.
By the way, this applies not only to porn and masturbation addiction, but to any sin you can’t stop committing. This applies to alcoholism for scripture states that getting drunk is a sin (see Ephesians 5:18, Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 13:13), it applies to drug addiction, it applies to any sin. God’s will is for everyone to do what is right. If we pray to be strengthened to do what is right, God will help us. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other relevant scriptures
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" -- Matthew 7:7-11
"if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself." - 2 Timothy 2:13
"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." - Hebrew 4:12
"Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’" - John 8:34-35
This post was written by Evan Minton. You can find his blog here: http://cerebralfaith.blogspot.com
