Call It Porn Addiction Only if You Forsake It | Proverbs 28:13

If you call your habitual use of pornography an addiction, you must have your reasons. But are they good reasons? Take this quiz and find out.

Call It Porn Addiction Only if You Forsake It | Proverbs 28:13

“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
Proverbs 28:13

Last time I checked, “porn addiction” still wasn’t recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the book doctors use to diagnose mental disorders. Which means, if you are a Christian man who calls your habitual use of pornography an addiction, you must have your reasons. But are they good reasons? Are you justified in calling your activity an addiction, and yourself an addict? Take this little quiz and find out.

Christian Man A: I call it porn addiction for the wrong reasons

(Circle all that apply)

  1. I want to avoid responsibility for my actions. When I call my sin an addiction, this takes the blame off me and puts it somewhere else.
  2. I want to cast myself in the role of victim. I want to receive pity and empathy for my sexual sin, and not biblical rebuke and correction.
  3. I want to claim powerlessness over my actions. Calling my sexual sin an addiction works for me because everyone knows that addicts are powerless over their compulsive behaviors.
  4. I want to remain in my sin because I enjoy porn. Calling myself an addict lets me repent at leisure. My recovery journey requires endless 12-step recovery meetings where I am hugged, handed a Kleenex and never held to account for my willful disobedience.
  5. I want to avoid calling my compulsive use of pornography a sin. This way, I deny that I have any moral culpability when I act out.
  6. I am not committed to forsaking my sin. So I call it acting out, a relapse, PMO or a struggle—anything but the wickedness it is.
  7. I disagree with Proverbs 28:13. I can cover my sins and prosper.

Christian Man B: I call it porn addiction for the right reasons

(Circle all that apply)

  1. I crave pornography the way a drug addict craves a hit of heroin.
  2. I have increasing difficulty controlling the amount of porn I consume, or how frequently I use it.
  3. I feel a compulsion to view pornography.
  4. I continue to view pornography despite experiencing negative consequences.
  5. I agree with Proverbs 28:13. If I confess and forsake my sins, I will obtain mercy from God.

Which of these two Christian men do you suppose is most likely to quit pornography for good and live a life that pleases God? Which of them is most likely to attain sexual purity first? Naturally, it’s Christian Man B. The key to victory over pornography is to call it sin, take personal responsibility for your actions, stop making excuses, stop playing the victim, stop hiding from God, stop looking to the world of psychobabble for help, and start using biblical methods to attain and maintain sexual purity.

If you want to call your sin a porn addiction to gain victory over it, so be it. If calling yourself a porn addict helps you repent of your sin, forsake your sexual immorality, use God’s guaranteed way of escape whenever tempted sexually (which He always provides), and seek God’s forgiveness, have at it. But if you want to continue calling yourself a porn addict simply to shirk responsibility, indulge your sin, play the victim and take your sweet old time getting right with the Lord, some day, eventually, maybe tomorrow, if ever, then beware. “He who covers his sins will not prosper.”


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