For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.
Matthew 15:19-20
Are you a porn addict because Celebrate Recovery says so? Are you a process addict because the World Health Organization says so? Do you suffer from a hypersexual disorder? Are you a sex addict?
No, no, no, and no.
If you are a Christian man who struggles with looking at pornography, don’t try to find a label for your sin. Don’t look to the world, or Christian psychology, or Christian counselling, or Christian support groups, for a diagnosis for your sin. Don’t look for a diagnostic label that requires medication, therapy, counselling, weekly attendance at recovery meetings, working your way through 12 steps, or anything else.
Despite what many well-intentioned people say, pornography is a moral problem, not a brain problem. If you watch pornography compulsively and habitually, even though you know doing so is wrong, you have a problem with sin. Your problem is internal. Yes, your sin involves your brain and brain chemistry, but you are a moral agent, and God holds you accountable for your actions—and thoughts.
When you look outside of yourself for a diagnostic label for your sexual immorality, you assume that porn use is something that happens to you rather than something that you do. You take on the role of victim. You become the passive casualty of external forces. You refuse to take ownership for your choices and actions. And you adopt the attitude that change is out of reach, since you are a hopeless addict.
Don’t look for medical labels for your sexual sin. Looking at pornography is wicked. You look at porn because you are wicked. That’s what Jesus says. You aren’t defiled because you look at porn. You look at porn because you are already defiled. Sexual immorality isn’t something that happens to you. Sexual immorality is something that comes from within, from out of your heart. The remedy for habitual porn use is not external, but internal. The cure is not secular, but spiritual. You don’t need to label your sin to break free from it. If you want to get free of porn, break free God’s way.
Has God provided all that you need to live a godly life? Does God always provide a way of escape when you are tempted sexually? Can you do all things through Christ who strengthens you? Can you abstain from sexual immorality today?
Yes, yes, yes, and yes.
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