Posted on 10/23/2021 7:26:55 AM PDT by rebuildus
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.“
1 Corinthians 6:18 I remember… years ago, when corruption had taken hold of my mind and body. I was working “graveyard” shift in a medical lab.
Just about every morning I’d come home to my seedy apartment. I’d gotten into the habit of smoking weed through a bong (water pipe) in order to relax enough to go to sleep, and be able to sleep through the ever-loud country and Western music coming though the wall of the drunk older man next door.
I’d typically fall into a deep sleep, and I would dream, often of sexual situations.
It’s what happened next that was the interesting part…
My dreams were escapes–escapes from the reality and unresolved pain of my existence and wrong choices. But you can only escape so far. I found out what comes at the end of escape–darkness.
My dreams would get dark, and I mean literally. My vision would be blocked in shadows. And I’d see scary things, which would drive me to wake up out of stone cold fear.
The trigger for the dark dreams was almost always sex.
Soon I began to seek a way out of my private hell, which led me to some false Christian churches, and then meditation (quiet prayer), and I began to slowly see my way out.
Yes, flashes of illumination came, but the deception, corruption, and stubbornness within me was strong, and thus clarity took a great deal of time to shine through.
I deal with my corruption and desire to overcome it in my posts Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Really ARE the GATEWAY TO HELL.
Part I
Part II
Part III
You CANNOT separate spiritual and physical sin I used to know a preacher who says that the only real sin is anger, that physical “sins” are just ways people use to hide from the pain of anger. There is certainly a great deal of truth in that, but to say that physical sin–particularly sexual sin–is basically just a hiding place, is simply not true.
As 1 Corinthians 6:18 explicitly says, “…the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
This gets back to God’s original purpose for sex, which is an expression of union, and procreation between a married man and woman.
Notice how the Devil has changed the sexual act into something completely different: sex outside of marriage, adultery, incest, homosexuality and even bestiality. There is no limit to how a person will debase themselves and others through sexual acts.
In other words, “The sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” And I might add, “…and against the bodies of others too.”
Sex is about body AND spirit. It cannot be separated. It starts in the mind, and it envelopes the emotions. It feels like LIFE. It is a form of life–EGO life. It makes our spirits feel good as it makes our bodies feel good.
When you look into the eyes of a person consumed with lust, you will see that the original person’s spirit has been displaced, and replaced with the spirit of lust.
You no longer see the original person. You don’t see their love. Or consideration. Or even their reason. You see something else, and they themselves may not even be aware of who they have become once lust has taken hold of their mind.
A way out? This is the closing part of this post, and as I type this I don’t know that I have a clear-cut answer in seeking a way out. Because I am still seeking full salvation from this sin.
I do know where this sin starts, though, and it is in the mind. And I do know that the answer is related to shrinking from the temptation to fill our minds with thoughts and images of debasement. When we are willing to forego the pleasure in our mind, our bodies will follow.
I do recommend daily (first thing in the morning, last thing at night) prayer/meditation. I also recommend reading the Bible regularly (not a lot, just enough to ponder some wisdom and remind yourself of God’s promises), and fellowshipping with like-minded people (where and when they can be found!).
You may stumble and fall–perhaps a lot! But your true desire to be God’s son or daughter will point you to where you need to be.
Be patient with yourself.
As always, I wish you health, success, and freedom! (And especially freedom from obeying sexual thoughts!).
Patrick Rooney is the Founder of OldSchoolUs.com. He communicates clearly and fearlessly during perilous times about natural health, success, and freedom. To reach Patrick, email him at info@oldschoolus.com.
An extremely good observation.. They are opressed/possessed.
Huge chunks of the big picture are still missing from this man’s account. At least in terms of the path out of the horrific Hell on Earth he describes.
Baptism and Confirmation in the One True Faith is a must.
Devote yourself to our Mother, the Mother of God, and the Queen of Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
An intact and self-motivated prayer life is also essential. If you are not praying the Rosary every single day, you’re not on the team. (H/T, Taylor Marshall.)
And, for healing power of grace to continue to flow, there are the Precepts of the Church. One must assist regularly at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, go to Confession (the Sacrament of Penance) often, that being at least once a month according to the best advice of most prelates and saints, and do not fear to prayerfully discern, and worthily receive, the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus, The Christ of God.
Spiritual strength and a host of minor miracles will follow, as day follows the night.
So this guy is doing drugs and having exotic dreams and he thinks the dreams are the problem?
The thing about sexuzl sins is that it rots the mind, and even if you leave it behind physically, the mind will usually a,ways yearn for it, and you will battle it for life. You’ll see it everywhere, and have to fight and struggle not to cu,tivate immoral,thoughts from there on out.
While christ forgives the sin, we are still subject to the consequences of sin. Christ can help overcome even the mental problem of,lust, but when a person steeps themselves in sin, they are pretty much doomed to fighting I lure thoughts the rest of their lives. It can get better, but they might always have to fight off u wanted thoughts. And this can and does lead to feeling like a failure as a Christian often, and works to defeat a close relationship with God in folks sometimes.
I think th3 ,ey is to recognize that you brought it on yourself because of poor choices, accept that you Will likely always struggle with it, and keep repenting as quickly as possible, and over time it will get easier to avoid situations where your mind goes to places it shouldn’t regarding the sin of immorality.
Also learn and live, by Har work and constant reminders to yourself, 3 I portent words
“I WILL NOT” you need to WILL yourself to NOT do the things you formerly did. Paul talked about that in his preaching. He had to fight with himself over and over to crush his carnal, thought s into submission (and note, this can be applied to any sin, it doesn’t just have to be sexual sins, lying, gossip, anger, gluttony etce5cetc)
Be honest with God and tell him “Lord, I’d not NOT want to fight off the sin (whatever it might be), please give me strength to persevere through them”
God won’t usually take away the consequences of sin, but he WILL. Give us strength to fight and hold up under them. “My grace is sufficient for thee”. The key is to stop blaming God for not ta,ing away the consequences that we brought on ourselves, to stop blaming him for not thinking you are special enough that he is compelled to remove the thorn in the side, and to accept responsibility for rwhat we brought on ourselves, and to WILL ourselves to NOT keep immersing ourselves in situations, movies, books etc, that will cause us to keep on falling. To WILL ourselves to instead turn to him
It ain’t easy. The will wants what it wills. We have to train it to NOT want the former things anymore
Somewhere along the way, a lot of people have lost consciousness of this connection. Some, however, have not. It is mentioned specifically in the Evening Prayers of the Orthodox Church.
One of the insights of Vipassana meditation is that all our behavior is conditioned by the sensations that we are constantly experiencing in the body in response to outside sensory input.
Passion or lust is just the sensation that we experience in response to sexual sights or thoughts. Drug addiction is the result of remembering the pleasurable sensations produced by chemicals that stimulate the dopamine centers in our brain and reinforcing these sensations with more drugs.
The pursuit of sexual pleasure and drugs is driven by the sensations that get reinforced in our minds and make us behave in ways that lead to suffering. Meditation observes these sensations objectively without reacting to their pleasure until they diminish and can no longer drive our behavior. This allows us to live our lives without being slaves to our drives so we can be in control of our happiness.
Interesting read. I believe lots of problems stem from a spiritual nature and cause isolation.
Baptism and Confirmation in the One True Faith is a must
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Was the thief on the cross next to Jesus baptized or confirmed?
Best to go with an Indica strain later in the day to help turn your brain down for sleeping. 🙂
The only real sin is lack of love. (Love not sex) It's the exact opposite of what Jesus said was the ultimate commandment to love the Lord God and to love your neighbor.
Scripture actually says "Be angry and do not sin". There is a righteous anger that is not sinful. Jesus demonstrated it when he saw that merchants were impeding the purpose of the temple which was to be a place of prayer. But getting anger right is difficult for man. So probably best not to practice it.
Dr. Phil says that Anger reflects either frustration or fear. And astute observation.
I can see where anger might be tied to rape or revenge sex. But I don't see it as the motivation for most sexual sins.
Fear of missing out, fear of loneliness plays a part in some. But loneliness is a thing in and of itself. And God said it's not good for a man to be alone.
Sexual desire is an innate desire given by God. Sex itself was invented by God and is beautiful wonderful thing. I believe it was designed to be used within marriage to reinforce marriage as well for procreation.
That we abuse sex and use it in ways never intended is a problem. I don't know that I have a lot of answers except to say that I need a Savior and thank God for Jesus.
But I got to say. It's very difficult in this day and age for many reasons.
"Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
If one struggles with sexual immorality, that struggle indicates an acceptance of God's command. If one rejects the command, then they have rejected God.
Yes.
I thought pot smokers don’t have dreams.
“Scripture has drawn a line in regards to sexual sins. 1 Thess 4:1-8 gives us a command against sexual immorality.
“Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.”
If one struggles with sexual immorality, that struggle indicates an acceptance of God’s command. If one rejects the command, then they have rejected God.
Thank you, aimhigh!
Thanks, DannyTN for your thoughts about this matter. It’s surely an important one.
“Interesting read. I believe lots of problems stem from a spiritual nature and cause isolation.”
Thank you, gattaca!
Very interesting, Dave Wright. I’ve never heard of Vipassana meditation, BTW.
“Somewhere along the way, a lot of people have lost consciousness of this connection. Some, however, have not. It is mentioned specifically in the Evening Prayers of the Orthodox Church.”
Didn’t know that. Thanks
Interesting points, Bob434. I have found that prayer and meditation are very useful tools in this regard.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.