Umm, lets see, oh yeah, what is it they all have in common? Oh, they are Protestant...usually evangelical. Geee, what could possibly be the connection?
Posted on 01/27/2012 7:00:33 AM PST by marshmallow
Although no one is immune to sexual temptation, a pastor leading an online pornography addiction recovery ministry says that church leaders may be especially vulnerable to sexually moral failure.
Pastor Jeff Fisher, whose past secret addiction to pornography was discovered while pastoring a church in the Northeast several years ago, recently had his thoughts on the struggles church leadership might face in this area published on Pastors.com.
Fisher and his wife, Marsha, have shared their road to recovery individually and in their marriage along with resources for others struggling with pornography addiction on their Website, PorntoPurity.com.
In his post, "5 Reasons Ministers are (More) Vulnerable to Sexual Temptation," he writes: "Let me start off by saying, no one is immune to sexual temptation. It doesn't matter what your job is, how old you are, or how much time you spend with Jesus each day."
"We all have the potential to fall sexually," he continues. "Even ministers… and maybe, especially ministers. Ministers have jobs that automatically put them in a pressure cooker."
Of the five reasons Fisher writes about, he told The Christian Post that the most likely cause for falling for sexual temptation is that "ministers are often isolated and unaccountable for their actions."
"Isolation with no accountability is a prelude to disaster," he explained. "When we cut ourselves off from others we're shutting off sources of truth and objectivity. We lose the opportunity for fellowship and confession."
Fisher said there are plenty of examples in the Bible about "one anothers," Christians working together to support and hold each other accountable for their potential and occurring sins.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianpost.com ...
“Fisher writes that the other unique aspects for those being in ministry that make them more vulnerable to opening the door to sexual temptation are the position of power”
This is precisely the point of Mennonites and Amish who do not elevate the preacher in this way. In their churches, the preacher is one of at least three men who expound upon scripture during the sermon, and he is not a full time minister. Rather the Amish or Old Order Mennonite preacher remains on the same level, literally, as the congregation and works at his regular employment during the week. There is no pay for the minsterial role as it is perceived as a calling, having been chosen by lot from among select men. The fact that in many American churches, particularly in mega churches, the minister is equated with celebrity is a real problem, not in the least of which is a bulging ego open to many temptations.
I doubt that they’re MORE susceptible. They’re just regular guys.
Because their work week has moments of great visibility followed by days of total aloneness, they can get themselves into trouble if they’re not accountable to someone to be sure they’re walking the walk.
What you say is true. But remember also that pastors are often beset by manipulative women who come in for counseling and then direct their attention to the pastor.
Billy Graham always had a personal policy of not being alone with any woman other than his wife, avoiding even the appearance of evil.
I participated in a Christian “recovery group” for sex addiction.
Every weeks we’d get together, and one guy might say: “I’ve failed. I tred to be good, but then I looked at pornography and masterbated.”
The leader would say, “Well, you’re forgiven. Next time you have the urge to do that read your Bible.”
The guy came back the next week and said: “I felt so good when I left the meeting last week. Then, when an urge came on me I read the Bible. Then I looked at porn and masterbated.”
The leader said: “You’re forgiven. Next time the urge comes on, immerse yourself in the word of God.”
The next time, the guy came back with the same story.
Then after a few weeks he’d leave. Another new guy would come into the group and go through the same routine.
I have a lot of recovery experience, and 12 step experince. This programs was based on the 12 steps so one day I took the leader aside.
“Have you worked the Steps?” I asked?
“I will, soon,” he said. “I’ll sign up for one of the 12 step groups.”
“Do you have a sponsor or accountability partner?” I asked.
“I’ve been meaning to get one.”
Anyway I got out of there and I found a psychiatrist, and he prescribed medication for OCD, and that worked great.
Of course they are. Satan attacks those whose thoughts and actions would most likely serve to thwart the message of Christ. (Satan doesn’t need to bother with people who are already in his camp.) Whin a minister’s morals fail, his testimony is compromised, and it’s a huge hit for the Gospel.
Priests say His name daily, but there’s lots of them it doesn’t help. I think it’s more the person.
That old heretic H.L. Mencken wrote of the real case of a preacher who held his congregants to high standards, but himself to an impossibly high standard. His worldview was of a clear division in the world between good and evil, with only a very thin line between them. And himself deciding what was on which side. A nit-picking, moral absolutist.
But once, he and his married female choir leader could not resist temptation and had sex in adultery.
From the preacher’s point of view, that was it. They had fallen from grace and were thus irrevocably condemned to Hell for all eternity. So, as his logic continued, they were no longer constrained by righteousness at all.
So the two of them hopped in a car, and went on a multi-state robbery and murder sex adventure. For which they were promptly arrested, convicted and executed.
Mencken then compared this to the more flexible morality of a Shriner, who when he attended a convention would drink too much, and maybe briefly embrace a local prostitute. Yet on his return home, would once again become a good family man, treating his family with kindness and charity, and feel no terribly shame going to church the following Sunday, to seek forgiveness for his sins.
I mention this because both these patterns are far too easy to fall into. Much more recently, Jimmy Swaggart fell into the former trap, setting standards for himself as a moral paragon, which obviously he was far from being.
But on the plus side are the vast majority of clergy who know they sin, but also know both that the greatest number of their sins are venial, minor, and even if they commit some great or mortal sin, if they can repair, replace, and most of all seek forgiveness, that heaven is not blind nor uncharitable to the truly repentant.*
However, there are many who are not repentant, seeing the potential for forgiveness and charity as being a guarantee that they can achieve death bed salvation despite a life of wickedness and vice, even if the greatest part of it is venial.
* An asterisk is always important at this point.
Maybe, but consider how particular avocations attract persons with certain personality traits. Football coach comes to mind. As far as the preisthood, it seems to me that one who seeks mastery over certain impulses, or one who even loathes their sexuality, would be attracted to the promise of a life where all of that falls away.
The writer makes a great point that once convention attributes an individual with a state of diminished sexual impulse from devotion, there is isolation and diminished accountability - a formula for disaster.
I very much doubt that. It is much more likely that church leaders actually view it as a moral failure.
Church members not in leadership may not view it in terms of "moral failure". Even if they do, they would likely tend to keep quiet about it while those in leadership would be more open. (Better to admit a weakness than to try to hide it and have others find out later.)
The unchurched (naturally) would generally not view it as a moral failure, nor would those with which they typically fellowship.
I’ve heard that. My own former pastor had the same policy for the same reasons. He did not want to be accused of anything and he knew enough psychology to be aware that some women are attracted to pastors. The devil will use other people to assault especially effective and God-loving pastors and priests.
A wife who regularly and enthusiastically participates in private physical therapy sessions can work wonders in such situations - or so I’ve been told. Celibacy is not a natural or normal condition for a man, whether self imposed or otherwise.
Temptations come to every man.
We hold pastors in higher regard.
If your pastor will not let you see his browsing history in his pc there may be a problem.
but then again with inprivate browsing in IE now I guess you can hide anything you want to hide.
Regards
RB<><
Another problem is there is not help in thier churches for those laymen or pastors that are addicted to porn.
Just judgement.
If I was to go into my bible study group and say I was a shoplifter or any other non sexual sin many would rally around me and do all they could to help me with my problem
If I was to go into my bible study group and say I was addicted to porn I might as well as thrown a dead cat in middle of the floor.
Why do we belittle those trapped in that sin? why are they shunned?
Sexual sin is real and not just pastors are affected by it. but the church is really non responsive to it.
As usuall we are just now catching up and speaking frankly about these issues.
why are we always so far behind?
Umm, lets see, oh yeah, what is it they all have in common? Oh, they are Protestant...usually evangelical. Geee, what could possibly be the connection?
Thank you for that post.
You really don't want to start down that road.
To answer the question, I would say all Christians are under terrific pressure and temptation from Satan.
However, to say that sexual temptation is the strongest would be wrong. All of Christs followers are tempted by that which we already show a proclivity to fall prey to.
That which was the strongest worldly possession that kept a person from giving their whole to Christ, will forever be the thing that tempts that person the most.
Before one accepts Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are already worshiping something else as their Lord. So before a person comes to Christ, the thing they made their god will be the thing that tempts them the greatest.
It could be the god of entertainment, like sports, video games, and television, the god of money and wealth, or even the god of ambition that one worships trying to attain fame and fortune, or yes even the or the god of sexual pleasure.
The point is, wherever or whatever you direct your strongest energy towards, that will become the place of greatest temptation in this regard. It would be wise to remember, that the beast you feed will be the one that grows the strongest in your life.
So once a person gives their life to Christ,. Satan will use the thing they fed the most as a lost soul to win them back. After all, you would have rejected him for the true God, and he will never stop trying to win you back.
This is not to say that sexual pleasure will not tempt you, it is just easier to withstand sexual pleasure if you withstood it before you came to Christ. Many atheists, agnostics, and those caught up in cults or false religions live a monogamous So when they give their life to Christ, deviant, i.e. adultery, pornography, and the like will not be a way Satan tempts them as he does with those who already had a proclivity to fall prey for it.
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