what sin do you struggle with the most?

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wattie

Senior Member
Feb 24, 2009
3,236
1,130
113
New Zealand
#21
Put a filter on your computer to prevent visiting those sites.
Well filters can help a little, but if I put it on I can also turn the filter off.

But it is what the pain is that I have medicated with this stuff that is the key thing.

The filters don't address the pain..but if effective prevent the wrong kind of medicine.
 

wattie

Senior Member
Feb 24, 2009
3,236
1,130
113
New Zealand
#22
it really hard habit to break, given how little effort it takes to find. You're not alone.
Yea it used to be harder to get. No devices to use before the late 90s. Now ..it's too easy. Although my cell phone has a good filter that I can't turn off.
 
Sep 23, 2023
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#23
Well filters can help a little, but if I put it on I can also turn the filter off.

But it is what the pain is that I have medicated with this stuff that is the key thing.

The filters don't address the pain..but if effective prevent the wrong kind of medicine.
There are filters where someone else keeps the password.

Psychology ("it's the pain!") isn't going to save you at Judgment. Just quit doing it! Spiritual justifications and reasonings do nothing but help you sin. You need to ask God to free you. He freed me--with my cooperation.

It needs to mean everything to you.

Yes, you are going to be damned if you don't quit. I don't care what anyone else says. "Don't you know the unrighteous will not inherit God's Kingdom?" (Para).

If your answer is not "You're right, things have to change NOW," I don't want to continue in conversation. I'm not friends with that kind of wickedness.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
19,228
6,611
113
62
#24
There are filters where someone else keeps the password.

Psychology ("it's the pain!") isn't going to save you at Judgment. Just quit doing it! Spiritual justifications and reasonings do nothing but help you sin. You need to ask God to free you. He freed me--with my cooperation.

It needs to mean everything to you.

Yes, you are going to be damned if you don't quit. I don't care what anyone else says. "Don't you know the unrighteous will not inherit God's Kingdom?" (Para).

If your answer is not "You're right, things have to change NOW," I don't want to continue in conversation. I'm not friends with that kind of wickedness.
Easy. A brother was brave enough to be vulnerable. He already feels shame over his sin. He doesn't need our condemnation. He needs our prayers and our support. None of us is without sin, and we are to gently help those struggling with sin, lest we also fall.

Wattie, Galatians 5:16 teaches that as we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Oddly enough, trying not to sin will never lead us away from sin. It only focuses us on the sin. Walking in the Spirit will have the Spirit in control of our thoughts and actions and He will never lead us into sin. It took alot of courage to share as you have. Set your heart and mind on things above, and ask God to do for you what only He can do. Praying for you.
 
Sep 23, 2023
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#25
Easy. A brother was brave enough to be vulnerable. He already feels shame over his sin. He doesn't need our condemnation. He needs our prayers and our support. None of us is without sin, and we are to gently help those struggling with sin, lest we also fall.

Wattie, Galatians 5:16 teaches that as we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Oddly enough, trying not to sin will never lead us away from sin. It only focuses us on the sin. Walking in the Spirit will have the Spirit in control of our thoughts and actions and He will never lead us into sin. It took alot of courage to share as you have. Set your heart and mind on things above, and ask God to do for you what only He can do. Praying for you.
I hear you.

The expert excuse making ("I'm medicating pain") was what got to me.

I've been to these groups that talk like that--literally one of their leaders, a woman, tried to commit fornication with me. I had to correct her.

These people who talk like that aren't serious.

I'm not defending my tone, or whatever--I know I don't love as well as I should--but I can't stand seeing someone being given these "tools" that don't actually work.
"I'm medicating my pain, that's why I'm doing it"--no, you're enslaved by dishonorable and shameful passions like all humans who came before you, quit making it sound justifiable.
 
F

FollowingtheWay

Guest
#26
Easy. A brother was brave enough to be vulnerable. He already feels shame over his sin. He doesn't need our condemnation. He needs our prayers and our support. None of us is without sin, and we are to gently help those struggling with sin, lest we also fall.

Wattie, Galatians 5:16 teaches that as we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Oddly enough, trying not to sin will never lead us away from sin. It only focuses us on the sin. Walking in the Spirit will have the Spirit in control of our thoughts and actions and He will never lead us into sin. It took alot of courage to share as you have. Set your heart and mind on things above, and ask God to do for you what only He can do. Praying for you.
I by far haven’t arrived but I’m on a journey in reguards to this .
I’d like to add to that , filters or just changing external behavior by just your internal willpower Won’t change the heart. The filter allows enough space between you and the sin to be sober long enough to see what’s going on in your heart, and your desperate need for Jesus to come in and heal you and set you free from the bondage to sin . Without Jesus we can do nothing. What changes the heart ( internal transformation which is what Jesus is after) is Holy Spirit and through Holy Spirit believing differently than we have in the past about ourselves we see a change in the heart, one on a path to holiness will at some point in the journey no longer desire to chase after anything other than Jesus. We do of course have our part -Filters are good, accountability is good , but Jesus is a lover and is after your heart and he can’t get to your heart to change you if you are chasing after less wild lovers than He. How we act reveals what we truly believe internally despite our professed beliefs . We need to change what we believe about God and about ourselves via Holy Spirit in order to see our actions change. To be clear I haven’t arrived but I’m still in process myself.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
19,228
6,611
113
62
#27
I hear you.

The expert excuse making ("I'm medicating pain") was what got to me.

I've been to these groups that talk like that--literally one of their leaders, a woman, tried to commit fornication with me. I had to correct her.

These people who talk like that aren't serious.

I'm not defending my tone, or whatever--I know I don't love as well as I should--but I can't stand seeing someone being given these "tools" that don't actually work.
"I'm medicating my pain, that's why I'm doing it"--no, you're enslaved by dishonorable and shameful passions like all humans who came before you, quit making it sound justifiable.
Well...let's see which way works...grace or law?
 
Sep 23, 2023
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#28
Well...let's see which way works...grace or law?
I could never do it without grace.

Obviously it's grace.

But grace COMMANDS the paralytic to "GET UP!"

God set me free from porn, and from evil thoughts, BY GRACE, because I looked for the help from God, and He showed it to me. But if I had described my behavior as "medicating", etc, I wouldn't have been serious, wouldn't have prayed, wouldn't have gotten the answer.

At one point, a filter played a vital role, now, I never even have the thought of porn, I just use the internet freely.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
19,228
6,611
113
62
#30
I by far haven’t arrived but I’m on a journey in reguards to this .
I’d like to add to that , filters or just changing external behavior by just your internal willpower Won’t change the heart. The filter allows enough space between you and the sin to be sober long enough to see what’s going on in your heart, and your desperate need for Jesus to come in and heal you and set you free from the bondage to sin . Without Jesus we can do nothing. What changes the heart ( internal transformation which is what Jesus is after) is Holy Spirit and through Holy Spirit believing differently than we have in the past about ourselves we see a change in the heart, one on a path to holiness will at some point in the journey no longer desire to chase after anything other than Jesus. We do of course have our part -Filters are good, accountability is good , but Jesus is a lover and is after your heart and he can’t get to your heart to change you if you are chasing after less wild lovers than He. How we act reveals what we truly believe internally despite our professed beliefs . We need to change what we believe about God and about ourselves via Holy Spirit in order to see our actions change. To be clear I haven’t arrived but I’m still in process myself.
You've hit on the key issue...the heart. This is the real problem, and it is the purview of God alone. Keeping commandments in our own strength is not righteousness. We don't even understand all that is required in the commandments. And even if we did, there is no commandment we keep either fully or continually. As the song...A Mighty Fortress is our God...suggests, our striving would be losing were not the right man on our side. We need Jesus far more than we know.
And no one has arrived. Some just think they have.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
19,228
6,611
113
62
#31
I could never do it without grace.

Obviously it's grace.

But grace COMMANDS the paralytic to "GET UP!"

God set me free from porn, and from evil thoughts, BY GRACE, because I looked for the help from God, and He showed it to me. But if I had described my behavior as "medicating", etc, I wouldn't have been serious, wouldn't have prayed, wouldn't have gotten the answer.

At one point, a filter played a vital role, now, I never even have the thought of porn, I just use the internet freely.
The paralytic only arose after Jesus healed him. Before that, no matter how much he endeavored, he wasn't getting up.
 
Sep 23, 2023
847
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#34
The paralytic only arose after Jesus healed him. Before that, no matter how much he endeavored, he wasn't getting up.
I'm not going to wrangle about the verse--you'll interpret it how you want, I'll see it the true way lol--I'm just speaking as someone who has already gone through the process and by applying the grace of God has conquered.
 

notmyown

Senior Member
May 26, 2016
4,927
1,272
113
#36
I'm not sure what you are asking.
my apologies. i attempted, poorly, to highlight we don't have any strength or power to obey God. without Him, we can do nothing.
but everything we need, He provides.
 

Mem

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
7,159
2,174
113
#37


Recently, I considered the verse that contains the wording something like, "so that you don't fall into the condemnation of the debil.'

I believe the majority consensus of the interpretation of this phrase to be counterproductive to the true meaning and, ironically, this adds to my cynicism.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
19,228
6,611
113
62
#38
my apologies. i attempted, poorly, to highlight we don't have any strength or power to obey God. without Him, we can do nothing.
but everything we need, He provides.
That's what John 15:5 says.
 

Mem

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
7,159
2,174
113
#40
Coincidentally, He provides salvation. JS! :sneaky: