Don't Call Your Willful Sexual Sin a Relapse | 2 Peter

When is the last time you had a conversation with a false teacher about porn and masturbation? More recently than you might think, most likely. If you are one of those Christian men who turns to Quora, Reddit and other online communities for support for your habitual sexual sin, you have likely run into a false teacher or two, and likely without even knowing it.
Peter, in his second letter, says false teachers "are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children."
Notice that false teachers have eyes full of adultery, and they entice unstable souls by downplaying the gravity of sexual sin. They never call pornography and masturbation sexual immorality, or wicked, or sinful. They call them compulsive behaviors. They call sexual sin acting out. They call it a struggle. When you have a protracted period of success free of porn and pleasuring yourself, but then sin, false teachers don't call you out for your corrupt behavior. They don't tell you that you have transgressed God's moral law by sinning sexually. No, they say you have relapsed.
And then, to compound their false doctrine, they tell you not to worry about your reprobate behavior. "Relapsing is normal and all part of the PMO journey," they say, "so don't feel bad, don't blame yourself when you relapse. All you've had is a setback. Just get back up again and start over." False teachers sound positive but actually teach a message that's contrary to the Bible from cover to cover, including the cover.
The Bible says sexual sin is evil. When you watch porn or masturbate, you voluntarily sin against God. You choose sin over sanctification. You don't relapse-you willfully offend a holy God, again. You perform a wicked act. You trample the blood of Christ underfoot. And that's not something you are to get used to and shrug off. Sexual sin is something you are to mourn over, repent of, seek forgiveness for, and forsake. Yes, gaining victory over habitual sexual sin may take you some time, and a life of sexual purity may not come easily, but never think that sinning sexually even once is OK and nothing to worry about. Block the online false teachers who tell you otherwise. No sexually immoral person is going to inherit the kingdom of God.

[@AgentThursday]

Amen. Perpetuating the language of addiction only perpetuates the thinking of addiction.

[@MakeNoProvision]

Thanks, @AgentThursday