My Chains Are Gone

real hope for lasting freedom

The Right Battle

Lies Defeated

In summary, do you see the common thread with these lies? Each one gives the power of impurity to something outside ourselves. The supposed danger is exposure to the nude form.

Remember Adam’s defense when God confronted him with his sin? Adam replied, “It’s not my fault… it’s the woman YOU gave me…” (Gen. 3:12 – paraphrased) On the surface, he blamed the woman… but in reality, he was blaming the God who gave him the woman.

Gentlemen, we do the same thing when God confronts us with our lust… we look God in the face and say, “It’s not my fault, it’s the women YOU made…” We are blaming God… It’s God’s fault because He made the women too attractive, and he made me visually aroused.

The Right Battle

Gentlemen, stop fighting the beauty of women. Ladies, stop fighting the attractiveness of men.  Start fighting your lustful responses.

Let me leave you with one final thought from the Words of Jesus, Himself. Pastor Bill dealt with this passage before, but it’s worth reading again. Mark 7:15,17-22 (NIV emphasis mine):

“Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.”

He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”

Of course, on the surface, Jesus was speaking about food, but His list of sins that originate in the heart shows that He had much more in mind than just food. And He included the very sins we’ve been talking about.

He clearly said that “nothing” can defile a man by entering him from the outside.

Nothing can cause us to have sinful responses simply because we are exposed to it.

This is true! And “nothing” means nothing! This includes visual images or anything that we might see. There is no visual stimulus which will cause you to lust against your will to do so. And until you recognize that, you will continue to fight… and lose… the wrong battle.

Living the Truth

So, how do you apply this?

Well, truth sets free, as we talked about before (article: Battling Pornography—What Does Work), we must put truth into practice if its power is to be released in us. We mentioned three steps to being set free by truth. In review, they are:

1. Look for and uncover the lie or lies that keep you bound to your sin.
2. Learn the truth of God that had formerly been supplanted by the lies.
3. Begin to live as if the truth is true instead of living as if the lie were true.

Hopefully, this article and the others you’ve read on this site have helped you discern #1 and #2.

But that third step is really up to you and the Lord.

Ask yourself these questions (They are really two sides of the same coin):

• How am I living/what am I doing that reflects a belief in the lies?
• How can I live/what can I do that would reflect the truth instead.

As food for thought, I would suggest that you no longer need to beat yourself up for enjoying the sight of a beautiful woman… be it her face or her body. But do not let your heart lust or let your mind go down those wrong paths. That might be hard at first, but it gets easier very quickly. As you admire her beauty, do so as if you were standing next to an artist admiring his artwork… because you are. Tell Him that you appreciate His handiwork. Ask Him to help you see it as He does.

I would also suggest that you will need to retrain your mind about nudity. Culturally, we have defined it as a sexual condition. You may need to find ways to experience it outside of a sexual context, even if only with your spouse or alone. The lies are really a house of cards. You’ll be amazed how quickly they fall.

Ultimately, it boils down to living by what is true. Know the truth and live it. The freedom you seek will overwhelm you.

This is our prayer for you.

— Pastor David Martin and the MCAG team

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Bonus Article: The Renewed View of the Body

14 COMMENTS

comments user
Jonto

I’m wondering.. If my arousal, lust, etc.. is not (primarily) visual but relational, than was does it change if I look at the body of women in a different way? It does take away the moments I otherwise would sin because I see nakedness. Now I now my pavlov-reaction is nonsense and I look at her body like: wow, I see God in her! But when I lust, because she communicates “I want you” than ‘seeing different’ is not all I need. Right?

I would propose I need to be able to be free from my need to be ‘wanted’ by a woman, and rest in the fact that I am wanted by God. If my lust is actually ‘relational’, and not visual, than the solution for my lust can’t be visual, i.e., ‘seeing different’.

Furthermore, thanks a lot for this website filled with truths. I just doubt wether it is really all the truth we need to be free.

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comments user
David Martin

Thanks for writing, Jonto. I apologize for the delayed reply.

I’m not sure that the need to be “wanted” is what you need to lose. That’s a significant part of being human and being in a healthy relationship. Of course, I’m talking about more than just being “wanted” sexually. But even if we look only at that aspect of being wanted, I think that’s precisely how God intends you to be… it’s how a man and wife find such a pull to join sexually in their marriage relationship.

On the other hand, we DO need to get past accepting just ANYone’s wanting us sexually and allowing that to drive us to lust or immoral conduct. Contentment with the richness of that one-woman/one-man relationship is key, plus knowing–as you suggested–that God’s acceptance and approval of us is more real than anything we might find in an illicit relationship (or looking at sexually enticing imagery).

As to whether this site has “all” the truths you need be free, the answer is that of course it does not. Truth is not a master key that opens every lock, but a key-ring that holds the truth specific to any particular area of bondage (and even to specific elements of a person’s bondage). You will need to seek the Lord to determine what other false beliefs are keeping you bound.

That said, I believe that there at MCAG, we have identified and called out the most significant lies that keep a lot of people bound to porn and lust. The centrality of the need for a renewed understanding of the Imago Dei as it relates to our bodies is hard to overemphasize.

Pastor David Martin

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comments user
M B

I wish I had found this site 10 years ago, but better late than never. It makes so much sense now. I already feel like I’m thinking in a different way, or more accurately in a way that I used to think in before my conditioning as a young teen. It will take time to fully take the collar off, but I see how to do it now. Thank you.

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    comments user
    David Martin

    MB,

    Thanks for your encouraging report! And may God continue to guide you into His truth so that you will be made free AND point others to the same freedom!

    Spread the word… this is a message that our brothers and sisters in Christ need to hear.

    David Martin

    Reply
comments user
Kai

“Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”

How can you explain Luke 11:33-36 in light of the above verse?
“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Does porn make your eyes full of darkness even if you don’t have any evil, lustful thoughts in your heart? Because if it is just the inside that makes a man clean, and nothing outside a man can make him unclean, then looking at porn would not defile him if he doesn’t harbor any lustful impure thoughts in his heart. But at the same time, the Luke verses indicate that what you see is important to the determining whether your body is full of light or darkness…

Therefore, my conclusion is that it DOES matter what you look at, even if you don’t let your heart become affected because of it. If you look at porn, wouldn’t it make your body full of darkness? Or is Luke talking about the way in which we look, such as looking with lust, that determines this darkness?

Furthermore, you suggested that in order to condition yourself to not respond to nudity with a sexual response, we should train ourselves by finding opportunities to look at nudity in a nonsexual context. Is that a good idea though? Is it okay for me to look at porn or naked women in revealing positions because I am trying to train myself to not respond in a sexual manner?

I don’t think intentionally testing yourself with looking at porn is a good idea in light of Proverbs 6:27-28
“Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?”

I really would like to hear your responses to the questions above, because I am still confused as to how the knowledge of MCAG would really set us free. Furthermore, I am sure many other people have similar questions and wonderings.

Thank you very much. Note that I am not trying to argue, I am simply earnestly seeking answers

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    comments user
    Jenifer Haley

    I have not seen any place here where the author has suggested looking at porn. Rather, one of the keys to freedom from that addiction is changing my heart so I see people as image bearers of God. If I see them this way, then I won’t seek out porn. His understanding is that a normal appreciation of nakedness in art (like Michelangelo’s David) or in a family (husband, wife) is healthy and normal. I hope he responds to your questions – a lot here to look over! Did you start with the first article and work your way through? That may answer several questions.

    Reply
    comments user
    Bob Wilson

    Kai, depending on how comfortable you are with your own nudity, you might consider social nudity as an acceptable way of seeing nude people as God’s image. People who are trying it for the first time quickly adjust to not focusing on the nudity. It is very non-sexual, as opposed to the common cultural view of it.

    Reply
comments user
Kai

I just read this from John Piper’s commentary: A “”good eye” is a valuing eye, a discerning eye, a treasuring eye. It doesn’t just see facts about money and God. It doesn’t just perceive what is true and false. It sees beauty and ugliness, it senses value and worthlessness, it discerns what is really desirable and what is undesirable. The seeing of the good eye is not neutral.”

So, your eye isn’t good or bad depending on whether or not you merely look at porn. It is how you view what you see that determines whether you have a good eye, and thus, whether or not your body is full of light or darkness. How can this relate to MCAG? If you see that what is presented in porn is really a counterfeit, that is, if you see porn as undesirable and can see the beauty of the body as good but how it is wrongly portrayed as sexual, then you have a good eye. Your eye is able to see past the distorted lens that gave porn allure.

I see now my error and misunderstanding of the eye as the lamp of the body, after reading more commentaries. The meaning of the Luke verses is rather simple and confirms what MCAG has been saying all along: what you see when you look at others determines whether what is inside of you is “light” or “dark.” Two people can look at the same person and see very different things, based on what their eyes are trained to see.”

https://renewedheartministries.com/2016

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comments user
Michael

Hi! Thank you very much for sharing with us the truth, I would like to ask though, Is it alright to view internet nude pictures to train myself to fight my sexual responses? or is it not? Please reply, thank you!

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comments user
Michael

Also, when you get turned on after a nude photo, is it normal or is it because of your sexual response? I’m really sorry for such stupid questions but please answer it for me, I await your answer, Thank you very much!

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    comments user
    Michael

    Also my case is not about real people, because I don’t really watch that much about real people, my problem is that my lust for anime (japanese cartoon) porn, it is more addicting than real people porn because the animators can draw basically anything they want to draw. So in my case,
    can I download nude photos of anime girls online and train or practice seeing it without any sexual response? by this does it mean it is alright if I get attracted to it or get turned on by it? and is it even alright to look at it and get attracted to it? I hope you reply to my comment, I’ll be waiting, thank you very much!

    Reply
comments user
EF Hutton

You mentioned to find ways to experience trying to reframe your mind outside of thinking that nudity itself is a sin. I was on a website that is trying to put the human figure on a pedestal in opposition to how porn is demeaning and objectifying. I will say, that with the perspective you’ve outlined I feel a renewed appreciation for God. I used to react to a woman out in public with really short shorts and feel bad that I wanted to look. Because I was addicted to porn, I would want to go home and look up women with short shorts. It would many times lead to going to porn sites.
Overtime I decided to go to the site, Modelsociety.org, and try to see the artistically photographed nude women in a non sexual way as the sites creator’s intended. It’s taken time to not immediately react and think sexually about them or feel ashamed by seeing them. But now when I see them, I think about how God has created them to be seen. I feel inspired by their beauty rather than desirous to sexualize and masturbate while thinking of them sexually. I feel now that God wants us to be able to recognize beauty and appreciate it. To let it inspire us and to show us the beauty of what he has created. So, now when I see a woman with short shorts, I no longer feel shame or feel like I need to think of her sexually. I simply think to myself, “That woman is so beautiful, God must be real, and He must want me to acknowledge his majesty from seeing the magnificence of His creation.” I can’t believe it, but I can now see a woman with little to no clothing, or no clothing at all and think of God and His love for us. He didn’t want us to feel shame around one of his most beautiful creations. This is in such opposition to the way society had framed the naked body. I actually feel deeper love and appreciation and connection with my wife now.

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comments user
Dillon

I am completely shocked and my eyes have opened more than they ever have been opened before! I found this site right after I sinned by looking at porn yet again, and I gotta say this was an answered prayer! Knowing now the real truth from the word of God, and the way you explained it, makes it so simple now.. my way of thinking about this issue has been wrong for more than 20 years. Thank you God for speaking through this source. I will share with others that I know are having the same bondage! Keep it up!!

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    comments user
    David Martin

    Thank you for sharing that story, Dillon!

    Please do share your testimony with others. That’s what MCAG is all about. Giving people hope for freedom that they didn’t even think was possible.

    David

    Reply

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