Crawling Out of the Muck
(by Steve & Michelle Thrash)

"Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace,
with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." (2 Timothy 2:22)

In the Fall of 2000, the Holy Spirit convicted us about lust.

Jesus said that "everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28)

After I (Steve) was saved, this verse began gnawing at me. As time went on, I became more convicted about my lusts and realized how helpless I was to overcome them. This same verse convicted me (Michelle) to not ignore the problem, but to help my husband in his battle for purity. Looking back, it is scary to think how far our marriage had degenerated, and how lonely we had both become within our marriage.

"Marriage is to be held in honor among all,
and the marriage bed is to be undefiled;
for fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (Hebrews 13:4)

We had been desensitized by a world that accepts lust (physical desire for the opposite sex outside of marriage) and fornication (sexual relationships outside of marriage) as normal.

Sexual content in TV shows and movies has been steadily increasing over the past decades. The result is that people's attitudes have deviated farther and farther from God's ordained model: "One man plus one woman in marriage for one lifetime".

Film makers make movies that cater to people who can't control their bodily urges and then call them a "mature audience".

Advertisers flaunt their opposition to Christ's teaching with their "sex sells" attitude.

Currently, the internet provides ready access to pornographic pictures that would only have been available from back alley "adult" stores several years ago. The result is a degradation of society and attitudes which is difficult to even measure. People spend more and more time living in sinful fantasy worlds and less and less time spending time with God, family, and friends.

Internet pornography, seductive videos, "mature theme" movies, and TV shows affect the minds of both men and women. Such filth corrupts God's design for sex. Viewing such images devastates the sanctity of marriage.

We know, because we have been there! And we can tell you that without Jesus, we would still be there today!
(Please see The Simple Truth, A Message For You?, Steve's Testimony, and Michelle's Testimony to understand better.)

I (Steve) highly recommend the book: "Every Man's Battle" by Fred Stoeker and Stephen Arterburn. It has a very practical, and no-nonsense approach to overcoming sexual temptation and turning your attention where it should be - towards your wife. Their main point is that in order to keep your thoughts pure you need to eliminate the "visual input" which feeds lustful thoughts. It it certainly the approach that worked for Joseph (Genesis 39-41). Temptations can include:

On a side note, it is really sad that someone can not even buy a loaf of bread without being subjected to a barrage of soft-porn "eye candy" at the checkout line. Does anybody even buy those or are they just there to rot our brains?!?

The following are some excellent articles which have helped us understand the detrimental effects of lust:

I would also say that surfing the internet alone or without a filter is just asking for trouble. There are many good filter products out there which are reasonably priced. We have even found a few good ones that are free:

 

Page created 2/18/03 by Steve & Michelle Thrash