What is Sex Addiction

by Mike Genung

1. Sex addiction is freely chosen sin. The person who gets caught in the snare of sex addiction has intentionally chosen to indulge in lust or sexual immorality. No one forces the struggler with sex addiction to repeatedly drink from the the well of lust. Any sex outside of a marriage with one man and one woman is sin, as is lust in the heart. 

2. Sex addiction is slavery to the obsessions and compulsions of lust. Porn and sexual immorality hollow out the soul; the more one engages with porn and self sex the emptier they become. In time Lust becomes an obsession that turns the struggler with sex addiction into a desperate fool for the ultimate fantasy or sexual experience. While it promises life, Lust always leaves its victim empty, miserable and full of shame.

3. Sex addiction is a false coping mechanism. The struggler with lust uses sexual fantasy to cope with the demands of real life; when situations don't go his way he turns to sex for comfort and escape. Lust provides neither comfort or escape, and it makes life worse by piling on more shame, misery and emptiness.

4. Sex addiction is false love. Deep in his heart the struggler with sex addiction believes he can't be loved as he is, so he turns to lust for love, comfort and approval.

5. Sex addiction is a sick substitute for God's love. From birth we are all born with the hunger for God; we crave His love, grace, acceptance, joy and peace. The struggler with sex addiction doesn't believe the Living God accepts him so he wears a mask to hide who he is. He may know the theology of grace, but the struggler with sex addiction has never accepted the gift of God's grace in his heart. His actions are proof of this, for what we do reveals what we believe.

6. Sex addiction is spiritual, emotional and psychological poison. It hollows out a man's soul and turns him into a ragged, desperate fool. It destroys men, women and children; marriages and families. Lust rots churches from the inside out, and as we know from history it can destroy a nation.

7. Sex addiction is idol worship. The man or woman who bows to the false god of lust is making it their object of worship, their source of life. That which we worship becomes our master.

A Christian sex addict is someone who tries to have the false comfort of lust and God's love. Their relationship with the Lord is lukewarm at best.

© Copyright 2004-2013 - Mike Genung
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