THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNION
"Man is a relational being. And if his first, fundamental relationship is disturbed - his relationship with God - then nothing else can be truly in order." -Pope Benedict XVI [1]
Before joining a street gang, prospective members must undergo an extreme initiation ritual. Some rituals include being dowsed in urine and feces, being savagely beaten by fellow gang members, or even being forced to drink human blood.
Why would someone put themselves through such a dangerous and humiliating ordeal? Because human beings are hard-wired for intimacy, and when the relational requirement isn’t met, a suffering person will go to extremes to get it. Some people join gangs, some people visit prostitutes, and some view pornography.
Pornography offers intensity, not intimacy. To get real intimacy you have to flip yourself inside out and share your feelings with someone. How many times have you hidden your feelings from a loved one? Interestingly enough, some of the most intimate moments in my life involved conversations with friends and family. Satisfying intimacy doesn't require sexual intercourse.
Intimacy is about sharing the most vulnerable areas of your heart. Pornography only touches the shallowest part of the person…the flesh. It offers an illusion of intimacy because the naked participants appear vulnerable, but in reality, their ability to be vulnerable has retreated into their vaulted hearts.
Porn, coupled with masturbation, doesn't satisfy the need for intimacy any more than chewing plastic while watching the cooking channel satisfies hunger. Porn points to our loneliness and intensifies the desire for intimacy.
If you are really looking for satisfaction, you should pursue a loving relationship with Jesus. He is the one who truly satisfies our longing. He was pretty clear when He said:
“Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
After someone falls to the sin of pornography the curtain is lifted, and they realize they have been duped and their search for intimacy was in vain. So stop searching for the infinite love of God in the temporary pleasure of pornography.
[1] Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, trans. Philip J. Whitmore 44
"Man is a relational being. And if his first, fundamental relationship is disturbed - his relationship with God - then nothing else can be truly in order." -Pope Benedict XVI [1]
Before joining a street gang, prospective members must undergo an extreme initiation ritual. Some rituals include being dowsed in urine and feces, being savagely beaten by fellow gang members, or even being forced to drink human blood.
Why would someone put themselves through such a dangerous and humiliating ordeal? Because human beings are hard-wired for intimacy, and when the relational requirement isn’t met, a suffering person will go to extremes to get it. Some people join gangs, some people visit prostitutes, and some view pornography.
Pornography offers intensity, not intimacy. To get real intimacy you have to flip yourself inside out and share your feelings with someone. How many times have you hidden your feelings from a loved one? Interestingly enough, some of the most intimate moments in my life involved conversations with friends and family. Satisfying intimacy doesn't require sexual intercourse.
Intimacy is about sharing the most vulnerable areas of your heart. Pornography only touches the shallowest part of the person…the flesh. It offers an illusion of intimacy because the naked participants appear vulnerable, but in reality, their ability to be vulnerable has retreated into their vaulted hearts.
Porn, coupled with masturbation, doesn't satisfy the need for intimacy any more than chewing plastic while watching the cooking channel satisfies hunger. Porn points to our loneliness and intensifies the desire for intimacy.
If you are really looking for satisfaction, you should pursue a loving relationship with Jesus. He is the one who truly satisfies our longing. He was pretty clear when He said:
“Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
After someone falls to the sin of pornography the curtain is lifted, and they realize they have been duped and their search for intimacy was in vain. So stop searching for the infinite love of God in the temporary pleasure of pornography.
[1] Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, trans. Philip J. Whitmore 44