Justifying Sin

Harry Schaumburg has been counseling people for over thirty years and has spent the last eighteen years focusing on counseling those who struggle with sexual sin, such as adultery, pornography, prostitution, etc. His book Undefiled  is his attempt to put into writing his Biblical Intensive Counseling workshop, which is five straight days of intense counseling.

I struggled with pornography from the age of eleven into my twenties. During this time I went to church, was active with my youth group, eventually attended Bible school, and got married. It took a long time for me to beat the pornography addiction that I had. This book has been a wonderful help for me in working through some of those hidden issues that still hang over from my pornography addiction.

I will be putting more from this book on my blog later, but for now I wanted to post this list of how the heart deceives us when it comes to sin.  How is it that so many Christians know porn is bad, but still do it? The answer is not complicated. We justify it. Schaumberg focuses on sexual sin, but insert your own sin where he puts sexual sin.

• The sexual sinner always acts like he or she is sexually pure.
• The sexual sinner always justifies the sexual sin. 
• The sexual sinner always  declares the sexual sin a need. 
• The sexual sinner always deceives himself or herself into believing that sinning sexually will be a positive benefit. 
• The sexual sinner always makes excuses for his or her sexual sin.
• The sinner who does not sexually sin tells himself or herself that his or her heart is good. 

When we read this our initial reaction is, "No way." But the further you dig the more realize that is exactly what we do with our sin. When we sin we do not see ourselves as filthy, dirty people. We might feel that way momentarily after our sin, but it does not stick and we go back to believing ourselves to be pretty good people. We always justify our sin. I had to do it. There was no way out. What could I do? I needed it. They deserved it. And we do this not just with sexual sin. We do this with gossip, anger, pride, bitterness, laziness, etc. 

The beginning of our fight against sin is realizing that we are not very good people. We sin and make excuses for our sins. We pretend we are holy when we are not. We think because we don't commit the same sins as others we are good. But the truth is we are unclean and defiled without Christ. Once we understand that we can flee to Christ for forgiveness and for the means to fight against our sin. But if we assume that whatever we do is justified and that our sin is not that much of a problem we will never win the battle. 

Porn is Barren

One of the things that should be most obvious to a man about the women involved in pornography is that such images, however appealing a man may find them, are images that can present him with no children. They are barren. They flaunt their breasts, but they will never nurse the children of those who gawk with them. The men who pursue such women are men who want such barrenness; they find it a selling point. Another way of saying this is that they don't want to be fathers. They want the privileges of sexual release (after a fashion) but without the responsibilities that God's wisdom necessarily attached to these pleasures.  Douglas Wilson in Father Hunger.  

Battle Plan for Lust and Pornography

There are no easy answers in the battle with pornography. There is hardly a man around who is not been exposed to it. Many men have been addicted to it for extended periods of time. It has also become a much bigger problem among females over the last decade. The marriage bed is often compromised because of it. For pastors, it is one of the dominant themes of our ministries. It does not go away.  If it is not being addressed regularly that is not because it is not there, but rather because it is being ignored. 


As a pastor, one the questions I ask the men in my church is, "Are you looking at pornography/sexually provocative materially?"  If they say, "Yes." I pester them until I get a good idea of how much and how often they look at it.  Then I develop with them a plan to fight against it. Pornography and lust die hard deaths, but by the Spirit and the Word, they can die. Here are some of the things I tell the men at my church to do to battle lust and pornography.  There are other things I say and not all of these points are equally effective for all  men. But they do get them going down the right road. They are not in any particular order. 

a.   Memorize verses to renew your mind.  I encourage memorizing two types of verses. First, memorize what I call practical verses, such as II Timothy 2:22, "Flee youthful lusts, etc." Second memorize verses that call to mind the glory of Christ and his work. I call these doctrinal verses.  Anything from Ephesians 1 or 2 would do. These two types of verses remind you of what you are to do and who you serve and have been saved by. 

b.   Pray frequently, especially before entering tempting situations. Prayer reminds you that God exists and will help you and it fixes your mind on the battle ahead. I know for many men the work environment is one of the worst situations, as women often dress immodestly. I would encourage regular prayer before and during the work day. 

c.   Remember that your sins are truly forgiven in Christ. He does not forgive partially. He does not forgive based on you overcoming your sin. He forgives abundantly and completely and frequently. This great truth will keep you from despair as you fight. 

d.   Pornography is about worship. Learning to worship God is a key to overcoming pornography. Worship drives who we are. Sunday worship is one of the greatest tools God uses to drive out our idols. Let the songs, prayers, preaching, and fellowship all reshape you. It is a mystery how all this happens, but if you throw yourself into the Lord’s day and expect him to meet you there, you will be changed.

e.    Pornography is about desire. We must not just fight porn, but we must replace our desires for what is evil with our desires for what is good. We must learn to want what is righteous. This is probably the most difficult of all tasks. We look at porn or lust after women because we want to. We must learn to not want it.