Are You Addicted Sexually Part 2

From: Book Every Man's Battle

Fred's (Co-Author) Testimony: A Thunderbolt

Having "athlete's foot of the mind" was how I felt.  I vividly remember my internal struggles between the consequences of the my sin and the pleasure of my sin.  I remember when those consequences finally got to the point where they weren't worth the pleasure of the sin.  But did I qualify as an "addict"?  When I read one author's description of a four-step addiction cycle-preoccupation, ritualization, compulsive sexual behavior, then despair I knew I'd lived that pattern.  I was certain that what I'd experienced, and what these other men had experienced, was addiction.  But a thunderbolt hit me when the author outlined the three levels of addiction (keep in mind this wasn't a Christian book):
Level 1: Contains behavior that are regarded as normal, acceptable, or tolerable.  Examples include masturbation, homosexuality, and prostitution.
Level 2: Behaviors that are clearly victimizing and for which legal sanctions are enforced.  These are generally seen as nuisance offenses, such as exhibititionism or voyeurism.
Level 3: Behaviors that have grave consequences for the victims and legal consequences for the addicts, such as incest, child molestation or rape
Did you read that list closely?  Did you notice that the examples of Level 1 include not just masturbation, which most men practice at times but also homosexuality and prostitution? By definition above, maybe we aren't addicts after all.  But if we aren't addicts, what are we?

From Steve (Co-Author) Fractional Addiction
Before we answer that question, let's think again about those "three levels of addiction" as described above.  From our Christian perspective, let's insert another level at the bottom of the addiction scale.  If we categorized being totally pure and holy as the zero level, all Christian men we know would fall somewhere between Level 0 and Level 1.  If your're one of the many men in this area, it probably isn't at all helpful to label you as an "addict" or to imply that victory will take years of therapy.  Instead, victory can be measured in weeks, as we'll describe later. (Please get the book if you want to read more) Your "addictive" behaviors are not rooted in some deep, dark, shadowy mental maze as they are in Levels 1, 2, and 3.  Rather, they're based on pleasure highs.  Men receive a chemical high from sexually charged images a hormone called epinephrine is secreted into the bloodstream, which locks into the memory whatever stimulus is present at the time of the emotional excitement.  I've counseled men who became emotionally and sexually stimulated just from entertaining thoughts of sexual activity.  A guy dead set on purchasing Hustler at his local 7-Eleven is sexually stimulated long before he even steps into convenience store.  His stimulation began in his thought process, which triggered his nervous system, which secreted epinephrine into the bloodstream.  From my counseling experience, I believe it's often true that those men living at Level 1 or worse have deep psychological problems that will take years to work through.  But relatively few men live there.  Our contention is a vast majority of men stuck in sexual sin are living between Level 0 and Level 1.  We can call this a "fractional addiction" since it represents living at a level that's a fraction between zero and one.

2 Corinthians 12:21
21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.
Ephesians 5:1-5

 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.