Addicted to Sin?

A pastor in nearby Ventura pleads guilty to felony charges of stealing from an elderly person, money laundering and grand theft to the tune of $300,000. The kicker is the congregation is hoping he can serve his sentence on a work furlough program so he can still lead the church. That, and a recent article in Time Magazine about whether or not sex addiction is a disease or a convenient excuse provoke Brad and Wayne to a discussion about sin, both as the world misunderstands it and as religion only compounds it. How we view sin will determine whether we see God's invitation to holiness as an oppressive burden or a great delight to live in his freedom. Just because we're helpless in sin, doesn't mean we are hopeless.

Podcast Links:
Time Article - "The Truth About Sex Addition"
Orphanage Relocation in Kenya

7 Comments

  1. This is why I love this podcast! So much great restorative to so much misunderstanding of Father’s Holiness. “His righteousness is the best stuff on the planet” Wayne. It’s the heart of the little boy who just wants to be with his dad and grow up to be just like him. And the heart of the father who truly wants the child to be strong, healthy, happy, loved, etc. How liberating is that? Hmmm Jesus did say He came to free the oppressed not oppress the free. You really helped with some ideas I have been trying clarify in my own understand.

    Thanks guys and blessings.

  2. The church picks and chooses what it will put up with, if the ‘Ventura crowd pleaser’ had been caught in some form of sexual sin, I bet they would not want him any more, but since its only felony grand theft and money laundering, what the heck why shouldn’t he be allowed to keep the pews full. In regards to sin vs. holiness, most of the church/religion still operates with an old covenant template or a mix of the two covenants,which makes holiness an oppressive burden, because its totally impossible, human effort/flesh can no more fulfill the law now than it could back in the old testiment. Trying to live up to the law apart from grace through Jesus (His Spirit in us to will and to do/a new heart) creates nothing but frustration, sadness, guilt and a sense of distance from God. It creates people who think sin is the fun they can’t have or the nightmare they are helplessly stuck in and holiness a huge chore that can never be done.

  3. Super! For several weeks I have been trying to figure out a way to phrase a question that would lead to exactly the discussion you have recorded here. SOOOO helpful. Thanks.
    Just a minor help point: I’ve listened to the last 30 seconds five times, and I can’t make out what exactly Brad says under his breath! 🙂 Wayne: “It’s Dutch country”…then Brad says something (…WHAT DO YOU SAY, BRAD??)…then I hear Wayne say something about Danish and ends with a sigh of exasperation. HELP! 🙂

  4. Bob in Spain: I think Brad was commenting on Wayne’s heritage and said “Jacobsen is Dutch! and Wayne said no its Danish!!” On the comments about sin being the fun stuff God says we must refrain from, I agree that it is behavior that is bad for man as well as mankind and claiming that we are free from the Law now in the new testament is ignoring what The prophet Hosea referred to that those who “sow to the wind and reap the whirlwind” (8:7) Its hard to get real when you are surrounding yourself with other people who are acting like they have it all under control. Church groups many times are the last people you will get honest with and confess your addiction. Our “churches” are full of men and now even woman who are dabbling in internet porn and not knowing that that kind of stimulation never has enough and it is a slippery slope that leads to more and worse behavior. Most think they have it under control till they are exposed and then they are cast out as “unclean” by others who many of which are on the same path. I experience my first real fellowship amongst a group of L.I.F.E* Sex addicts who were in recovery and finding that our real problem is that we didn’t know how to be really intimate and honest with God first and so we struggle with being intimate and honest with anyone less Grace filled. ˜http://www.freedomeveryday.org/index.php

  5. Great Podcast! Another one of your great validations of how righteousness and holiness has nothing to do with performance….but EVERYTHING to do with living inside of the Father’s love for us….we begin to love as He loves, and as we transform more into his image, we are attracted to what is right and holy. There’s no greater place to live!

  6. I love the discussion on sin, but I’m thinking we might be suffering some kind of generational gap or cultural gap.

    I just don’t see things such as drug use as necessarily a sin. (Also I haven’t paid attention to the whole Sheen deal, so all I really know is he was fired from his show for talking crazy, but in the long run it will be good for his career.)

    Not that I’m saying sin doesn’t matter. Yet it is a harder concept to flesh out. When I look at it from outside of religion, a simple definition just doesn’t work.

  7. I do love listening to you guys banter back and forth and love the insights that do come out. One thing I wanted to mention about addiction (if addiction truly does exist) is that no matter how much we despise the sin when someone is addicted they continue with the sin. Even after years of living for God and being healed is so many other ways, even seeing miracles in our lives the one vice draws us back. We always hear, but God has the cup that overflows, with Him you will never thirst again, and I truly honestly believe this. There is no doubt in my mind that God is the answer. But do you have advice for those who have heard that a million times and don’t know how to get there. The thing is it will most likely be different for every person. What changed me, saved me, helped me will not necessarily help you. I’m sure there are millions of people out there that would like to leave sin behind because they see the destructive consequences it has on their lives but still can’t get out. What advice do you have for someone like that. How can a double minded man unstable in all his ways learn to walk in the righteousness that he truly desires.

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