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Commentary on "Freedom From Addictions"
Day 3: Monday, March 7, 2011 - Sex Addiction
Overview
No comments. There is no overview.
Observations
Genesis 1 and 2 tells us that we are created in the image of God. Adventists teach that this means we have a material life force that ceases to exist when our bodies die. However, what Scripture teaches us is that we have both a material and an immaterial part of us that reflect God's image. When Adam and Eve sinned, the immaterial part died and was separated from God immediately. After they sinned, for the first time, they became aware that they were naked, and were ashamed. Until that time, they knew intimacy with God and with each other that was pure, flawless, and unbroken.
Genesis 1 and 2 is basically saying that God created a man and a woman to come together in marriage to be the laboratory where we learn and experience and understand what it means to know God. When the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments use the word "know" (to know God), it is the same word used to describe when a husband knows his wife sexually in marriage.
So, God created sex not ultimately for our enjoyment, though all gifts from God are enjoyable, but so that we would know Him through the experience of it. Because sex is only a picture of reality, it will never fully satisfy. It was not created for that purpose. It was intended to draw us into closer relationship with our Creator through the rich expression of the husband and wife one flesh union. Intimacy with our God is the ultimate satisfaction of the deep desires for intimacy that we were created for. No human being on earth can meet that need. We were never supposed to be that for each other. But, God wants to be that intimate with us. When we have an intimate relationship with God, then we can experience true intimacy with one another.
Sexual addiction portrays a deep desire for intimacy that has been left unmet and unfulfilled. This desire will only be satiated in a deeply satisfying love relationship with God. Sex addicts often have a difficult time admitting their problem, particularly in our over-stimulated culture where pictures of naked or nearly naked people are more difficult to avoid than to find.
One of the marks of sexual addiction is a continuing need for "more". Another mark is perpetual self-stimulation (masturbation). Both of these are again signs of lack of emotional connection to God and to others.
Traditional treatment for sexual addiction often focuses on behavior modification. However, when Jesus awakens a person to new life, appropriate behavior is a product of the relationship we have with Him, not the way by which we seek to "do and be good".
Jesus never looks at sinners and rejects us. He said he came for the sick. It is only when we realize our need that we can reach out and receive the healing that Jesus so freely offers.
Even though the behavior of sex addicts is sinful, the root problem of sin has been dealt with at the cross. God has granted a full pardon through Jesus Christ. Jesus paid for all sin at the cross, and so we can truly receive mercy for all our sinfulness, past, present and future. Grace means undeserved favor. UndeservedÂ…truly; and given to impure, flawed, and fractured humanity from a God who "so loved the whole world..."
Summary
- God created sex within the intimacy of the Garden.
- Sex was created to be a way by which we can learn to know God intimately.
- Though sexual addiction is difficult to face, Jesus is the source of healing and always gives comfort and aid to those who will receive it.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised March 13, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 11
Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 11
