AA and Porn...

...Or anything else that is waving you in with one hand, and shamingly shaking its finger at you with the other.

AA has helped so many addicts. I know because I talk to them on Tuesday nights at Trinity, the congregation I'm blessed to serve. But, I'm talking about another A.A. I'm talking about accountability and absolution.

Accountability: "you are all alone" is one of the devil's favorite phrases. Recognize it. Reject it as a lie. Fight it by EMBRACING COMMUNITY! You are not alone. Bonhoeffer in Life Together rightly says, "He who is alone in his sin is utterly alone." The real AA says, "Isolation is death." You don't need the whole community all the time. You need one brother or one sister to stand in for the rest. Usually they say something like, "You are not alone." Jesus himself took three disciples with him into the heart of temptation in the garden (of Gethsemane). Why? He needed brothers! You and I do too! Personal devises have become the go-to for temptation and, well, vise, that isolates. Your devise can become a communal devise. Here are three ways to help de-vise your devise.

1. Use it publicly instead of privately. But don't replace face-to-face engagement with loved one with Facebook or any other substitute.

2. Use Covenant Eyes software (as a browser instead of the devises normal browser), which brings an accountability partner into the loop about what your doing with your devise. www.covenanteyes.com/

3. A simple text message to a trusted friend breaks the power of isolation. AA says if you are HALT Hungry-Angry-Lonely-Tired, you are more proned to failure. How true. It is during these times, a quick text to a brother or sister that simply says "Pray" is all that is needed to diffuse the power of temptation.

Absolution: "pull yourself together" Christianity has caused many Christians to either leave the church or to remain in the church but filled with shame, regret, and despair. "Try harder" Christianity is not really Christianity. Recognize it. Reject it as a false substitute. Fight it by EMBRACING THE GOSPEL! The heart of Christianity is the gospel, which doesn't point to what you've done or left undone, but points to what Jesus has DONE, which is why accountability is not enough. You need AA, not just A. Absolution sounds like this: "Do you believe that the word I speak is not my own, but God's word? Then be it done for you as you have believed! God himself says, 'I forgive you all your sins for Jesus' sake.'" I know these precious words because I hear them frequently and speak them frequently. Absolution is such a precious help after failure, but is powerfully helpful in temptation. The gospel is certainly pardon, but it is also power. Paul says, "the gospel...is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes" (Romans 1.17). Bo Giertz writes, "The Gospel is a force; God's intervention on earth, which leads to something we all need, but cannot otherwise attain--righteousness from God."

What do you think? Have you considered AA in your battle? Try it and watch God unleash a forceful intervention that is more powerful than temptation to sin or condemnation in sin.