|
Post by completelydone on Sept 20, 2007 17:28:46 GMT -5
A certain member here asked me to answer some questions he had about this subject. He didn't seem to believe there are many female SA's/PA's out there. Then he wanted the whole thread deleted after I had spent much time responding to his questions.
I will repost them here, not because I'm afraid they will be deleted there, but because regardless of his opinion that this topic is worthless to his and other's SA/PA problems, I feel it is helpful for both if we are open to it.
That said, I hope this will not become a flame war or heated debate about why my opinion does not matter, but just a learning opportunity for all PA/SA's here (male and female) who are interested in what I have to say. I think the original poster brought up some good questions that we need to take a look at if we are to understand porn addiction in both sexes.
I'll post his questions and my answers to him bellow.
p.s. For those of you who don't believe it to be helpful to your recovery, you don't have to read it any further. But some people might (male and female).
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 20, 2007 17:30:02 GMT -5
I will try to answer your questions one at a time so the posts don't get way too long and make it too much to read. So, if you'd give me a while to answer the questions before responding I would appreciate it or I'll get side tracked with my answers.
Thanks, CD
You said:
I fully realize that you don't believe that you are making any excuses for yourself by believing your gender has a lot to do with your porn habit. I believe that you fully believe that it true. I also use to believe that my porn and promiscuous sex habits were due to my hormones as well. I believe from what I've heard, read, and seen that a lot of PA's/SA's buy into that. BUT that doesn't change that it is an excuse for ones behavior.
'Everyone like me that I see is like this, so therefore it is normal and is ok for me to be this way. It must be a part of who we are. It must be normal for all like me.' That just simply isn't true. It is an excuse for behavior. Poor youths do not have to commit violent crimes, and men and women do not have to view porn or lust or be promiscuous.
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 20, 2007 17:33:59 GMT -5
You asked:
There are female PA's that come here. Most of them do not post or do so irregularly. Some have moved to another site for women PA's from here. They don't often post because they:
1. Don't feel comfortable doing so around male PA's because they are afraid they will get off on their posts. 2. Are ashamed as women who are PA's/SA's.
I just had a female PA send me a PM the other day saying she thought she was the only female PA around here and was happy to see she wasn't the only one. She also said she hadn't posted because all she's seen is male PA's and that (for some reason she did not explain) made her uncomfortable in posting.
So, that is why I think you don't SEE many female PA's post here. I also sometimes wonder if they post as men because of this. That's speculative, but I wouldn't doubt it.
As to why you know so many men with this problem and not women, is a simple question to answer. The men admit it, and most women will not admit such a thing to YOU, a man; especially a Christian one. They have trouble admitting it to their female friends unless they know they struggle in the same area.
There is a dogma attached to women who "act like men" sexually. I say act like men, because what they are really acting like is immoral, it's just that men have been sexually immoral for so long they think they own the corner market on lust. But, I'll speak more to that later.
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 20, 2007 17:35:56 GMT -5
You said:
Well, at least we can both agree upon that.
You said: Quote: 1. All the anecdotal evidence of my life. From my college dorm situation, where just about every guy there was looking at porn, while my female friends at college contend that such a thing was not going on their dorms, to my Bible study where 7/8 guys confessed an issue with porn, and asked for accountability. 0/8 women asked for prayer when the women side of the group had this discussion.
You seem to believe that your life experiences are the facts. But your life experience is not my life experience. You say that you saw men both viewing and admitting to viewing porn in all social realms of you life and no women. I believe you. But what you don't seem to understand is most women are NOT going to be honest about this with ANY man, or other CHRISTIANS, period. They don't feel safe to. They believe they will be rejected, labeled whore, weird, perverted, odd, Jezebels, etc. and seen with suspicion from then on out. They will become "black sheep" in their herds/circles if they admit to such things. BTW, I've been labeled all those things in old churches I've been to for admitting my problems.
Now, on the other hand, in a group of women who are NOT Christians, they will openly admit and discuss with each other sex, men, porn, etc. THAT has been my experience.
I have had both male and female friends. When I was younger (Junior High and High School) I had a few close female friends and many close male friends. I was often considered "one of the guys". They did not hide their "male talk" from me. I've heard it all. But, I also heard what the girls talked about, and let me tell you that although girls put on a sweet (I'm innocent) show around their parents and boys/men, they are not. Girls/Women (women esp.) talk just as perverted and sexual as I ever heard the guys talk. "Look at his (you know what's), I wonder if he can screw as good as he dances, He looks like he has a big package, I'd like to ride him like a (don't need to say), He was hot in bed, He sucked in bed"........................ and so forth. I've even seen a young woman get up in class when the teacher left and draw a huge penis on the chalk board and announce to everyone that THAT is what she wants. (She is one of the PA's/SA's I knew growing up that didn't care who knew how she was sexually.) Neither she, nor I let labels stop us from experiencing new sexual things.
Now in a group of Christian women, that would not happen. NO one I would confidently guess would admit to a darn thing, because:
1. They don't want to be labeled. 2. They don't want to be outcast. 3. They don't want other women and men mistrusting them around men. Always therefore after being "watched".
It is NOT socially acceptable, believed, or even seen as normal within Christian circles for women to struggle with sexual sin. Not any more so today than it was in Jesus' day when the women taken in the act of adultery was thrown at Jesus feet to be stoned for her immorality. Where was the man? They said they found the woman in the very act, so obviously the man was there too. Why didn't they bring him? Because of gender biases that existed then that still do today (especially in religious circles); men are weak sexually so it is overlooked and winked at. Women who struggle sexually have no excuse, are seductresses and whores worthy of death. Women get blamed often for men's sexual immorality. A man admitting to sexual sin is seen as the "poor guy" who hasn't learned to harness his strong sexuality. The woman who struggles is a sinful harlot who must be dealt with.
So, why WOULD women admit to such things? What's in it for them? NOT understanding, that's for sure. Not sympathy, support, empathy, or encouragement. Only bad things come to them when they admit such things.
I'll answer a few more questions in a bit.
Take care, CD
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 20, 2007 17:38:03 GMT -5
You said:
I do not deny your experiences. I am just telling you that your experiences are limited, or you would already know that there are many female PA's/SA's out there.
I do not ask you to trust one "lone ladies" opinion, but to take a look at things more closely. Why? For two reasons:
1. The truth always helps us. 2. The sooner society acknowledges this problem for women, the sooner they will feel safe enough to come out of the closet and deal with their own sexual addictions.
Most of the scientists, teachers, etc. who claim this is a man problem are also men. Men who have not had the same experiences as I, and many other women, and who have also based their "findings" on incomplete data. Why incomplete, I already told you of women's shyness in admitting to these things and why they are.
Also, there has NEVER been conclusive scientific evidence that men are more visual or more likely to be involved in porn, or sex addicts than women etc. There are however new scientific studies that show that women are just as visual as men. I'll post that bellow:
Erotic images elicit strong response from brain
By Jim Dryden
June 8, 2006 -- A new study suggests the brain is quickly turned on and "tuned in" when a person views erotic images.
This brain map shows differences in reactions to erotic and neutral visual materials. Red zones represent the largest differences, suggesting that circuits in the frontal parts of the brain are particularly sensitive to erotic content and the fastest to detect the difference. Download
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis measured brainwave activity of 264 women as they viewed a series of 55 color slides that contained various scenes from water skiers to snarling dogs to partially-clad couples in sensual poses. What they found may seem like a "no brainer." When study volunteers viewed erotic pictures, their brains produced electrical responses that were stronger than those elicited by other material that was viewed, no matter how pleasant or disturbing the other material may have been. This difference in brainwave response emerged very quickly, suggesting that different neural circuits may be involved in the processing of erotic images. "That surprised us," says first author Andrey P. Anokhin, Ph.D., research assistant professor of psychiatry. "We believed both pleasant and disturbing images would evoke a rapid response, but erotic scenes always elicited the strongest response." As subjects looked at the slides, electrodes on their scalps measured changes in the brain's electrical activity called event-related potentials (ERPs). The researchers learned that regardless of a picture's content, the brain acts very quickly to classify the visual image. The ERPs begin firing in the brain's cortex long before a person is conscious of whether they are seeing a picture that is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. But when the picture is erotic, ERPs begin firing within 160 milliseconds, about 20 percent faster than occurred with any of the other pictures. Soon after, the ERPs begin to diverge, with processing taking place in different brain structures for erotic pictures than those that process the other images. "When we present a stimulus to a subject — for example, when a picture appears on a screen — it changes ongoing brain activity in certain ways, and we can detect those changes," Anokhin says. Pictures appeared on a screen at 12 to 18 second intervals, and each picture remained on the screen for about 6 seconds. The subjects were instructed to do nothing other than look at the pictures. A great deal of past research has suggested that men are more visual creatures than women and get more aroused by erotic images than women. Anokhin says the fact that the women's brains in this study exhibited such a quick response to erotic pictures suggests that, perhaps for evolutionary reasons, our brains are programmed to preferentially respond to erotic material. "Usually men subjectively rate erotic material much higher than women," he says. "So based on those data we would expect lower responses in women, but that was not the case. Women have responses as strong as those seen in men." Because the electroencephalogram (EEG) technology cannot pinpoint specific brain structures involved in this visual processing, Anokhin says it's not clear exactly which circuits are reacting to these visual scenes. Recent studies in primates recorded the electrical activity of single neural cells within the brain and have shown that the frontal cortex contains neurons that can discriminate between different categories of visual objects such as dogs versus cats. Whether or not the human prefrontal cortex contains special neurons that are "tuned" for sex remains a subject for future studies. "The newer and more advanced technologies such as MRI and PET provide much better spatial resolution," he says. "Those methods can better localize areas of brain activity, but ERPs have a much better temporal resolution. The EEG can record neuronal activity in real time. When measuring activity in milliseconds, any delay is undesirable." Most of Anokhin's research is centered on the genetic and neurological bases of behavioral traits that might be associated with increased vulnerability to alcoholism and addictive disorders. He believes this study could contribute to that work by detecting differences between responses to images with different emotional significance. Because many psychiatric disorders also are associated with poor processing of signals associated with reward and pleasure, as well as sexual disturbances, he believes the way the brain processes emotional pictures, including erotic materials, might help scientists better understand some forms of mental illness. ________________________________________ Anokhin AP, Golosheykin S, Sirevaag E, Kristjansson S, Rohrbaugh JW, Heath AC. Rapid discrimination of visual scene content in the human brain. Brain Research, doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2006.03.108, available on-line May 18, 2006. Funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health. Washington University School of Medicine's full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked ________________________________________
Now, this article states that the scientists believe this could be because of evolution; that women are evolving sexually and catching up with men visually. I personally don't believe that; I don't believe in evolution, but in creation.
Here is why I think this is changing: belief systems.
If you look back in history and see what men have been taught about sex, their personal sexuality as men, etc. and what women have been taught, you can see why men have been the way they are, and why women have been the way they are.
You already know what men have been taught, because you are talking about it in your posts often. You've been taught they are more sexual, more visual, more hormonal, etc. and therefore more prone to sexual sin than women. Many men buy this, and they either use it as an excuse to justify and minimize their sexual immorality, or they choose to "control their sexual male urges". Other men don't believe this and often they don't have trouble, or near as much with sexual addictions.
Women on the other hand have been taught for thousands of years differently. They have typically been told:
1. They are not as sexual as men. 2. They are not as visual as men. 3. They are not as sexually hormonal as men. 4. that women don't enjoy sex. 5. That sex is a duty to their husbands; a dreadful one. 6. That sex is dirty, shameful. 7. That intercourse is only acceptable with your spouse. 8. That men can sow their wild oats, and will because they are men and have stronger urges, or more needs sexually, but it is NOT OK for a woman to do the same. 9. That women who are sexually promiscuous are bad women, shameful, and disgusting whores. 10. That women who are in porn, who like porn etc. are vile, dirty, evil women. 11. That good women don't do/like sexual things (esp. porn and casual sex). 12. That they won't be desirable spouses if they aren't virgins and pure at heart when they marry. 13. That masturbation was a sin, or that it is something only men indulge in to relieve themselves.
So, women over the ages have kept themselves "pure". They have held themselves accountable to themselves and others sexually. Many were brainwashed into believing sex was dirty, shameful; that their bodies were dirty, shameful, etc. Most women didn't allow themselves to even think about sexual things, let alone enjoy them.
As time has gone on, and in countries where they have been given more rights as women, and freedoms, things have been changing for decades now. It started with the baby boomers; the free love crowd. Women recognized their equality and sexuality and refused the notion that sex was dirty or shameful; or only for men to enjoy before marriage. Casual sex was born. As time has gone by since then a progressive amount of literature, music, articles, sexual education, etc. has been given to young women.
When I was growing up, I already learned young that I was sexual through masturbation, porn exposure at friends houses, and my desire for the opposite sex (lust) etc. I never once questioned or doubted my equality with men, or my equal sexual drive. I did not learn the things mentioned above from my parents, teachers, or peers. My father did not treat as a "lesser human being" for being female either.
What I learned growing up, along with my female peers, was that we were:
1. We are equal with men including in our ability to make decisions in what is right for us sexually. 2. That we are just as sexual as men. 3. That we shouldn't be labeled anything negative because of our sexual freedom. 4. That porn is OK. 5. That porn can help us in our sexuality. 6. That porn can educate us. 7. That porn, mb, fantasy (all together, or separately) can be healthy for ourselves and our relationships. 8. That we can learn to climax easier by doing the above mentioned things. 9. That we have power in our sexuality over men. 10. That we can harness and learn to wield that power to our advantage. 11. We were encouraged to experiment with our sexuality and express it.
So, what did I do? I bought it. I did it. It hooked me. I was just as addicted to it as any man on here, and so were/are many of my old friends.
We are all products of our beliefs. If you know the Bible at all, you will know that "as a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Our behaviors, words, directly relate to our belief systems.
So, I believe that women and men equally have the ability to be sex/porn addicts. I believe that men do make up that majority, but that women are rapidly closing in on that "market", because of our beliefs.
I am a generation Xer. My children are being labeled the "porn generation"; that includes the males with the females.
So, you see, it is possible to live life and have two different experiences in it; gathering different "facts" and coming to our conclusions about how people/genders are. But our facts, are not always facts. But, in honesty (being a woman and seeing life from both sides through friends) I believe my "facts" here are more accurate than yours. And if society is labeling the young generation the "porn generation", I think it should be taken seriously and I think there are many kids, teens, and adults out there who need help reconstucting their belief systems and values so they can be free from sexual addictions.
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 20, 2007 17:40:15 GMT -5
You said:
Yes, why wouldn't you? But your experiences, and exposure are have obviously been limited. Even my own husband knows from the bar scene he used to be caught up in, among other things, that women are just as sexual and sexually aggressive as men. He has a hate for them because of this, and I ponder if that hate is partly what fueled his turn toward porn.
There is other information and different experiences out there. I am asking you not to be closed minded and see things from others perspectives.
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 20, 2007 17:42:12 GMT -5
You said:
I wish that were true that women weren't being assaulted and affected by porn/sex addiction. I also wish it weren't true that men were because it hurts us all; SO and PA alike; male or female.
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 20, 2007 17:46:28 GMT -5
You said:
I am not projecting. I wish I were. I am telling you what I have seen, experienced, been involved watching with other women, heard them countless times talk about their porn use with each other, etc.
Out of all the women I have known (not counting Christian ones because they don't discuss sexual things hardly, let alone their sexual sins), in MY peer group, I can honestly say that 95% of them could easily be classified as SA/PA's. I was introduced to porn by females. We looked at it, watched it together, with our boyfriends, with our "boyfriends for the night", etc.
These are not projections. I wish they were. I believe soon these things will become more public. I hope very soon so women can begin to heal- both SO's and PA's/SA's.
In my daughter's generation (The Porn Generation) they have expressed to me on more than one occasion how their female friends, and enemies alike, are very sexually promiscuous and into porn. They have both told me of experiences of their peers talking about their porn/sex lives openly and encouraging others to get into it too because it is so awesome. They have both been propositioned many times to go home with their girlfriends and boyfriends to watch porn and have group sex.
Those are not projections, but facts, things that have happened in my life and theirs.
I will reply to your next question later as it may take a while to explain my beliefs on the biblical part of sin.
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 20, 2007 17:48:15 GMT -5
You said:
No, I am not younger than you. I am slightly older. I thought maybe I was since your experience seems limited enough that you don't see the sexual aggression, perversion, and lust of women in my peer group (which apparently is also your peer group), so I was wrong about that.
And for the record, I have three children. I got pregnant with my first one at 15 years old. Yes, I was in love with her father, but that is an excuse many women use to hide their sexual problems from their loved ones when they fear rejection. No, he wasn't my first. He was (hard to say) about my 8th lover at that age. Sad isn't it? But I wanted to act out my sexuality, including the things I saw in porn. So, if it wouldn't have been his child, there would have been many fathers to choose from whom I never had the least bit of love for. I am in my early 30's. My oldest daughter is 16 now herself; the same age I barely was when I gave birth to her.
You may have dealt with a lot of people who share your addiction, but you obviously haven't seen the other side as I have.
I will share more later after I am not angry anymore with the mistreatment I received on the other thread; just to clarify.
|
|
|
Post by Clean2day on Sept 21, 2007 4:27:32 GMT -5
I personally find what you have said interesting and I want to thank you. I sent him a pm for another place like no-porn that has a place just for ladies with PA/SA.
I use to work with woman in the hair business and I will back you up that their mouth's were worse than the guy's. I always had the feeling there that sometimes they were trying to see if they could embarrass us, some of the guys had great come backs for them.
I do feel though that a lot of women have a problem and don't realize it as they call it other things. Like "love novels" and I truly believe the soaps are all P. MHO
Thanks for posting
C2d
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 21, 2007 15:01:00 GMT -5
I personally find what you have said interesting and I want to thank you. I sent him a pm for another place like no-porn that has a place just for ladies with PA/SA. What is this other place? I think it would be good to post it for women who come here looking for help but don't want to post here because of the men. It can be hard to find such resources for us. LOL I know what you're saying. When I had male friends in High School, I often thought the same thing, but looking back now, I think it was their way of saying, without actually saying it, that this is the way they were and if I was going to hang out with them I had to be OK with that and accept them the way they were. Well, I wasn't going to bring those points up yet, but since you've mentioned it, all you have to do is look around and pay attention to see how things are changing with women; how it's becoming more and more acceptable for them to behave certain ways sexually and to like certain things (such as porn). For years women have been into romance novels. I've read them, although porn was my first choice, and I didn't read them just because they had romance in them. They have sex scenes in them that are pornographic. I often skipped through the books trying to find the "good part", not meaning the romance. Soap operas, as you mentioned, have always been sexual in nature as far as I can remember, but now they are as close to being soft porn as you can get without actually going there. Teen magazines for girls are filled with pin ups of hot guys; and No, we didn't buy them for the articles. Women's magazines are FULL of sex, sex, sex. Jerry Springer ran (and maybe still does) daily for years on TV during hours that most people are at work; most people except you guessed it, stay at home Moms. I think everyone knows you don't watch Jerry for the touching stories of the people on the show, but for the sex and violent content. [trigger] Before they got in trouble with the FCC, I remember it wasn't unusual for women to kiss on that show, or talk graphically about their lesbian lovers. [/trigger] Whenever male strippers come to town, they always have a full house. As I mentioned before I was introduced to porn by females. I've personally known and have been acquainted with many who use it (with and without their lovers). Swingers are husband and wife SA/PA's. Where ever there are male SA's having casual sex, there is a female SA (unless they are gay) there having casual sex too. All the women in the porn/adult industry (porn actresses, strippers, and prostitutes that aren't slaves to their pimps) are *shocker* PA/SA's. I know there are some wives, rape victims, etc. that get abortions, but for the majority (and I know what I'm talking about here from a woman who worked with pregnant women's issues) they are unmarried CHRISTIAN women who get pregnant. And we're not just talking about women who loved their boyfriends and had an accident. Most women who get abortions have had one before, sometimes many. That's a fact. IMO, this has sex addicts written all over it. Especially the ones who have multiple abortions. I am going to use several sites from both sides of the pro-life/ pro-choice spectrum and those that are nutral for statistics concerning abortion. I am not stating a side either way in this as it could bring offense to any differing stance, so I'm trying to be fair and show both sides statistics: www.abortiontv.com/Misc/AbortionStatistics.htm#Reasons%20Women%20Choose%20Abortion%20(U.S.)www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.htmlabortionismurder.org/HTML/II-A-abortion_statistics.htmlThen there are the teens that get pregnant in large numbers every year. Do you REALLY believe they all get that way from making love? Because, many of them have had many lovers; just like I did. Between the number of abortions each year, and the number of women who give birth out of wedlock each year, how can so many be blind to what is going on in our society with women? Do they want to be blind? And if so, why? As far as statistics go, they usually aren't very accurate first of all; otherwise they wouldn't be all over the place. But we still use them to try to get an idea of what's going on in our world. I've seen many different statistics. But what sticks out to me is that the majority of people on line every day are kids between the ages of 8 and 17; unmonitored often. I've seen statistics that say that THEY (both male and female) are actually the largest porn "consumer" group on the net, not men; although it is obvious there are many men on there as well. I will try to find some stats to add concerning all the points I just made. So, check back later if you want to see them. I'm gonna try to find time for the religion question he had too. Take care, CD
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 23, 2007 10:57:01 GMT -5
I found this at www.pureintimacy.com and it also explains problems for female sex addicts in society; both how they are created (in short) and the effects of the double standard upon them: I really like this part: The promotion of godly living for both males and females will pave the road to equal treatment and respect. This is ONE reason why it is important for us to recognize the importance of understanding sexual sin/addictions are a problem for both male and female; and are not MORE of a problem for men just because they are men and therefore biologically inferior/weak sexually. It is a more of a problem for men because of social acceptance because they are lied to that it is something biological within men that drives them somehow to act out sexually. I post more later............
|
|
|
Post by graceneededhere on Sept 24, 2007 19:26:17 GMT -5
I am new member, a devout Christian, and a female PA. I want to say that it was this post that made me decide this was the place for me to be. You, CompletelyDone, are dead-on with your responses! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 24, 2007 19:29:57 GMT -5
Grace,
Thank YOU!!! You don't know how tickled I am that what I wrote helped you come out of the closet.
I wish you much healing my friend, CD
|
|
|
Post by completelydone on Sept 26, 2007 21:40:44 GMT -5
You asked me to answer a question about the fall of mankind. I don't remember exactly how it was worded since you erased it before I got to it.
So here is what I believe about the mankind, and their fallen nature:
When God created the world, He created animals before mankind. When he created Adam and Eve, He gave them dominion over the earth, the animals, and everything in it. The only thing that God held back from them was the "Knowledge of Good and Evil". But, He made mankind with a free will to choose, to make their own decisions for their lives. He told Adam and Eve that there was a tree in the garden that He called the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil", and He explained to them that if they ate from it, they would die. Here is where my beliefs vary somewhat from what I've heard taught on the subject. I believe that God with held the "knowledge of good and evil" from them because he knew that if mankind had that knowledge, and being incapable of being perfect beings, (I don't believe they were perfect or they would not have fallen) they would choose to judge what was good and evil for themselves, outside of God's judgment, and thus sin and die. For example, in humanism, the individual person judges what is right and wrong for them; what is "good and evil". But what mankind judges as "good and evil" is not the same as what God judges to be "good and evil". They know because of the eating of the tree of the fall what is "good and evil", but they try to change those truths and make it relative to their desires; to what they believe will bring them the good life. There become no absolutes when mankind judges for themselves. In doing so they set themselves above God as judge of "good and evil"; rejecting His life and dying.
So, although it is true that we have a fallen nature, we did not lose our free will to choose. We are not animals who live by instincts to gain sources of pleasure, survival, etc. We are a higher, superior creation, made in the image of God. Animals have a body and soul (mind, will, emotions) only; while humans have a spirit (our immortal self, a soul (mind, will, and emotions), and a body. Animals live by their instincts. They don't reason things out, humans do. Animals are mortal beings so when they die they totally cease to exist. Human beings are immortal spirits that inhabit their physical being until their bodies give out and die; their spirits, however, live on eternally. Animals have no relationship with God. They are incapable of relationships because they cannot reason. They are only capable of affection toward us if tame, but not relationships. Humans can have a relationship with God. He is Spirit and so are we, so we can commune with Him in our inmost selves. That is where we hear the voice of God. Animals are amoral, humans actions are based upon their morals (values). I believe humans use to be amoral, because they did not know right from wrong; "good from evil". But since the fall we know, and we purposefully chooes to walk against it, from our own free will. And I believe that human beings are incapable of being perfect, and therefore God felt it was better if they didn't know "good and evil", or they would judge for themselves what is good and evil, going against the truth and therefore sinning. And sin must be punished for there to be justice. But God is love so he made a way of escape from eternal punishment.
In essence, God was our life source center, when Adam and Eve fell, they in essence chose to be their own life source center separating themselves from God. God is love, so they separated themselves from love and began to live (sometimes in love), but sometimes in self centeredness which is the result of their own judgments, (which is sin because it is the opposite of love). Without His life, we die spiritually, and later physically.......
But from the beginning God gave us a free will. We are not driven by anything outside ourselves or anything inside ourselves, but by our own free will, made out of our own judgments of "good and evil". But if they aren't God's judgments of "good and evil", then they are not good for anyone.
Mankind is always trying to find life in sin. It's impossible. Life comes from love, and the very Being of Love Himself; God. His judgments of "good and evil" come from the love that He is and wants us to share with each other. Anything other than that is destructive; it is death.
I believe when we recognize God's judgments of "good and evil" as not only correct, but love itself, and life itself, then sin loses its appeal. Truth makes us free. Love makes us free. If you are a slave to sin, it is because you have yet to believe the truth and keep trying to gain life from a lie. "I know I shouldn't do this, BUT I will get (whatever) from it." So you continue until you finally realize, "I will NEVER get out of this what I want." Some people learn that before they ever start a particular sin and therefore don't do it. Others have to learn the hard way. Some are quick learners and some are slow.
I choose life. What will you choose? Life, or deceit that sin will bring you the good life?
Take care, CD
|
|