How the church has failed America

(I am rather sleep deprived right now and my mind kinda hurts, so if I ramble, forgive me... but I think this post will be worth your time to read.)

Recently my struggles with lust have increased. I continually feel bombarded with temptations and attacks, and I can't always say I am successful in fending them off.

Because of this I have been struggling with a somewhat related religious paradox: How is it that I can be a Christian and still sin so much? I know that being a Christian doesn't mean I stop sinning; I understand that Christians sin. But how could it be that when I struggle with something and fail, over and over, how could God still forgive me? Am I a bad Christian if my temptations win over me?

Last night I was thinking about this, and I sat down to read my Bible (as I do every night). My Bible Book Marker (the obligatory ribbon attached to all Bibles) was on Romans 4 (where we were studying in Bible study), so I started reading that chapter. Here is what Paul says at the end of the chapter:

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. ~Romans 4:18-25

Wow, that is a lot of deep theology. Let's break that down:

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

Before this, Paul is talking about how Abraham was saved not because of his works or because of his circumcision, but because of his faith in God. God told him "Count the stars... that is how many children you will have." Abraham couldn't have a child with Sara, yet his faith did not fail. He "in hope believed and so became the father of many nations", IE: "Abraham had a faith in God so strong, and God delivered his promises."

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead.

This is the part that stirs me! Abraham's body was "as good as dead" (not meaning that he was feeble and frail at an old age, it means that he was too old to father a child). Just as Abraham's body was dead, so my body is dead in sin. I struggle with sin every day, every hour, every minute. And I don't mean that as a hyperbole, I regularly have temptations surround me every minute of the day. And because I sometimes fall to these temptations, my body is dead in sin. So, should I give up hope? Has all of my struggling been in vein? Abraham's body was dead, so let's see what he did:

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Abraham said "Here are the facts: a) God made a promise and b) God is powerful enough to fulfill his promise. So why should my faith waver?" It even says that his faith was strengthened because the older he got, the more power God would need to fulfill the promise.

Shouldn't I (we) have the same attitude? Yes, I am dead in sin, and just like the frog trying to get out of the well, for every two feet forward I move, I move back a foot... but that just shows how powerful God is! He has promised that he will forgive me for my actions. This doesn't mean I can go out and sin as much as I want, but as long as I am moving forward two steps, God has promised to forgive me the step I fall back.

In a completely related rant: Our churches have failed us.

I fully believe that the "American Church", IE: the institution that is the church as a whole, has failed young men in America. It has dropped the ball, it has fallen short, it has utterly failed us. Let me explain...

One of the most important things for a Christian to do is to have accountability. In our world of constant sin and temptations, it is extremely important for Christians to have an outside opinion on what they are doing, to steer them down the right path, to pray for them and to help them in times of need. Accountability partners don't have to be called "accountability partners", they just need to be a good friend to the person. And it doesn't have to be a person, it could be a small group, or a church that is always looking out for it's congregants.

But the accountability idea only works if the partner knows what is going on in your life. If your friend doesn't know you are struggling, how are they supposed to help?

And this is how the church has failed us: Churches have decided not to talk about issues such as masturbation, pornography, and lust. Simply by not talking about it, they have made masturbation and pornography taboo to talk about, even (especially) among Christians. It was hard for me to come out about my pornography addiction, and even harder to type the post about masturbation... BUT IT SHOULDN'T BE HARD! These are issues that should be talked about open and freely. Yes, the topic should be handled with care, but it shouldn't be something that you have to whisper in a dark room.

If Christians had an open attitude about masturbation and pornography, then they would share their struggles with their accountability partners (IE: friends, small groups, pastors...), and the partners would help as the person struggled. If, ten years ago, someone knew about my pornography addiction and they held me accountable, then I wouldn't have struggled with it for so long, I would have felt compelled to stop. And as I try to find answers to the masturbation question, the biggest struggle is the taboo barrier, IE: it is just hard to sit down with a pastor and ask them "So, what is your opinion on masturbation?" Another example: the other night at small group we broke up into guys and girls, and I asked the guys to be praying for me as I struggled with something, and even though I had talked openly about masturbation here on my blog, I couldn't bring myself to come out and say the issue I was struggling with. I resulted in sending them an e-mail later with a link to my blog.

If the church would speak out against sexual sin openly, then young men wouldn't be falling to this sin every day. Online pornography is the FASTEST growing addiction in America, and the church has done NOTHING about it! When will the church realize that they have failed every young man in America by ignoring the biggest sin in their lives? Sadly, not soon enough...

Matthew