gamnot

I read an essay from a psychology site on this topic. There is a difference between high speed internet porn addiction and other types of porn addiction, such as magazine porn. The reason for this is the ubiquity of porn on the net. A person can go through an image every few seconds for days on end. Each image causes a dopamine spike. It causes the base dopamine level to increase in the brain and the desire for the continuation of the pleasure spikes is maintained. Also the article said that recovery from the addiction is possible, but for younger people the recovery period is about six months, but for people who get the addiction at an older age the recovery period is much shorter; about one or two months.

Jesus made the statements: "Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." and "The way to life is straight and narrow and few there be that find it." I don't believe that anyone can adequately strive for those things without the right vital interests and faith and that is something that relates to motives and what is inside the person. It cannot be done through legalism or license as cutting corners for whatever reason. Some televangelists have tried to use sophistry in their ministries and it sure to backfire.

I am thinking that making such statements about righteousness could be interpreted as to the motives of the speaker. Motives can be self-serving or for edification etc. I would agree with that; one can't call THEMSELVES righteous. That determination can only be made by God and the brethren.

Could this relate to the concept of humility as being as much the opposite of self-abasement as it is of self-exaltation? Or of avoiding what is referred to as spiritual narcissism?

"Do not be over righteous, neither be over wise Why destroy yourself? Do not be over wicked and do not be a fool-- Why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes." This is from Ecclesiastes 7; 16,17,18 What is the meaning of the phrase "over righteous?" Would this apply to the Pharisees in the time of Jesus who as I understand it, were divided into different sects in which those of one sect would walk leaning forward and those of another sect would walk leaning backwards, as if they were in a competition as to which sect was the more righteous.

I have made posts on other sites on the question of freedom and un-freedom. People are born free, but can get themselves into a condition of un-freedom through their reckless use of their external or praxis freedom; their freedom to do things. Integral freedom means the way external freedom and internal freedom relate to one another. Internal freedom means freedom from things and freedom from a fanaticized consciousness and is considered to be mutually exclusive with idolatry. As idolatry increases internal freedom decreases and vice versa; As internal freedom increases idolatry decreases. May Christ be with you and keep you in a condition of freedom.

I believe that the very core of the problem can be described using the word: autolatry, which means self-worship. the Old Testament mentioned those who, "worship their own might." Demonic structures revolve around personal and collective cultic power. Those caught up in demonic structures are willing to self-aggrandize themselves at the expense of anyone else. Christians or anyone else who are impoverished in some way are susceptible to being drawn into their orbit. Another point I want to make about autolatry is that it can be covert and well as overt. After all the devil is a deceiver. Wolves in sheep's clothing can be more dangerous than wolves without sheep's clothing.

I look at it this way: Being on track with God's thoughts and ways is like hitting a target, but for all practical purposes no one is able to hit the bulls eye on the target, but some are closer to the bulls eye than others. I have done quite a bit of reading on the "Culture of Narcissism" in which we live and it's tendency to spawn narcissistic personalities. Narcissism is creeping into Christianity in our time and creating persons who develop a sense of entitlement with bad boundaries. One thing that especially concerns me is the propensity of some television ministers to be abusive of income tax breaks for self-aggrandizement purposes. This creates a viable argument for reductionists and secular minded people against Christianity.

The book of Ecclesiastes says: "God made man upright but men have gone in search of schemes." I suppose that the schemes are fueled by money and for that reason money becomes an idol and object of veneration. Of course, we can say that money is the root of progress too. But it is easy for people to cut corners and to engage in unfair competition and to use their resources for the manipulation and exploitation of others. .............. The problem is that money rather than being used for what it should be used for; A medium of exchange, a measure of value, and a store of value, is used to power schemes for the purpose of self-aggrandizement.