“SEXGOD” published in Wheels of Grace (motorcycle magazine)

“SEXGOD”     By Bryan Duncan   (from Wheels of Grace summer issue)

We have all heard at least one story of the preacher running off with the organ player. “and he claimed to be a Christian” we cluck.. like a Christian doesn’t have the propensity for failure. Look in the Bible. King Solomon, touted as the wisest man in the world and his dad David too, or how about Samson? They’re at the top of the list of God’s favorite men to speak of, all with one thing in common: a fascination with God’s “creation”.

Christian men must struggle with lust. But it remains a pink elephant in religious circles. It is the riskiest of subjects to bring up, putting fear in the minds of women.  And the indictment aimed at men is almost universal unless yer a monk in a monastery. Even then I’m not sure you can escape the thoughts of your own ‘self satisfying” desires, or the truth of being created as a sexual human being.

Denial for Christian men begins with assuming that a spiritual life can exist separately from a sexual life. Sexuality and Spirituality must be addressed in the same equation.“every man who ever walked into a strip club or surfed internet porn sites, is looking for GOD” says Steve White in the book “Eros Defiled”.

We long for what is awe inspiring, captivating our undivided attention, motivating all our senses, leaving behind any self awareness….

Every man’s battle begins because contemplating these attributes of God does not bring the immediate satisfaction of contemplating the attributes of a woman. Who was made in the image of God!  At the heart of a man is the desire to be surrendered to a power greater than him self!  Distracting thoughts of his own inadequacies. It is a desire to be overwhelmed with glory. But alas pornography is the short circuiting of a man’s natural desire to worship God. Lust becomes an addiction!, a sedative for lack of peace in a man’s soul.

Worship of God does not deliver such an instantaneous rush of natural endorphins. Maybe it’s because God sees more value in long term achievement through a real relationship. Sexual failures are cast in a disgusting light, something more immoral than other sins because of the awareness of the collateral damage. But in labeling it with such intensity, solutions are rarely embraced. One must be honest about one’s propensities for desire before that desire can be challenged.

The simple admission of a problem with lust for men usually does not come until the desires have become unmanageable. Because  “the eye is not satisfied with seeing”.  So “the preacher runs off with the organist”! It takes a strong man to admit his weakness before it destroys him. Even then there’s a road to redemption to be followed.

Pornography capitalizes on a God given desire. Adam was pleased with the woman God created, similar to himself but mysteriously different! The Garden was free from a conflict of will in the beginning. No mention of “other women” in that story. But there was the implication of “forbidden fruit”, Implying the one rule, the restricting of our desires.

Even God admitted it was not good for man to be alone, he left the will to choose in a man’s hands. Choice is necessary to true conviction!  “Choose this day whom you will serve”?  I would say that choice comes by the minute on a daily basis.

I like the advice a mountain biker gave me once, about how to traverse treacherous terrain without a devastating crash…“Don’t look where you don’t wanna go” !