. . . continued from previous post . . .
Accountability Partners
In a Christian context this is what the redemptive community called the church is all about. When followers of Jesus refuse to submit themselves to wise and godly people in the Body of Christ we can see a red flag, a root of independence that feeds a number of potential sins. When the Body of Christ is unwilling to offer Biblical accountability to those who need it, we allow brothers and sisters to stockpile poison.
Take, for example, a testimony I recently read by gospel singer Kirk Franklin when he appeared on Oprah. Trapped in pornography addiction since the age of 8, young Kirk went to his pastor at age 15 to confess his struggle. “He sat back in his chair and he took a puff out of his cigar . . . He said, ‘Oh, you’re young—you’ll grow out of it.’ He had no idea that he spoke death into my life. That shut me down because [I thought], ‘Well, someday I’ll grow out.’ [Instead], I grew in—and I grew in deep.”
It was only later in life that people in his church helped him find fulfillment in his music and his faith. This is how the church is meant to operate. This is what accountability in the church is for.
The average Internet user may find himself pulled (because of the desires in this flesh) to look at explicit online images or open up a pornographic email. He can open the link, feel bad about what he sees, and close the window. Will he tell anyone that he fell to temptation? Will he tell his wife that he sought out the image of another woman? Perhaps not. But that same tendency to hide his sin is also feeding the sin itself. Before long that sin will grow and manifest itself in other ways.
Covenant Eyes provides a software program for those who voluntarily say, “I give up my so-called rights to privacy in this area. I am willing to be accountable for what I see.” To some, Covenant Eyes is seen as a quick fix to their addictions (bad idea). But to others, downloading the software is just one part of a wholesale declaration of repentance and surrender. They are giving this area of their hearts over to their Savior and submitting to the wise discipleship of a mentor, friend, or church. As one of our users said, “I have thought of using a filter many times but PRIDE would always talk me out of it.”
. . . more to come . . .