Porn’s Dark Shame Shamed by Christ’s Brilliant Victory on the Cross

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Although the Gospel’s light shines into our deepest darknesses, giving God’s people freedom from sin’s slavery, the dread blackness of shame, especially shame from sexual addictions, constantly deceives Christians into shutting their eyes. Sexual sin leaves one awash in an ocean of guilt, feeling as if the True Light is not already shining. Is the Gospel of Christ powerful enough to give true and certain freedom from the power and debilitation of shame’s blinding darkness?

In his penetrating and practical article, Gutsy Guilt, Pastor John Piper points Christians to Christ’s brilliant victory. Turning to Colossians 2, Piper explains the foundation upon which Christians can boldly open their eyes to the objective light of Christ and the benefits of His victory over sin and death. Surprisingly, the way Christians conquer the shame of sin is through Christ’s shaming of sin on the cross. Only with such a powerful weapon as Christ’s shaming victory can Christians overcome the false shame of sexual sin, or any other sin.

Here’s the opening to Pipers powerful article:

The closest I have ever come in 26 years to being fired from my position as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church was in the mid-1980s, when I wrote an article for our church newsletter titled “Missions and Masturbation.” I wrote the article after returning from a missions conference in Washington, D.C., with George Verwer, the head of Operation Mobilization.

Verwer’s burden at that conference was the tragic number of young people who at one point in their lives dreamed of radical obedience to Jesus, but then faded away into useless American prosperity. A gnawing sense of guilt and unworthiness over sexual failure gradually gave way to spiritual powerlessness and the dead-end dream of middle-class security and comfort. (Read the full article…)

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2 thoughts on “Porn’s Dark Shame Shamed by Christ’s Brilliant Victory on the Cross”

  2. Dear Mr. Koos,

    Thank you for commenting and sharing your strong opinion. After reading your article I am quite surprised that you “disagree strongly.” For, in comparing the two articles it appears to me that both articles are trying to communicate the benefits of Christ’s redemption as applied to victory over sexual sin. Do you not share the same goal?

    In trying to reach that goal, however, your criticisms of Piper’s article appeared to stem from reading him in the worst possible light, making unfair assumptions, and misunderstanding many of Piper’s fundamental points. Perhaps re-reading Piper with a hermeneutic of charity and less antagonism will reveal not the wide variance, but the surprising nearness between what you and Piper are both attempting to communicate.

    To demonstrate what I mean, I offer the following commentary on selected points in your article, How To Deal With The Guilt Of Sexual Failure – A Response To John Piper:

    Example 1: False Dilemma

    For example, you claim to “cringe” at Piper’s apparently saying that sin is OK, as if sin is “actually somewhat tolerable,” as you put it:

    When I first read Piper’s perspective on this vital topic, it made me cringe. He had encapsulated a message and point of view that I had heard before and have found totally ineffective and destructive. Underlying his message is an assumption that “blowing it” periodically in the sexual realm was unfortunate but actually somewhat tolerable. Instead of looking at our own weaknesses, we need to place our focus on God’s grace, since He has forgiven us. As we mature in our faith, the problem will diminish. There is no reason to overemphasize our sin. Boys will be boys.

    However, did you not read where Piper cited Paul’s strong condemnation of this very error in Romans 6:1? Piper clearly makes no such allowance that sin is “actually somewhat tolerable;” rather, he states unambiguously that such a view is “blindness”:

    Many see so little of the beauty of Christ in this salvation that the gospel simply sounds to them like a license to go on sinning. If all my sins are nailed to the Cross, then let’s all sin that grace may abound (Rom. 6:1). Paul confronted that blindness in his own day and said, “Their condemnation is just” (Rom. 3:8).

    Thus, at least two full paragraph of your article (the one quoted above, and the subsequent paragraph which begins,”However, after more reflection, my concern has deepened.”) can simply be deleted. For, you plainly do not disagree with Piper on the sinfulness of sin and the need for Christians to cease from sinning. (For further related evidence, see Piper’s sermons on the topic of indwelling sin.)

    Example 2: False Dilemma

    You claim that (a) Piper argues a sort of victory over sin through knowledge (i.e. “theology” and “mere knowledge”) alone, a knowledge devoid of obedience. Then, you further claim that (b) Piper says nothing of repentance in relation to sexual sin:

    It is important to recognize that obedience rather than knowledge is the key to success. Piper ascribes far too much benefit to mere knowledge. Theological knowledge is fine as far as it goes, but can delude one if it is not coupled with obedience. In that form, it will lead to a righteousness like that of the Pharisees, who were content to preen without corresponding works worthy of repentance. It is telling that the concept of repentance does not appear in any of these three documents produced by Piper.

    However, both charges are spurious. On the former (a), instead of claiming that faith allows one to be a lazy, sinful Christian, as you imply, Piper makes strong, clear statements that faith in Christ is an active, fighting faith, a faith that constantly wages war against sin:

    This faith will fight anything that gets between it and Christ. The distinguishing mark of saving faith is not perfection. It is not that I never sin sexually. The mark of faith is that I fight. I fight not with fists or knives or guns or bombs, but with the truth of Christ. I fight anything that diminishes the fullness of the lordship of Jesus in my life. I fight anything that threatens to replace Jesus as the supreme treasure of my life.

    So if all you can see in the Cross of Jesus is a license to go on sinning, then you don’t have saving faith. You need to fall on your face and plead that God would open your eyes to see the compelling glory of Jesus Christ.

    On the latter (b), contrary to your claim that “the concept of repentance” isn’t in Piper’s articles, the quote just given clearly champions the truth that to “fight anything that gets between” the Christian and Christ means to always be turning away from sin, even violently so! (For further related evidence, see Piper’s sermons on repentance.)

    Example 3: Non Sequitur

    The second paragraph quoted here from your article does not follow from the first:

    The sticky sin issue is one that is problematic for evangelicals. On the one hand, we fervently preach forgiveness from the penalty of sin. On the other, we seem to lack a belief that having been saved, we are also freed from the power of sin. As we have received Christ so we must also walk in Him. Sin not only results in eternal punishment, it also destroys our ability to function as we were designed to function. Lust, for example, is a sin that will absolutely derail the walk of a Christian. We were not designed to lust and to use our minds as unwholesomely creative fantasy generators. Accepting Christ and walking in Him, means being freed from the power of all sin including the sin of lust. Nevertheless, this is not the apex of the Christian life. Our model is not Adam nor our goal merely to attain some implausible sinless state. Rather, our goal is Christ living in us, furthering His mighty Kingdom and being joint heirs with Him as we bear His name. This incredible outcome, which was preordained before the foundation of the world, was hidden but is now revealed. This is our true calling not busy work and certainly not the life’s work that we seek to achieve.

    Piper, on the other hand, seems preoccupied with the idea that some may give up the “calling” that is on their lives due to their sexual failures. Apparently, this calling is some sort of full time Christian service. I would argue that it is a far greater tragedy to move into a position of church leadership even though we are allowing lust to occupy our thoughts. If Satan can continue to delude us into thinking that Christian leaders, let alone everyday Christians, are incapable of living in victory over sin, as they live in Christ, he would surely consider that sweet victory, indeed.

    It is not only important to note that the second paragraph is a non sequitur, but also it is more important to see that Piper’s article makes the same point as your first paragraph: In Christ we are freed from both the penalty and the power of sin! Furthermore, Piper contends against the same error you contend against in your second paragraph: to live in sin is a rebellion against our righteousness in Christ!

    For these reasons (and many more could be cited) I humbly submit that a re-reading of Piper’s articles may reveal not how far apart you are, but rather how close together you are in trying to communicate the implications of Christ’s victory over sin and death for living in victory over sexual sin.

    only by grace,
    LO

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