Some time back I prayed that God would help me not to be obsessed with a girl and that I would not continue to sin by viewing pornography, but then I would end up sinning by doing those very things…. I have sinned so much against God, as a follower of Christ, that lately I feel that God won’t forgive me anymore…. Now I feel condemned and afflicted with a lot of fear because I don’t want God to give me up to my evil desires…. I just pray that He will show me His mercy one more time. I truly want to follow Him with all my strength and have the assurance of my salvation.

Dear Friend,

You say that you are a follower of Christ, so we know that you base your beliefs on the Bible, which is the Word of God. We look to the Bible to find the answers to our questions and the solutions for our problems.

In the Bible we can read about what Jesus Christ said and did when He was on the earth, living as a man. On one occasion, the religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus and wanted Him to condemn her because she had been caught in the act of adultery. Instead of condemning her, He told them that whichever of them was not a sinner should throw the first stone to punish her. Since all of us are sinners, not one of them could claim to be perfect, so they quietly left. Jesus then asked her where the men were who had condemned her, and she answered that none of them were left. And then He told her that He didn’t condemn her either. (1)

Christ had a purpose, and it was not to condemn. On the contrary, the Gospel of John says that, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (2) As difficult as it may be to believe, the life and words of Christ assure us that He is interested in saving us and not in condemning us.

However, that isn’t so difficult to believe when I think of our precious granddaughters. They are naughty every single day, because that’s how children are. But there will never be a day when we say, “No, that’s it! You have disobeyed too many times. You are not our granddaughters anymore.” Of course not! We will continue to love them and forgive them for their rebelliousness, their disobedience, and their disrespect. We love and forgive them just like God loves and forgives you.

We have posted many cases of people who have struggled with pornography. In fact, there are so many that we have a group of their stories with the advice we gave each one. We recommend that you read every case that is a part of the pornography group and that you then put all of those recommendations into practice. God doesn’t expect you to be perfect, but He does expect you to keep on trying.

We wish you well,

Linda
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1 Jn 8:11
2 Jn 3:17 (NIV)