Breaking Free from Sex Addiction is Almost Impossible but 2 Things Can Set You Free
Watch CBN News Showcase for a realistic look at just how great the problem of sex addiction is in our nation and churches. Learn from a doctor, a Bible teacher and our CBN News medical reporter about ways to break free through the power of God's Word, how He wonderfully created the brain - and the new science of epigenetics - all working together to set you free.
Sex addiction can hook its victims in a much worse way than other vices, such as drugs or alcohol.
With the national spotlight on one sex scandal after another from Hollywood to Washington, D.C. the problem is being brought to light like never before.
Experts say it's not only a serious problem - it's one of the most powerful. However, there's good news and hope as science is now telling us what God has always said in His Word - there is hope and a path to the freedom you might not know about.
CBN News spoke with one of the world's most renowned experts to find out why sex addiction is considered the strongest of addictions.
Dr. Doug Weiss speaks at conferences like one held in Rockaway, New Jersey.
"Sexual addiction is probably one of the hardest addictions to walk out of because it's part of who you are," Dr. Doug Weiss, head of the American Association for Sex Addiction, explained.
"Drugs aren't a part of who you are," he said. "Alcohol isn't a part of who you are. It's something that you do. Sexuality is part of who you are."
Weiss offered more insight on why this addiction is so hard to break.
"The scripture says when we sin sexually, we sin against our own body. What happens is you get these endorphins, hits the excitement center of your brain, then BOOM, you literally glue to whatever you're looking at," Weiss explained.
Watch CBN News Showcase above to learn how to reset your brain and get your endorphins working for you and not against you as in the case of addiction. Also learn how you can break the addiction and generational curses of addiction through retraining your brain and literally creating new neurological pathways with the power of God's Word, how He created your brain and the science of epigenetics.
"Well, if that's an object, now you've created an appetite for an object, and that can create lust, sin, and death in your life. That's ," he said.
As Weiss pointed out, this is deadly serious as well as hard to beat.
"The actual sexual chemical is stronger than anything you can take," he said.
Other Tips on How to Get 'Clean'
In his book, Weiss writes, "To change a behavior you might want to change your conditioning from positive rewards for lust to setting up a negative reward for this behavior."
"If you look at something or do something inappropriate, have a consequence set up and enforce it," he wrote.
He offers the following list of suggestions:
- No media for one, two, or three weeks.
- No cell phone for one, two, or three days.
- Walk to work.
- Pick up trash for two to four hours.
- Give money to a political or nonprofit organization you really disagree with.
- Eat a raw onion.
- Run two miles (if you're not in shape).
"Get a rubber band and place it around your wrist for at least 30 days," Weiss writes on page 91. "Every time you lust, objectify, double take, rubber neck or have a past image hit your brain, snap the rubber band."
"Men have told me over the years that this negative reinforcement has shut down as much as 80 percent of their lust life and reduced the power of their landmines within a month," he said. "Some men have found it helpful to quote a scripture after they snap the rubber band."
Scriptures to Keep on Hand
Weiss offered the following examples of Bible verses that have been helpful in refocusing men's attention and healing their brains:
- "(Treat) older women as mothers and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity." (I Timothy 5:2).
- "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" ( ).
- Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things" ( ).
- "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship." ( ).
Watch CBN News Showcase above for our interview with the Conquer Series' Luke Gibson as he tells how men are being set free from sex addiction and pornography with the powerful combination of the spiritual and the physiological.
"If you don't have an accountability partner, get one," Weiss writes. "The enemy of your soul looks for easy prey. The easiest prey for our enemy is a man who is not honest or accountable; in other words, he is alone." (pg. 93)
"'You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness,'" he said, quoting . "Jesus not only loved righteousness, he hated wickedness. I believe there is a place in our hearts in which we need not coddle our lust and sexual sin - we must hate it." (pg. 97)
"Unfortunately, your flesh doesn't change overnight. Be persistent," he adds on pg.94.
CBN News Medical Reporter Lorie Johnson appeared on CBN News Showcase this week to discuss addiction, how God created our brains and epigenetics. She agrees it takes persistence.
She says start practicing new habits and take it one day at a time.
"Ask God to help you renew your mind and make those crooked places straight as God's Word also talks about. God can work with you spiritually and physically to make these new pathways," Johnson said.
She says literally the neurological pathways carved out by your addiction - that take you down the same road again and again with that destructive behavior - can be altered. They can be erased and a new healthy pattern created that leads you away from your addiction and eliminate the generation curse of addiction. Watch the full program above to learn more.
