Podcasts

Empathy isn’t a feeling that’s supposed to show up on cue the night your wife tells you how much your choices have cost her — it’s a skill you build long before that moment arrives. In this episode, Chris unpacks why empathy is so hard for men walking through sexual addiction and betrayal recovery, and offers a simple, practical framework — the HEART process (Halt, Examine, Attend, Reflect, Turn toward) — for staying present with someone else’s pain instead of defending, fixing, or fleeing it.

Scripture Referenced

●       James 1:19 (NIV) — quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger

●       Philippians 2:3–4 (NIV) — valuing others above ourselves

●       John 11:35 (NIV) — “Jesus wept” at Lazarus’s tomb

●       Romans 12:15 (NIV) — “mourn with those who mourn”

Resources Mentioned

●       Dr. Jake Porter, Daring Ventures Counseling, Coaching & Consulting — daringventures.com

●       Email the show: puritypodcast@castimonia.org

A lot of us have learned to treat self-hatred as proof of sincerity — beating ourselves up in front of our wives, or in the privacy of our own heads, as if the depth of our misery is what makes our sorrow real. This week, Chris unpacks the difference between Judas’s self-destructive remorse and Peter’s restorative grief, names three ways self-shame disguises itself as repentance, and offers a practical alternative: trading performance for fruit — the kind of consistent, visible follow-through that actually rebuilds trust with the people we’ve hurt.

Scripture Referenced

Matthew 27:3–5 (Judas’s remorse) · Luke 22:54–62 (Peter’s denial and weeping) · John 21:15–19 (Jesus restores Peter) · 2 Corinthians 7:10–11 (godly sorrow produces action) · Luke 3:8 (“bear fruit in keeping with repentance”) · Romans 2:4 (God’s kindness leads to repentance)

Resources & Links Mentioned

Castimonia.org — Christ-centered 12-Step recovery meetings · puritypodcast@castimonia.org — send in your questions or story · The Transformational Recovery Matrix (Trapped quadrant, referenced in this episode)

Why do men who love God, hate their sin, and genuinely want freedom keep going back? In this episode, Chris breaks down the neuroscience behind pornography addiction — dopamine hijacking, receptor downregulation, trigger wiring, and what the first 90 days of recovery actually feel like from the inside. Then he maps it all onto the Transformational Recovery Matrix to show why behavior management (Q4) and denial (Q3) can never get you to where God is calling you. Real freedom starts with understanding what’s actually happening in your brain — and surrendering that, too.

Key Concepts:

• Dopamine and the mesolimbic reward pathway

• Receptor downregulation and anhedonia in behavioral addiction

• Neuroplasticity and cortical rewiring

• HALT framework (Hunger, Anger, Loneliness, Tiredness)

• Urge surfing — mindfulness-based craving intervention

• Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS)

• Transformational Recovery Matrix™ — Q1 through Q4

Scripture:

• Romans 12:2 — “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”

• Hebrews 4:15 — “Tempted in every way, yet without sin”

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 — “New creation; the old has gone, the new is here”

Links for Show Notes:

• Transformational Recovery Matrix™ — ourrelentlesspursuit.com
• Castimonia recovery groups — castimonia.org
• Episode 137 (companion episode: Transformation, Not Transaction — Romans 12)
• Episode 107 (PATH Plan with Dan Johnson)

In this episode, Chris explores the Bible through the lens of addiction recovery and the Transformational Recovery Matrix. Drawing on themes from The Transformational Recovery Matrix, this conversation unpacks the differences between sobriety and transformation, performance and surrender, and behavior management and heart renewal.

Chris explains:

• Why addiction disciples the body and mind
• How the four recovery quadrants expose deeper heart postures
• The Greek meaning behind “be transformed”
• Why transformation is passive but participatory
• The difference between transactional and transformational recovery
• How “trivial boomerangs” reveal deeper character issues
• Why God grows oak trees, not microwaved Christians