Sexual Purity Support & Recovery Group
I created the survey linked below so that I can get a better feel of the use of pornography in our society. This link will be sent to various churches then compiled, analyzed, and discussed in a later Castimonia post.
The survey is completely anonymous. Please participate!
It is my personal opinion that if you are or were involved in prostitution then you were linked to human trafficking and the problems associated with it. I pray that none of you who read this post and watch this trailer are continuing to visit prostitutes in the United States, or abroad….
The full video can be ordered through the Nefarious website: http://nefariousdocumentary.com/
“Modern slavery.” It sounds like a paradox. Hasn’t humanity progressed? Didn’t we leave slavery dead on the battlefields of the American Civil War? Didn’t social reformers like Lincoln and Wilberforce legislate against such cruelty over a hundred years ago? So we had thought. But, with over 27 million enslaved people in the world, human trafficking is once again the battlefront of the century.
Regardless of nationality, victims are systematically stripped of their identity, battered into gruesome submission, and made to perform humiliating sexual acts on up to 40 strangers every night. Most are held in dingy apartments and brothels, forced to take heavy doses of illegal drugs, and monitored very closely. Victims are often thrown into such ghastly oppression at 13 years old. Some are abducted outright, while others are lured out of poverty, romantically seduced, or sold by their families.
Nefarious, Merchant of Souls, is a hard-hitting documentary that exposes the disturbing trends in modern sex slavery. From the very first scene, Nefarious ushers you into the nightmare of sex slavery that hundreds of thousands experience daily. You’ll see where slaves are sold (often in developed, affluent countries), where they work, and where they are confined. You’ll hear first-hand interviews with real victims and traffickers, along with expert analysis from international humanitarian leaders.
From initial recruitment to victim liberation—and everything in between—the previously veiled underworld of sex slavery is uncovered in the groundbreaking, tell-all Nefarious, Merchant of Souls.
We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12)
In today’s Castimonia meeting we reviewed Step 10 from the Twelve Steps for Christians and the SAA Green Book.
In understanding Step 10, one equation is important to me.
Step 10 = (Step 4 + Step 5 + Step 6 + Step 7 + Step 8 + Step 9)
If one understands this, Step 10 becomes much easier to work through. Why? Because we’ve already worked Step 10 when we worked through Steps 4 – 9! However, it is equally important to understand the basis of Step 10. As is stated in our “How it Works” section, “…we are not perfect as Christ.” This tells me that there will be days when I don’t work my program or live my life perfectly, and that is OK. The 10th Step states, “When we were wrong,” not “IF we were wrong.” This signifies that WE WILL fall short, there is no doubt. We are humans and only Christ was perfect and I am not He. The point is, we don’t beat ourselves up because we fall short, we work through our program, take personal inventory, expose those character defects, make amends, and move forward!
“Even with our best efforts we make mistakes. We are human, and we fall short of the mark regularly, even when we are abstinent from our addictive sexual behavior….. our imperfection is certain, and mistakes are inevitable. We adopt the attitude of learning from, rather than denying, our mistakes. Working this step allows us to let go of both perfectionism and grandiosity. We gradually discover the relief and humility of not having to be perfect.” – SAA Green Book, p. 52 & 55
Well stated by the SAA Green Book. I really like the thought that I don’t have to be perfect. That a healthy me does not have to be perfect to be a good person, to be lovable! The key is, to be able to admit when we are wrong, even at the cost of losing everything in our lives. To continue to live in rigorous honesty is key to our continued growth in recovery and in maintaining long-term sobriety. In understanding Step 10, we need to understand that the 12 Steps are “living” and we will continue to work them as long as we remain in recovery.
The true test will be if a person goes through a relapse into addictive sexual behaviors. I pray that no one ever has to go through this test! However, in understanding that the steps work and there is continued growth in recovery and in working the steps on a daily basis, one must be courageous enough to follow through with the 10th Step if one has a relapse into addictive sexual behavior. Yes, they could lose their spouse, their family, their jobs, but it is better to admit when we failed, than to allow the addiction to hold onto us tightly with the chains of secrecy! We must be courageous enough to trust in God that He is loving and caring and will see us through any of these difficulties. We must be courageous enough to step back into the light and release any secrets we have held onto after a relapse. We must be courageous enough to stay in recovery, no matter the cost!
The program works, if you work it.
Just a reminder to everyone that we are starting a fourth weekly Castimonia meeting on Tuesday nights, beginning Tuesday, October 2nd! The meeting will be held “off campus” at another church who was gracious enough to adopt Castimonia as their Men’s Sexual Purity Support & Recovery group! Chad and Dale will be the facilitators for this new Castimonia group.
I look forward to seeing you this Tuesday night!
Castimonia Men’s Sexual Purity Support & Recovery Group
Time: Tuesday Nights, 7:00PM – 8:30PM
Location: Vineyard Church of Sugar Land
Room B2240 (Park in the rear and enter doors under the car cover. Go to the second floor)
5015 Grove West Boulevard
Stafford, TX 77477
I really enjoyed reading this short story. See my personal interpretation below.
Once upon a time there was a little boy. He had found a little dirt cave, all his own. It wasn’t that he didn’t like others, he just needed a secret. Every day when no one was watching, he would run to his secret place.
At first just being there was enough. He liked to be alone with his thoughts, his feelings…it was nice with no big sisters to bother him, and no one asking him questions or wanting him to do stuff. He grew to like the silence. To want it.
As time went on though, he became bored with his tiny space and he started digging out the walls to make it bigger. It wasn’t that hard to do. The dirt was soft. It got into his fingernails though, and that part was hard to scrub out, but with time he became used to the dirt. It stopped bothering him.
The hole did bother him though. He had made it bigger, but it still seemed to make him feel cramped. He realized that maybe if he cleared out a little more, it would feel alright, so he scraped the walls and clawed the dirt away.
Each day he still went home when playtime was over. He was a good boy. Just a little dirty and a little tired after all his digging. His sister stopped bothering him so much. She said that he was mean, but he didn’t care. He wanted her to leave him alone. His mom and dad wished he would stop getting so messy, but he tried to get clean. At least clean enough so they wouldn’t be mad.
Then he would wait. Wait and think about his secret. He thought about it a lot. When he was at school he wished he could go there. When he was helping his mom in the garden, he thought about how the dirt from the cave felt under his fingers. Sometimes he wondered if he should try finding a new hole. The one he had, was starting to get more comfortable though, in a still cramped way.
One day he went to the cave after school. He thought it was looking big. Maybe big enough, but if he added just a little more space…so, he dug. He clawed at the dirt on the walls, and he clawed at the dirt he could still reach on the ceiling. He felt a little fall down on him, but he didn’t mind. He was too focused on digging.
While he was digging at the ceiling near the door, some of the dirt from the back started falling down. It happened quickly, but the boy didn’t notice until clumps of dirt started breaking off in his fingers and he was struggling to breathe. Everything around him had caved in. His head and arm had been near the entrance to the cave, so he could see the sky and he could move his arm. He gasped for air as the pressure squeezed him. He closed his eyes…and he started digging…
The way I read the above story is that of an addict, particularly a sex addict who can escape into their own little world, or in this case, cave and medicate their feelings. I learned to do this at a very early age. I would escape feelings of loneliness and abandonment through sexually acting out. The further into the addiction I went, the “safer” I felt until the cave-in and me hitting rock bottom.
Now, in recovery, I am digging my way out, slowly, carefully, one day at a time.
This site is intended for individuals who struggle with maintaining sexual purity. This information is posted for individuals at various stages in their recovery, year 1 to year 30+; what applies to some, may not apply others. Spouses are encouraged to read this blog with the caveat that they may not agree with, understand, or know the reason for some items posted. As always, take what you like and leave the rest.
