The Pornography Epidemic and the False Doctrine of Free-Will

Pornography has become an epidemic in our generation of epic proportions. The amount of men (and women) who feel hopelessly addicted to pornography at this present hour is staggering. For many saints, this issue is experienced as their greatest  struggle in this age. The testimony of untold millions of young adults who have access to the internet is that “there is no hope.” The bait worked and now addiction has taken root for what appears to be a long time. For some, the war for freedom from addiction to pornography is an active struggle. And for others, the white flag of surrender has been flying for some time.

It’s no news that the church by and large has been almost completely silent over the issue. And when she has spoken it’s been rather unhelpful. Most of the time, all we’ve been able to do is tell people to “Quit it.” And the multitudes respond by saying “We can’t!” or “Why would we?” And in response we are silent. And our silence is painfully deafening.

While it’s true that sexual immorality is a sin that needs to be repented of, we are of no benefit to the hordes and masses entrenched in the destructive cycle of sexual addiction if all we do is point out how destructive it is without providing a superior alternative. Criticism without an alternative isn’t just unproductive – it’s annoying. We need to see that until the church can present an alternative that can be proven to be superior to the fleeting pleasures of sexual immorality we shouldn’t expect our call to repentance to be heeded. Our inability to present an alternative to sin has been the greatest apologetic against our message. And it’s tragic. The enduring relevance of the Gospel is that every pleasure in this age is unfathomably inferior in quality to the pleasures of those offered to those who have been bought with blood and born of the Spirit. And until we begin to declare the pleasures of the Gospel in a convincing way by word and by deed, we will lose the war; and  this requires that we find it ourselves. Without an objective alternative to pornography and the whole host of sexual opportunities that have been presented to the nations of the earth, the church has no voice to speak into the enslaved masses.

It’s absolutely essential that we understand the nature of the crisis at hand. And we mustn’t underestimate it. It needs to be said that any leader in the Body of Christ who doesn’t have a strategy to lead their people out of sexual sin is of little benefit to those people in these days. The battle is raging. And yet the call to arms can scarcely be heard.

In this article I want to address an issue that powerfully undermines our ability to experience, announce or demonstrate this alternative. Embracing this doctrine as truth has lost the church her prophetic ability to declare both the plight of man and the glory of God. That issue is the issue of free-will.

I believe that the doctrine of free-will has paralyzed the church, silenced her voice and dramatically deceived the nations (or at least seriously confused them). The Biblical alternative to the false doctrine of the freedom of the will can be summed up in the antithetical phrase “the bondage of the will.” This alternative rests upon the idea (or fact) that man’s will is not free to lead and govern the members of a man but is subject to and under the influence of the members of a man. In other words, his will is dictated and governed by his nature; not vice versa.

I have written about the Biblical and logical bankruptcy of the doctrine of free-will elsewhere; and my intention here is not to present a Biblical case to show how it falls short on a Scriptural level. My intention here is to show how it undermines the preaching of the Gospel and how it hinders and prolongs deliverance from sexual immorality.

It is my earnest conviction that the affirmation of the freedom of the will and the denial of the bondage of the will has set God’s messengers up to lose the war on pornography and has set the saints up to fail. As long as man perceives himself to be free when he is in bondage, he has no right to hope or expect deliverance.

HOW THE DOCTRINE OF FREE-WILL UNDERMINES THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL

Wherever the Gospel is preached and man is told he has free-will, contradiction abides. The core message of the Gospel is that all of humanity are “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:1-3) who “by nature” are incapable of “good” (Rom. 3:10) and who “do the will of their father the devil” (Jn. 8:44). Paul summed up the nature of humanity in Romans 6:19-20 by saying that prior to regeneration and the miraculous indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are all “slaves to impurity” and “slaves to sin.”

We shoot ourselves in the foot when we proclaim humanity to be both “slaves to sin” AND “free.” It’s a contradiction of terms.

What does it mean to be a “slave to impurity” and a “slave to sin” if we are still “free” to not sin or engage our members in impurity? How pervasive is our slavery to sin? Has it impacted our wills? If men are free to choose righteousness and purity, then what are we to understand the term “slave” to mean? The juxtaposition of “slave” and “free” in the presenting of the Gospel is a radical contradiction in terms.

Adam had a free-will. He was capable of choosing good and evil. But after Adam’s plunge into depravity and exile from the Garden, Adam and his offspring were bound by the sin that had now corrupted Adam’s frame and permeated all his members. Prior to the great plunge, God looked at man and said “Good.” After the plunge, God looked and “subjected the creation to futility in hope” (Rom. 8:20). And there was a radical difference between the nature of Adam’s will before the Fall and after the Fall. What was the difference? – Subjection to futility. Humanity is bound up in futility looking forward with hope – the hope of God’s heart. What was the ultimate hope in God’s heart when condemning humanity to bondage and futility? – The “freedom from corruption and the obtaining of the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).

So let’s get our terms straight. We were pronounced to be “free” and “good” in the Garden. And after depravity gripped us in its destructive grip, we were pronounced to be “slaves,” “futile” and in “bondage.” And in light of this great tragedy, the Gospel of the Kingdom is that God has wrought deliverance for the damned masses by “cursing” (Gal. 3:13) His Son to whom He imputed “sin” (2 Cor. 5:21) and “condemned” (Rom. 8:3) “for us” (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 5:8). And because of the shedding of that innocent blood, He “causes” us to “be born again unto a new living hope” (1 Pt. 1:3-5). What is that hope? – The hope of freedom from bondage and futility; the freedom of the sons of God.

The nations of the earth are not sinners who have free-wills and a capacity to choose righteousness, purity and faith in Christ. The nations of the earth are “children of wrath” who have been “subjected to futility” and are in a most absolute sense “slaves to sin” and “impurity.” And so my question is: Why are we telling men that they are free when the Scriptures tell us that men are slaves? Why are we telling men that they can choose good when the Scriptures and our own proclamation of the Gospel declare that men choose evil and are under the just condemnation of God because of it? Have we not undermined our message? And have we not contradicted all that we stand for?

Here’s why this matters to as we approach the subject of deliverance from sexual immorality: We are telling the nations to quit looking at pornography, hiring prostitutes, buying and selling children as sex slaves and masturbating themselves to death. And the nations are declaring and demonstrating a profound inability to do so. Now why is that?! Isit because they are free or because they are slaves?

Either men are sinners who need saving grace [i] or they are sinners who need to make better decisions. And either we’re to tell them that their wills are in bondage to their corrupted nature of we’re to tell them that they are sinners but that sin has not corrupted them so deeply and radically that is has affected their will.

Often times when free-will is challenged we hear statements like “God didn’t create robots!” or “Without a choice love isn’t possible!” or “God is about relationship! He doesn’t flip a switch to make you love Him!” All of these statements have nothing to do with the assault of the false doctrine of free-will. To deny free-will is not to affirm the creation of robots, the negation of relationship or the manipulating of men’s hearts. To deny free-will is to affirm sin, bondage and futility. And it’s to highlight the absolute necessity of liberation, deliverance and an external force that is stronger than our wills that are continually bent on evil.

In other words, don’t read a denial of free-will in terms of an affirmation of robotic humanity. Read it in terms of an affirmation of the depravity of man and the necessity of saving grace. Read it in terms of a great God and Savior who effectually delivers hopeless and helpless children of wrath from a destruction they were unaware of. THIS is the sum and substance of the apostolic Gospel – the plight of man and the great salvation of God. By challenging the notion of free-will I am simply challenging the notion that man contributes to his being “saved” by choosing to be saved. And I am challenging the legitimacy of the term “saved” if what really happens is we “choose” to be saved; that’s much more of a joint venture than deliverance if you ask me! The term “saved” within the frame of the free-will Gospel renders the term meaningless. This is why the famous preacher CH Spurgeon said: “I will go as far as Martin Luther, where he says, “If any man ascribes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ rightly.”” [ii]

HOW THE DOCTRINE OF FREE-WILL PROLONGS DELIVERANCE FROM SEXUAL IMMORALITY

I wanted to start by arguing that the will is bound and not free in relationship to the issue of salvation before showing how the doctrine of free will affects the way we understand freedom from sexual sin. In my view, freedom from sexual sin is a sort of salvation. And we need to think of it as such. We need to proclaim “salvation” and “deliverance” from sexual addiction in the same way that we proclaim “salvation” and “deliverance” from sin itself that has corrupted our nature through the Fall.

Those who are bound up in sexual addiction are not in need of being coached to make decisions to quite using pornography or going to prostitutes; they are in need of a stronger internal force that will sustain them through temptation. And the church has little to offer in this realm. I say that because statistically those in the church are struggling with sexual sin to the same degree that those outside of the church are. It doesn’t mean that all of these people aren’t born again or covered in the blood (though many in fact are not), it means that they have yet to find (1) a superior pleasure to sexual sin, (2) foreign grace that empowers and sustains the resisting of it and (3) a way to experience the transformation of their will that is so inclined to sexual sin.

And here is where the issue of free will is so profoundly relevant. I hear preachers telling me that men and women possess free wills that are capable of choosing any available option at any given time. And yet, at the very same time, there are millions and even billions of individuals whose personal testimony is “Pornography is destroying me and yet I cannot quit using it no matter how hard I try.” It’s not that they do not make decisions with their will to quit using pornography – it’s that their will is weaker than their desires for sexual gratification. It’s not that the masses of Christians enslaved to internet pornography are rebellious individuals with free wills – it’s that they are children of God who assume that they can will their way out of temptation in the thick of it because they’ve been told they possess a free will.

No one on the planet has a free will. The term is a complete absurdity. And here’s why: The will is governed, dictated and ruled by the heart. It is therefore enslaved to the heart. In order to ascribe freedom to the heart it must be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the will is stronger and not subservient to hunger, emotions, intellect or any of the senses. And the moment that the will is swayed, influenced or dominated by anything within our members we lose all grounds on which to ascribe freedom to the will.

The life of a Christian is one of constant internal conflict due to the “weakness” of their “flesh” and the “willingness” of their “spirit” (Mt. 26:41). Jesus looked at the disciples on the night of His betrayal and declared this to be their condition. He said “Boys, listen to me. I affirm your willingness to stand with Me and to remain by My side. I see that you desire it and I see that your wills are bent towards me. But you underestimate the power of weakness that is residually within your from the exile of Adam from the Garden. Your weakness does not negate or nullify your willingness – it just has the power to overcome it.” Now, Jesus would also affirm that there would be a day in their lives when their weakness would not overcome their willingness. But how would that process take place? It would take place by a radical internal overhaul whereby the passions and the desires of the disciples would be rearranged. The things they once loved they would soon hate. And the things that once hated they would now love. And they would grow from strength to strength. This is the life of a true believer.

Why is this principle of weak flesh and a willing spirit relevant to the issue of sexual sin? – Because most of the church is in a position of profound temptation right now without an understanding of the anatomy of their heart, the nature of temptation, the condition of their will or the process of transformation. Though so many have a willingness to overcome the temptation, they also are too weak to do so – just like Peter, James and John desired to stay awake and to stand against temptation but could not.

We cannot just preach to ourselves and to the people we lead by saying “Repent from pornography!” Our hearts and theirs will respond by saying “We earnestly desire to! But we can’t!” We need to present a way of escape. The way of escape is not that mysterious or complex. But it will never be understood as long as we believe ourselves to be “free.” Until we acknowledge slavery to a certain thing and deal with it accordingly, all we’re doing is managing our guilt week to week. Some weeks we will be strong enough (read “arrogant enough”) to overcome our guilt and other weeks we will be destroyed by it. And around and around we’ll go hoping in vain for that magical day when our desire for sexual gratification is rid from our members.

The problem is, that day is not coming until we meet the Lord in the air or until we enter glory. In this age we must fight. We must war and we must strive to present ourselves as instruments of purity.

I have talked to countless young people who are struggling with pornography and without fail I hear the same statements repeated over and over like a broken record. “I hate pornography, but I can’t quit.” “I make a decision and a vow to stop and 2 days later I’m back into it.” “I sold my laptop because I can’t handle the temptation. But I still find a way!” And because the church is approaching the issue purely from the realm of the will, the battle is lost before it has begun. See, it’s not that decisions and choices aren’t involved! It’s that they are involved but that they are too weak and fragile when stacked up against the torrent of longing that is surging within us.

We must preach repentance from sexual immorality. We must! But if all we do is call people to make “decisions” to quit, all we’re doing is prolonging their deliverance by deluding them into thinking that their wills are strong enough to resist it. And they are not! And the statistics prove it! The emails in my inbox prove it! The prayer requests from young men everywhere prove it! The power of the will is blown away like chaff in the wind when the storm of desire begins to strike the shores of our hearts. And until we can present a force stronger than the human will we will never be able to navigate Christians in bondage through the dark night of temptation (let alone the unregenerate nations).

A CALL TO PREACH THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL AND THE BEAUTY OF JESUS

I want to see preachers all across the nations begin to condemn sexual immorality. And I want to see them do so as they pronounce that humanity is in inescapable bondage to the desires of their hearts. The nations need to know that they are sinners not by choice but by nature. And they need to know that their nature governs their wills. And they need to know how to make war with temptation though their wills are profoundly incapable of withstanding the force and fury of sexual desire.

Whether the issue is pornography or homosexuality or prostitution, we must begin to present it as slavery to those who are slaves and as an option to those who possess the power to fight it.

The only sort of preaching that is capable of challenging the seduction of this generation is the kind that emphasizes the bondage of the will and the beauty of Jesus. We must emphasize the bondage of the will so that men think of their condition rightly, of God rightly and of this great salvation rightly. And we must emphasize the beauty of Jesus because the human heart has no ability to repent of something without finding a superior substitute for the thing being repented of. That’s why I believe most of the ‘repentance’ that is observable in the church is actually just the transferring of affections from one fleeting pleasure to another. A man may repent of one thing to find himself in bondage to another 5 years later. Until the beauty of Jesus becomes the center of our preaching, our preaching will have little or no lasting impact on our nation or our generation.

I want to beckon as many as will hear it to wash your hands of the doctrine of man’s free will. For as long as men have hearts they will always be slaves to them; and their wills will be their servants. And as long as men’s hearts are fixed upon and won over by sexual temptation, men will be slaves to sexual immorality. No amount of will power can save a man from the fire of lust. And we cannot begin to wage war against it until we are clear in our thinking and speaking concerning the relationship between man’s heart and man’s will.

Thus Solomon said “Guard your heart. For out of it flow the issues of life” – including the exertion of your will.

[i] By the term “saving grace” I mean the grace that (1) imparts saving faith, (2) regenerates the dead spirit and (3) empowers a life of purity. That is, grace that saves, purifies and keeps.

[ii] Sermons Vol. 1; page 395