http://www.mikeleake.net/2013/10/why-bouncing-the-eyes-is-incomplete-advice.html
Why “Bouncing the Eyes” Is Incomplete Advice
October 22, 2013 18 Comments
Lust is like a nasty monster that lives in your heart. If
you feed it, he gets fatter and eventually overcomes you. If you starve it,
then he’ll waste away to nothing and you’ll win those battles with pornography
much easier. So, how do you win that battle with porn? You bounce your eyes—turn
and look the other way.
That was the gist of how I was taught (and in turn taught
others) to battle lust and pornography. While I do believe there is some
warrant to this teaching, I believe now that it is largely incomplete.
First of all, lust isn’t a monster that gets obese when fed
and skinny when ignored. He gets louder when you ignore him. He’ll make you
think more about porn and not less; at least until you feed him, then he’ll
mock you and go about his merry way. Lust is not a monster that needs to be
deprived, it is a rebel that needs to be actively slain.
Secondly, you lust and/or or indulge in pornography because
you have a problem with objectifying a person. It is impossible to look at porn
and not objectify a woman or a man. This is why “bouncing the eyes” is
incomplete advice. It continues to objectify people. All you are doing is
telling yourself “no” to an object.
We like to use Psalm 101:3 to remind ourselves of our
covenant to “set no unclean thing before our eyes”. The unclean thing, we
imagine, includes the objects of our lust.
Granted, those engaging in sinful sexual acts might be
“unclean”, but they certainly are not things. They are people created in the
image of God. Some of these “unclean things” aren’t who you think they are. They
are scared little girls thrust onto the screen, or in front of a camera,
against their desires.
She doesn’t need you to simply “bounce your eyes”. She needs
to be seen as a person, created in the image of God. Even if she is sinning of
her own accord. She needs rescue.
Healing
Listen, if you stop at “bouncing your eyes” and think you
have conquered your porn problem you haven’t. We aren’t fully healed until we
stop seeing men and women as objects.
Real healing is found in a Person.
You and I need Jesus Christ to pour His grace upon us. We
need forgiveness for the way that we’ve made shipwreck of God’s good gift. The
guilt of our sin needs to be removed from us as far as the east is from the
west. This is what Jesus loves to do. He loves to wash those that have engaged
in the vilest of sexual acts and viewed the worst of pornography.
Only through Jesus Christ is the monster of lust decisively
slain. And only through Jesus Christ do we regain our true identity. If you are
in Jesus Christ, your fundamental identity isn’t as a “porn watcher”. Your
fundamental identity is as one that has been washed—you are redeemed. And that
is your identity no matter how many hours of porn you watch after coming to
know Jesus.
Furthermore, it is through Jesus Christ that our minds are
restored. It is through Him that we are able to view men and women as His
creation and not as objects of our desire. If we are to win the battle with
lust, He can (and must) change our view of people. This he does.
Marriage won’t fix your heart. Bouncing your eyes won’t fix
your heart. Accountability groups won’t fix your heart. Only Jesus Christ.
Fight with Him. Yes, you might need to do various things like unplugging your
computer, not going to the beach, and turning your eyes on occasion. (That’s
the axe work). But that is incomplete. You need Jesus to transform that which
you view as objects into people.
