A Commitment to Reality

We all have a pornography problem, whether we’ve ever watched pornography or not. The issue with pornography goes far beyond sex—it’s an issue of vision. How we view one another.We have lost our ability to see properly, and when we lose our sense of spiritual vision, we reduce persons made in the image of God to objects for our consumption. Pornography is simply one of the most obvious ways that we objectify one another. The normalization and proliferation of pornography have disastrous consequences for the soul—consequences that extend far beyond pornography itself.If pornography is demonic iconography, then an understanding of holy iconography can be used to reliably guide us back to reality. To regain our spiritual vision, we must learn to see every face we encounter as an icon of Christ. This includes our enemies. This involves learning to venerate rather than objectify.Andrew Williams—mental health chaplain, psychotherapist, and author of From Object to Icon: The Struggle for Spiritual Vision in a Pornographic World—joins Dave Hanegraaff on Commitment to Reality to talk about how we lost our vision, and how we get it back.For more information on From Object to Icon: The Struggle for Spiritual Vision in a Pornographic World please click here. https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-from-object-to-icon-the-struggle-for-spiritual-vision-in-a-pornographic-world/Thank you for joining Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow Commitment to Reality wherever you get your podcasts.(Timestamps below.)0:00 — How does one define oneself?3:00 — The biggest problem with pornography is a problem of vision4:45 — What is pornography?7:00 — We all have a pornography problem11:20 — Training algorithms before they train us14:00 — Practicing nepsis—the sober guarding of our soul15:45 — The problem with thinking of sin as breaking a rule rather than deforming our soul18:40 — Evil never exists in isolation, but is always the perversion of goodness24:35 — Why is the act of confession so important?28:00 — Why are icons important? (and not idolatrous)36:45 — Why would we need iconography for prayer?40:30 — What is veneration and why is it necessary in the life of a Christian?44:45 — Embracing an icon and watching pornography are based on the same desire49:30 — You can actually rightly venerate pornography53:00 — The nous—the source of our spiritual vision55:00 — Idolizing individualism is literally idiotic57:30 — Imagination can be a dangerous thing1:00:00 — It’s not enough to kill our desires, we must transform them1:02:15 — We must accept that we are powerless—could anything be less American?1:05:00 — How can we experience true freedom?1:08:45 — What is true repentance?1:12:00 — Why does the Church care so much about sex?1:15:20 — Where are we most eager to ignore reality?1:19:15 — In a world that feels increasingly unreal—what feels most real?1:25:40 — The answer to the problem of pornography is real relationship and vulnerability1:28:00 — Stand on the edge of the abyss. And when you feel it’s beyond your strength, break off and have a cup of tea