A 22-year-old guy recently sent an email to one of our staff asking this very question.  We thought it would be great to provide the answer in a post so that anyone dealing with this same or similar situation could read it.  I’ve asked permission from the student if I could use his question to preface the post.  He agreed, so here is the circumstance he’s facing:

I’ve recently transferred to a new college. One of my new friends here and I discussed becoming accountability partners about a week ago. It usually takes me a while to talk about this kind of stuff with people so I felt blessed it happened so quickly. But then we told each other exactly what was going on and it turns out that both of us struggle with SSA. After that, we both agreed that accountability obviously wouldn’t work between us and that sharing these kinds of deep struggles with each other won’t help matters, under the circumstances. We’ve both been committed to Christ and have never pursued any unhealthy relationships and don’t intend to, but I’m having trouble knowing exactly how I should handle our friendship from here on out. Since you work in ministry and work with others that likely deal with the same issues, what do you do to avoid conflict or temptation? The last thing I want to do is make a brother stumble. I have been praying for years for someone who could relate to what was going on in my own life. I know God had a hand in us meeting. But I’d like to respect my friend in his walk and at the same time honor God in our friendship. Thanks for any input. (keep reading…)

About seven years ago I attended my first Exodus conference.  As I was looking at the multitude of workshops offered during the week I came across one entitled “Something, something…MASTURBATION”.  I can’t remember the whole title, because I just saw that “m” word.  I knew I had to go to that one.  But of course when the time came to go I was filled with so much trepidation and shame.  Would I be the only one in the workshop?  I got up enough courage to go, and to my amazement, the room was so full, there was barely any standing room.  It was such a relief to know that I was no longer the only person, or one of the select few, who dealt with this issue.

Something that is so common, a problem for so many Christians, is one of the few things ever discussed in church.  So what is the answer to the question, ‘Is masturbation a sin?’  Is there really anything wrong with it?  I mean, what’s the harm?  What does the Bible say? (keep reading…)

A common roadblock in the pursuit of purity is the accountability relationship that starts off with good intentions but quickly fizzles out. Ever get depressed and discouraged by simply hashing over the same habitual sins over and over–even in the company of supportive Brothers or Sisters in Christ?

What if accountability was meant to be more than that? Check out this great article over at the Boundless webzine: