![]() For them, sexual sin isn’t tied to any doctrine (such as total depravity) or chiefly to the event of the Fall or a sinful nature that needs to remedied by Christ, but is simply “a series of bad decisions on our part.” They acknowledge that Christ has freed us from the power of sexual immorality, but then go on to claim that it is simply the habit of it which plagues us, as if there were a dichotomy between the power of sin in our lives and the habit of sin in our lives. In short, the problem with this book is that it treats sexual sin and the addiction to it as something chiefly physical rather than spiritual. When speaking of “How we got here” the authors mention that it is by being male, and make a short tie in to the Fall, but fail to dwell on the true state of the human condition. In the 209 pages of the book there are about 2 which briefly give an outline of the gospel in passing. What it all boils down to is a handful of strategies for a fallen man to try and defeat sin on his own, by treating it as just some biological or psychological disorder which can be remedied by following these certain steps. The authors present each case in a much more orderly fashion than that, but the pattern is the same, they throw everything they can at the reader in hopes that it will push the right buttons, whether that be guilt, desire for their spouse, desire for God, manhood, etc. The problem is that we’re mixing our standards with God’s, that we’re settling for less than perfection, that we’re men and we’re just wired this way at one moment the authors portray the issue as dire, at the next they acknowledge most men as having only a ‘fractional addiction’ or a ‘low-grade sexual fever’. This often makes the book appear eclectic, at one moment pointing out how men are thieves by entertaining sexual images of women who aren’t their own, at another pointing out what God requires of true manhood (implying they are a sissy if they won’t man up), at one moment stating that the goal is to stop cold turkey and then that the process takes six weeks, explaining the biological and psychological process behind temptations, at others pointing out that we simply lack a perception of the urgency needed in the battle. According to the authors, this war can be won within six weeks as you starve your mind, your hormones kick back and you defeat sexual temptation as any bad habit is defeated.Īll in all, the book is a very practical minded approach to overcoming the war on sexual sin utilizing every means necessary to try and motivate the reader to enter the battle. The idea is to get in a habit of ‘bouncing’ the eyes, of gaining motivation by remembering what it is that you have to gain (a closer relationship with your wife, children, ministry and God) and what you have to lose through sexual sin (true intimacy and possibly your wife herself), that you don’t have the right to think about women in certain ways, of starving the mind of tempting images so and eventually allowing the hormones to dry up simply, allowing no sexual images to enter the mind (save for those of the wife in regards to married men). Their primary tool for this is by utilizing the Job’s tactic of having made a covenant with his eyes. You’ll have freedom from sexual impurity as soon as those defense perimeters are in place.” As the authors state, “We must choose to be more than male. Setting up defense perimeters and choosing not to sin. ![]() In your heart… So there’s your battle plan. To put it in the author’s words: “That means our objective in the war against lust is to build three perimeters of defense into your life: 1. ![]() Their outline is to establish victory on three fronts, through the eyes, the mind, and the heart. ![]() It then goes on to point out how we came to this point (mixing standards, settling for less than perfection, by simply being male) and calls for a return to true manhood, to choose victory, and then explains how the authors believe this victory can be achieved. It begins by defining the problem, explaining where it is that men stand in this battle: that is, assaulted on every side by every form of media and through our bodies themselves. The layout of the book is very straightforward. Every man (and woman, but they have their own book) faces the battle of sexual sin, and here authors Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker attempt to outline a plan for winning that war, for freeing men from the shackles of sexual sin and temptation through a combination of personal testimony and practical steps. The title Every Man’s Battle does well to summarize the issue being dealt with in the book. ![]()
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