Atlanta Suspect’s Fixation on Sex Is Familiar Thorn for Evangelicals

The man...blamed “sexual addiction,” a disputed term used in parts of evangelical culture.

Combating improper sexual desire is an enduring theme in contemporary conservative evangelicalism. Some men partner in “accountability groups” and install software that monitors their use of pornography.

[lolol]

Robert Aaron Long...was so intent on avoiding pornography that he blocked several websites on his computer and had sought help at a Christian rehab clinic. A former roommate said that Mr. Long agonized over the possibility of “falling out of God’s grace.”

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...Long’s characterization of his motivations was also very recognizable to observers of evangelicalism and some evangelicals themselves. He seemed to have had a fixation on sexual temptation, one that can lead to despair among people who believe they are failing to follow the ideal of refraining from sex and even lust outside heterosexual marriage.

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if conversations around sexual issues have become more frank, the message that sex is reserved for straight married couples has remained unchanged.

Many Christians trace their condemnation of pornography back to Jesus. “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” he is quoted saying in the Gospel of Matthew.

For Protestants in particular, whose faith prioritizes correct internal beliefs and spiritual attitudes, that passage has contributed to a worldview in which inappropriate sexual thoughts are just as sinful as wrong actions.

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Dr. [Samuel] Perry [a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma]  described a phenomenon in some parts of evangelical culture that he called “sexual exceptionalism,” in which sexual sins are implied to be more serious than other categories.

[Ah! So murdering 8 people is not bad, see?]

“So many men boil down how they’re doing spiritually to how often they have looked at porn recently,” Dr. Perry said, reflecting on his research in evangelical settings. “Not whether they’d grown in their love toward others, given generously of their time, or spent time connecting with God, but if they masturbated.”

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Despite evangelicalism’s preoccupations with individual sexual morality, its leaders’ failures are so numerous as to have become cliché. In the most recent high-profile example, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries announced last month that its eponymous founder had a pattern of groping and exposing himself to massage therapists, among other sexual misconduct. Mr. Zacharias, who died in 2020, owned two day spas in the Atlanta area.

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In November, an associate pastor at the [Crabapple First Baptist] church, Luke Folsom, preached a sermon on the “battle” against sin. He quoted a verse from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus tells his followers that it may be worth gouging out an eye if it causes them to sin.

I was struck by this picture of “Crabapple” lol Baptist the first time I saw it. It’s a fortress! It could be a federal prison but for the cross. Or a mausoleum! That’s it, a mausoleum. It’s all dead inside. Lolol. Ye who enter here give up all hope.”

He continued, addressing the use of pornography directly. “Cut it out by getting rid of your smartphone, getting rid of internet connection, anything and everything that would allow you to do it,” he said. “Your soul is at stake.”