The Barbarian Way, Part 2
As i mentioned in the previous post, Erwin McManus’ The Barbarian Way was a delight to read. The pleasure i received while reading this book was not based on anything new and earthshattering, but was due to the fact that he spoke a language dear to my heart, and so few speak it.
i wrote in the previous post that Christianity has become too reasonable. i stand by that to the extent that statement means we have forfeited the mystical aspects of the faith. McManus writes it this way:
Somehow Christianity has become a nonmystical religion. It’s about a reasonable faith. If we believe the right things, we are orthodox. Frankly, whether we ever actually connect to God or experience His undeniable presence has become incidental, if not irrelevant. We have become believers rather than experiencers. To know God in the scriptures always went beyond information to intimacy. We may find ourselves uncomfortable with this reality, but the faith of the scriptures is a mystical faith. It leads us beyond the material world into an invisible reality. We become connected to the God of eternity. Who you are at the core is spirit. God is spirit. To walk with God is to journey in the spiritual realm.
This is crucial for us to understand. And it came up in conversation the other day as i was talking with some people about why so many men see little to no real progress or freedom in dealing with pornography addiction _ or any addiction for that matter. But especially when it comes to battling pornography, we make the mistake of trying to fight it in our own power; as though it were not a spiritual dilemma. At its core, pornography is Satanic. No matter how sweet the characters in the pictures may seem, the whole world of pornography is dark and evil.
How many years did i spend trying to “fight” my addiction in my own strength? i cannot begin to count. Christianity is about connecting to the God of eternity and having intimacy with Him. By definition, this is a mystical relationship. And the power of God unleashed in the spiritual realm is what will defeat our addiction. We must battle using His divinely powerful weapons.
Intentional Warriors 
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