There is a tendency among Christian men to consider sexual sin as a "bad habit" that needs to be broken, when in fact it is usually an addictive behavior that needs to be addressed immediately.
Here are some questions to help you determine whether or not you have a sexual addiction. This is what therapists call a Sexual Addiction Screening Test. If you answer "yes" to three or more of these questions it would be beneficial to seek accountability.
1. Do you have a pattern of failing to resist the impulse to act out sexually? YES NO
2. When you do act out sexually, do you find that you do so to a greater extent, or for a longer period of time than you had originally intended? YES NO
3. Do you have a continual desire to act out sexually or have tried to stop, reduce, or control acting out sexually but been unsuccessful? YES NO
4. Have you spent an inordinate amount of time either trying to get sex, be sexual, or recover from some sexual experience? YES NO
5. Are you preoccupied with acting out sexually or preparing to act out sexually? YES NO
6. Do you find yourself acting out sexually even though you are expected to meet job, school, home, or social commitments? YES NO
7. Even if you know you have a social, educational, financial, mental, or physical problem caused by your sexual behavior do you continue to act out in that behavior anyway? YES NO
8. Do you find that you need to increase the intensity, frequency, number, or risk of sexual behavior to get the physical effect you want? Conversely, does the same level of intensity, frequency, number, or risks of sexual behavior produce less of an effect? YES NO
9. Do you find yourself quitting or reducing your social, professional, or recreational activities because of your sexual behavior? YES NO
10. Do you find yourself upset, distressed, anxious, restless, or even violent if you cannot act out sexually, especially in the ways in which you have developed as a pattern? YES NO
If you would like someone to help you with accountability, please contact me (day or night my number is 574.274.9626).
