Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
control vs. sin or the strip club

control vs. sin or the strip club

Last updated on: July 15, 2021 at 8:46 pm by Rev. Jared V. Ingle

control vs. sin or the strip club 2021-07-15T20:46:24-04:00 Rev. Jared V. Ingle

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In seminary, I took the scenic route (code for the long road). Students were coming back to get a second masters degree. Surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one.

I can remember being in classes with M.Div. students and then being in other classes later with some of the same students. They were now counseling students.

i. I would always ask why they were coming back

More than once I heard that they were in ministry positions after their M.Div., but nobody was coming to the altar with deep life changing concerns about how to parse the Greek.

So in the spirit of applying a little counseling, healing salve I’m going to share a brief model I’ve applied in many settings (counseling and ministerially). There are two examples and a brief theory discussion. You can certainly find more information online.

ii. the monk, the sin, and Jesus in the room

I had the honor of enjoying some conversations with a well-known psychologist, spiritual-director, conference speaker, and author. At the time, he was speaking to the larger crowd primarily about Christian practices.

We shared some other points of conversation, one of them being the counseling of ministers. He said he was working with a monk who was caught in some type of habit of sin. He didn’t reveal what the particular sin was and I didn’t ask.

At first, he was working with the monk, asking the monk to turn to the Lord immediately after the sin, or as soon as possible. For those who don’t know what it’s like to be a monk, a minister, a seminarian, etc., it is often very difficult to sin. The minister is often too cognizant of the activity to actually enjoy it the way someone else might indulge.

After working with the monk awhile, the spiritual director asked him to picture Jesus in the room with him while he sinned. It was at that point that there was a breakthrough allowing the monk to regain some mastery, after seemingly losing control to this sin for quite some time.

iii. the seminarian and the strip club

At another point, in an educational setting, we were discussing sins that seem to be tremendously difficult to overcome. The facilitator of the dialogue said she was working with someone who was going to the strip club every night, and who was a seminarian! You could almost hear the breath being sucked out of the room as the silence set in.

She said she knows her approach is not popular, maybe even controversial. Instead of telling the seminarian to stop, she asked the seminarian to go to the strip club just one less time this week, before their next session next week. Again, there was absolute silence as we wondered if that was even Biblical, ministerial, or Christian.

After the agreement was struck, the facilitator waited until their next session in a week. When the seminarian returned, there was a marked changed. The seminarian had not visited a strip club one time in the whole week.

We were all flabbergasted until the facilitator explained the principle. The seminarian’s perception was that there was no control. By regaining to the ability to stay away from the strip club just one night, the seminarian regained a sense of control.

For the record, I’m not quite sure I can endorse either method. However, the results are mesmerizing.

iv. locus of control

What I’m talking about could be claimed by a number of psychological camps. I personally like the small, personality theory contribution of Julian Rotter called the Locus of Control.

The locus is some type of line or curve between to points. In effect, the person is on one side and the out of control issue is on the other end. The control is a point that shifts back and forth between the person and the perceived problem issue (or another person, system, etc.).

Some say people are born with less or more of a locus of control. Others say they learn it (innate vs. learned). That question is beyond this brief article.

v. in our examples, let’s apply the locus of control

The monk had to turn from his sin, find Jesus, and repent. He continued to struggle. However, when he allowed Jesus to enter the room while he sinned, the locus of control shifted. He was closer to Jesus and perhaps perceived himself as stronger. There was a breakthrough and real change happened.

The seminarian thought there was nothing else to do other than go to the strip club every night. There seemed to be no end to the madness. When an agreement was struck, a simple agreement with someone the seminarian trusted – to attend the strip club one less time – something unexpected happened. The seminarian regained a sense of control and quit going there.

Theology & Psychology

Previous Post

July 15, 2021

Revelation 12 | story within a story

Next Post

July 20, 2021 and lead us along the right road today

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Communion Cruz Ingle Crystal Ingle Early Church Engaging Culture Ethics & Society Family Formation History In Dialogue Jared & Crystal Kingdom of God Majority World Church Mateo Ingle Messenger College Mission Narrative Pentecostal Church of God Prayer Shepherding The Sermon The Writings Theology Theology & Psychology Traverse City Uncategorized Vernell Ingle Word Study

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 May 2017 March 2017 March 2014 February 2013 January 2013 October 2012 July 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 August 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paul Peter John Jude