No....the purpose is to take a stand....and not bend to the whims of others for the sake of peace.
That "stand" BTW....IS what is best for everyone....it includes God's love, which is a "win-win" for EVERYONE. The thing is....we can't make that decision for everyone....that has to be an individual decision.....they need to believe in the "win--win" themself.
I was kind of kidding, but also pointing out that it does seem to be saying what I said.
So let's take one example: pornography use. Since that is a hot button topic. What I take issue with here is that it is such an emotionally charged issue for women in particular that I think that taking a stand is the least of it when the subject comes up. And in some ways the OP suggests that the reasons for sinning are almost irrelevant--and yet at the same time you seem to be saying that it can be relevant. I wonder if you agree then that the root causes for sinful behaviour are relevant in that our reasons may be reasons that are actually denying our need to pursue God for what we imagine we need.
(sorry if that sounds really muddled)
So let me try to break this idea down a bit. Let's say that there could be these reasons for pornography.
1. A bad habit. No, before anyone goes (HABIT!? It's adultery! Get the stones!) listen to me. Social habits do exist, and they can be detrimental to a relationship. Imagine for a moment growing up believing that only gay men don't look avidly at pictures of naked women or stare at attractive women hungrily. This happens often enough. Men are strongly encouraged to look at women this way. Just imagine then when you have what you think of as a normal habit and your wife starts screaming at you about it. How is this going to convince you not to do it? It will only convince you that she's flipping out. So in this case--it's sinful right? The sin in this case not acknowledging the unique creation of God that every person is. More ignorance than anything else. If you discover that it's really just a bad habit then explaining how women are also God's vessels and need to be treated with respect will gradually take hold and he'll stop. Emphasis on "God's vessels" here. And remember, all of us can have bad habits in the flesh that we need to reexamine our thoughts on.
2. Fear of real sex. Believe it or not, men can suffer performance anxiety and worry about relationships--in fact we all know this right? Fear of rejection of particular sexual desires or performance or whatever comes into play here. So women in pornography are easy to deal with; in fact they promote the idea that they OUGHT to be easy to deal with. The sin here is being afraid of pursuing marital love as God intended. The turnaround is urging him to pray with you about that, getting him away from the deception of pornography and into the delights of the marriage bed.
3. Perversion. There are some people who get off on things that are simply perverted sex, kinks that go beyond a little playfulness or roleplaying for example, and so it may be something secret. It may be homosexuality. This is a more serious area to pray over. The man in question (or the woman for that matter) is looking deliberately for something or someone that is not their spouse because they are not dealing directly with desires that they have not confessed to. So here the problem is that they are not giving their desires up to the Lord and trying to discover how God would have them deal with them. The sin here is avoiding correction or instruction from God.
4. Previous Relationship Benefits. This is one that sounds complicated but really isn't. A person who was unsaved before they married into a Christian marriage may have had enjoyable sex with other lovers before they got married and pornography may have enhanced it. Now this is equivalent to someone having stolen stuff to make money before they became a Christian. There were obvious benefits, you see? Has anyone here ever experienced something like this? Something that seemed in many ways beneficial before they got saved, which they struggled with later?
The sin here is in not being open to renewing the mind. Clearly we are called to do this, but if it were easy everyone would casually do it. It's not a sin for it to be a struggle to be overcome, but it is a sin never to want to overcome it. Here the sinner needs to see that God is offering more and better than sinful ways led to.
I hope this all makes sense. I can see in the OP and the posts immediately following it a concern that psychological terminology leads us away from understanding of sin, but I think it can be useful in identifying how to deal with particular sins. Remember that Jesus did this--he didn't always heal the same way or teach the same way, he did it as it was appropriate to the situation. We need to learn the wisdom to do the same thing.
You think a person can't be convicted by the Holy Spirit??
