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Discussion Forum : General Topics : Possible pornography help - Samson Society

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Lysa
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Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Possible pornography help - Samson Society

Greg, I thought that this would be useful for Christian men. It seems to be recovery from all things sexual, site for men only and if I'm wrong please delete this.

I came across this today looking up sponsor information and one of the best articles on sponsorship was an article on pornography and this was a link in the article.

http://samsonsociety.com

"The Samson Society is a fellowship of Christian men who are serious about authenticity, community, humility & recovery - serious, not grave."

TRAVELING COMPANIONS

Samson guys are traveling-companions on a great spiritual adventure, not grim pilgrims on a death march to personal holiness. We challenge each other daily to believe the incredible news that God actually knows us, loves us, and has restored us to himself. As we follow Christ together, we find our lives progressively interrupted by righteousness, peace and joy.

We are not a church. We are simply one extension of the church universal.

We are not an "accountability group." Instead of living our lives separately and reporting (or lying) about our progress, we try to live our lives together.

We are not a "men's group." Okay, so there are no women, but that doesn't make us a men's group, does it? Please. Most of us have had it up to here with men's groups.

We are not a 12-step group. Many of us attend 12-step groups and are grateful for them, but our addictions do not define us, and we do not segregate our membership by behavior.

We are not perfect. Not even close. We are broken individuals, but in our fractured fellowship we find a foretaste of God's approaching re-creation.


_________________
Lisa

 2016/6/23 7:09Profile









 Re: Possible pornography help - Samson Society

Sister I don't know about this Samson Society. I checked out the website but one cannot get in unless they have a password. And sign up with an email address. For I know there may be a secret handshake. :-)

If men and wonen have an issue with pornography and sexual sin, I believe Covenant Eyes is a good source to check. At least you don't have to sign in and have a secret password.

I have found this website to have some good helpful articles and resources for those that find themselves in the bondage of sexual sin.

Simply my thoughts.



 2016/6/23 9:16
watchnpray
Member



Joined: 2016/5/16
Posts: 37


 Re:

From the description provided, THEY aren't this and they aren't that, so what are they? It appears that the “Samson Society” is in essence a “fractured fellowship” of “broken individuals”, “traveling-companions on a great spiritual adventure”. But an adventure is not a destination (as with the frowned-upon goal of "personal holiness"), so how will they know when they get there?

And... I don’t know, guys, but naming yourself after that famous Danaite judge kinda puts the emphasis on male weakness vis-a-vis women’s charms, doesn’t it? Think: do you really want in your logo the name of somebody who did have his victories (in the name of the Lord) but who ultimately self-destructed? Somehow, the symbolism doesn’t seem very apt for men seeking mastery over the wayward SELF. And I say this at the risk of coming across as holier-than-thou (all).

Hmm... there MIGHT be good intentions here somewhere, but I side with Brother Blaine in counseling caution (and I would add: extreme caution) in embarking on a fellowship with this “extension of the church universal”. Without assuming anything at this point, I simply refer all true lambs to John’s words: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."


_________________
Xavier

 2016/6/23 15:27Profile
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: Possible pornography help - Samson Society


I'm a woman, I know they won't let me register but has anyone registered and gone to the forum and looked at the pages instead of judging from the outside looking in?

Also, there are mp3's on the page (bottom left), has any of you listened to those?

It may be all you both say it is but then again, it may not. Just saying.

God bless,
Lisa


_________________
Lisa

 2016/6/23 21:15Profile









 Re:

Tim Challies, blogger, author, and book reviewer. (And a Canadian eh!)

Samson and the Pirate Monks
by Nate Larkin

It starts like this: “My name is Nate, but you can call me Samson. That’s the code name my friends have given me, and for reasons you’ll eventually understand, I’ve given the same symbolic name to each of them. We are the Samson Society.” It’s an intriguing start to the book Samson and the Pirate Monks and I, for one, wanted to know more.

Nate Larkin is founder of the Samson Society, a group for men who are looking for male friendship, (dare I say it?) accountability, and authentic brotherhood. It is a group for men who have tried to do the Christian life on their own and have found it impossible. It is a group that anyone can begin, without cost, without contracts, without hassle.

I have long observed that men tend to do pretty poorly with friendship. I don’t know if we are really bad at friendship or if most of us have just never given it a fair try. In either case, I think it’s clear that too few men have genuinely significant friendships.

Larkin was there. From the early days of his marriage he developed bad habits which, in time, grew into outright addiction. Before long he was hooked on pornography, visiting the seedy parts of town and, eventually, visiting prostitutes. Despite being raised in a Christian environment, despite being a pastor himself, he gave in to his habits, gave in to his lusts, and found his life and marriage crumbling around him. And he dealt with it all in isolation, without men around him who could help him and guide him. Even when he saw his sin and was desperate to overcome it, his life was devoid of meaningful relationships that could make a difference. For too long he wallowed in his sin.

It was only when he got other men deeply involved in his life that he was able to gain real victory over his sin. He came to realize that Christian friendship—men befriending men—is a precious gift. As he emerged from the mess of his addiction he says “I was willing to trust Christ, but I was not ready to trust the body of Christ. … What I did not yet understand was that while Jesus does offer a personal relationship to every one of his disciples, he never promises any of us a private one. … The church, according to the New Testament, is not a loose confederation of individuals. The church is a body—a living, breathing organism whose members are so intimately connected that they can only move together. On any given day, every member of that body needs help, and every member has some help to give.”

Samson and the Pirate Monks is partly Larkin’s biography and partly an account of the founding of the first Samson Society. It is also a call for men to put aside their pride and inhibitions and to find meaningful relationships with one another. And it provides more than a call—it provides a defense and a structure.

The book is full of helpful insights about life and faith. Things like this: “I have found that for short stretches of time I can convince myself that I am being faithful to God if I define faithfulness in terms of only one behavior.” That resonates, and so does this: “Self-righteousness … is a doubled-edged sword. If I have reduced holiness to a single behavior, then I am standing on one leg. One slip and I am nothing again, absolutely useless.” And this: “God, in his grace, has used addiction to shatter my moralistic understanding of the Christian faith and force me to accept the gospel. I am not a faithful man. That’s why I need a Savior. I cannot live victoriously on my own. That’s why I need a Helper and brothers. I cannot keep my promises to God—the very act of making them is delusional—but God will keep his promises to me.”

I find books like this easy to dismiss, perhaps especially because so many of us have tried accountability relationships and found them wanting. That and we have had so many calls to relationship, to accountability, to Eldredge-style openness. But then I think about men I know and wonder how they would receive this book and, even better, the kind of relationships it models. And then I realize that men are desperate for exactly what Larkin describes here. The book may be easy to dismiss, but to dismiss it too quickly and too easily would probably say more about me than about the book and its ideas.

I enjoyed Samson and the Pirate Monks thoroughly and would commend it to any Christian man. Read it, pillage it for ideas, and start pursuing true brotherhood.

 2016/6/23 22:05
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re:


bumping this so guys can read the review that Rev_Enue shared.


_________________
Lisa

 2016/6/24 7:35Profile





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