The "When is Sin a Sin?" thread got me to thinking.
OK, dreaming about someone not your spouse in a lustful manner, perhaps someone you dated years ago--is it a sin or not?
Lustful Thoughts...While Asleep
Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by InTheLight, Jul 11, 2012.
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InTheLight Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
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I don't know about you, but I have no control over what I dream about. I've had a lot of sexual dreams during my 66 years (a lot less now than when I was young), and I remember very little of any of it. I don't worry myself over what I can't control and try (too often in vain) to control them when I'm awake.
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As Jon-Marc said, you can't control what you dream about much. There have been times I've known it was a dream and fought against what was going on but if I can't do that, I wake up, pray and confess that to the Lord and ask him to cleanse my mind. It's worked.
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These kinds of dreams are unsettling because they show us/remind us of what we were or could have been apart from the grace of God.
Leave them at Jesus feet and move on.
HankD -
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Isa 29:8
As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.
Eccl 5:3 "For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words."
Anything we do that we know is not of the Lord should be confessed. Dreams of this nature show that something still lies within us that should not be there and we should ask the Lord to remove those thoughts from us. -
For those who think they cannot control their dreams, that is wrong.
In working with folks who have had trauma, the Godly counselor will help the person by teaching how the mind can be taught to cue up to a certain awareness and the sleeper can take active control over the events of the dream.
We often see dreams in repetitive scenarios in the dream state in which the problem dream is blocked and alternative scenarios are considered.
It is also true, that dreams are segmented (though they don't seem so) in the sleep patterns. That the longer dreams occur closer to the waking, and shorter are snippets occurring in ever increasing length as sleep begins and continues. This is important to understand in attempting to "do combat" in a dream.
To the believer, they are to "hide Thy Word in my heart that I might not sin against thee."
Be very careful not to confuse the "wet dream" in which all humankind experience (especially during the maturation years as the body is adjusting to the hormonal influences) to that of "lustful" thoughts in which the mind is actively constructing "evil" as the Scriptures indicate. Look at a part of Psalm 63:"6When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, 7For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. 8My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me."
For the readers who experience a problem in this area, I suggest to items perhaps three.
First, get up when you wake up. Do not lay around and dwell in the thoughts.
Second, flood your mind with the Word of God. Especially during the waking day. You can't expect the mind to switch off all the world appeals to the flesh at night if you, during the day, have not cared about establishing boundaries on thoughts and heart matters using the Word of God. Remember the Psalmist said, "DAY and NIGHT" he meditated upon the Scriptures - and he had a lot less available to meditate on in his day.
Third, challenge your dreams. Train your mind to confront the evil thoughts just as you do (should do) during the day. God knows your thoughts afar off - before you even think (dream) them.
The dreams often indicate what is the condition of the heart.
Do not neglect to submit to Christ in every area of life.
Do not "beat yourself up" when you fail - that is just life. Earnestly confess and address the root problem. Expect that problem to reoccur and establish guards of Scriptural help in any area in which a "besetting sin" might rear its desire to claim authority over you.
Do not hesitate to purchase a good alarm that has multiple alarm settings. That way, you can discern when the perverted dream might begin, and set the alarm to interrupt that time to get up and go to the bathroom (bladder fulness impacts the dreams), and then the second alarm will wake you at the regular time needed.
Do not "sleep in." Teens especially need more rest, so take a nap (siesta) during the day, get to bed earlier, and get up earlier.
Do not make excuses for yourself. It is normal to lust, it is normal to desire what you do not have. But the believer is not "normal." The believer is not to be conditioned nor expect to be fulfilled by this world. We are "new creatures created in Christ Jesus." Therefore, hold yourself accountable - even for your dreams, and work to build strength (not of your own) "in the Lord and in the power of His might." -
reformed_baptist MemberSite Supporter
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A sinner cannot MAKE himself righteous. Therefore, he cannot control his unrighteousness. But the Bible is still clear that he is accountable for it.
WE hold humans accountable for things based upon human standards because we are human.
God's standards exceed our standards.
If God only judged people for what they could control, then Jesus would not have even had to die for sinners since Adam because every single person since Adam was absolutely doomed to be a sinner beyond his/her control.
We are shapen in iniquity; in sin did our mothers conceive us. The heart of man is desperately wicked, deceitful above all things, who can know it?
These are things beyond our control, yet they are evil nonetheless and God's holiness cannot abide them. -
In me, that is "in my flesh", is nothing good. My brain waves at night are "in my flesh" and often not good.
If it is "sin to me" (hate to sound post-modern but you get where I'm coming from) then I confess it. If it like most dreams, vague, no faces, forgotten, then it is just part of the brain's cleansing program. No different than the elimination system of my digestive track. Not a sin.
But with the op, if I'm visualizing and lusting after some gal, then there is an issue there. -
I often wondered about this too. Some say that 2 Cor 10:5b ("Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. [KJV]) applies to that about which we dream.
I'm not sure that this passage is really referring to "our dream life," but then again maybe it is.
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To spend a single moment in worry over something like a dream is not productive. I have all kinds of crazy dreams, and most have nothing to do with any reality that is even possible. -
After reading this OP I decided to try and remember a little bit of what I dream about- and last night I dreamed about fishing. That's all I remember. Usually the dreams I do remember are the ones where I'm falling off of a bicycle or ladder or something- LOL!
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HankD -
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HankD
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