Faith & Sex:Understanding Recovery, Being, Relationship & God

We all have many beliefs about why we may act out sexually or with drugs and alcohol in ways of which we are not proud. For those of us within certain religious communities, some of those beliefs may include personal weakness or a disconnection from God. With this theology, the more we act out, the more we see proof that we are unworthy of connection, both human and divine. From a neurobiological perspective, we may act out because we are managing difficult emotions like anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression are very primal responses to our environments. If we experience abuse, neglect, or even environmental or human-made disasters, we may become uniquely sensitized to the stressors that cause negative emotions, and thus acting out behavior. While religious beliefs that promote certain standards may provide us with useful goalposts, especially with sex, those beliefs that do not also consider our deeply embodied emotional response to experience and the ways in which we all uniquely respond to life’s stressors set us up for failure and hopelessness. In his book Faith & Sex: Toward a Better Understanding of Recovery, Being, Relationship, and God, Steven Luff explores the neurobiological underpinnings of emotions and how our faith lives and faith communities, can be profound resources to us—instead of impediments—as we locate our emotions and gain skills in human and spiritual co-regulation.