In this article Ed and Jonny, two TFT members, discuss the benefits of accountability apps on their smartphones

God knits each of us together in a unique and individual way. Praise God, we are each ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ by our perfect Creator! (Psalm 139:13-14). In a fallen world, this means of course that a person’s experience of same-sex temptations will be – at least to some degree – unique to them. Inevitably, then, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to supporting people.

The easy answer is that the Bible is silent on this issue, because the word "masturbation" itself doesn't appear. For such a subject, we must be careful of laying down burdensome rules (Col 2:16-23), but the Bible says "don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature" (Gal 5:13), so we need to be deeply honest with ourselves what is driving a desire to masturbate.

 The act of masturbation usually involves one or more of the following:

Being in an accountability relationship has been a source of great blessing in my life and, therefore, writing an article on the topic is a positive step forward for me. I am aware, though, that this subject is not always one that is met by others with the enthusiasm I view it.

About a year ago, I confessed my struggle with same-sex desires to a couple of my friends. I acknowledged that I could not fight this battle alone. I had tried unsuccessfully for nearly 25 years. If I was going to be victorious, I needed someone to come alongside me and help me. My two friends were very loving and gracious as I unburdened myself to them. That night, I installed an accountability app on my phone and my friend, Roger, became my accountability partner. We never made any kind of formal commitment to help each other. Nor did we discuss what accountability should look like.