Are “indecent” dreams considered sinning?

[Randombitsofstring]

I often have intensely sexual dreams—usually they do not include my husband. I think the reason for this is that in the past few years my husband has not been interested in sex—and I feel that these dreams are sort of an outlet for sexual frustration. But a few weeks ago my pastor preached about this sort of thing as being sinful, even if they are out of our control, that if we were truly good Christians we wouldn’t dream about such things, that our dreams show our true selves. That just sounds a bit harsh too me, but I don’t know it could be possible.

 

[TamaraLynne]

Hmmmmm......................

I've had a few dreams like yours.......only to look up the meaning of someones name from the dream and realize it applies to something I am going through........I think a kiss could represent agreement in something.

But I do understand about the being sexually frustrated and our bodies need for outlet usually results in a sexual dream....................


Can you ask the paster if he can give you scriptures to support what he has said?

Can you have the paster talk about scriptures in the bible about abstaining from sex in a marraige? From what I understand we are not to withhold in that area.
............sorry if I was out of line.


Love
Tam

 

[beehoney]

I don't think it is sinful because your dreams are out of your voluntary control, but whenever I have a dream that disturbs me, I still pray about it.

 

[Ajax 777]

Your pastor is wrong.

Satan can give dreams, and he has invaded my dreams NUMEROUS times, usually with a dream that is either depraved, or "scary". I just had one night before last that was both.

When I am awake, I do not think about anything depraved voluntarily. When one of those evil carnal thoughts rears its ugly head, I cast it right out. I do not look at porno, or do anything of an explicit nature, with the exception of occasionally cussing...and whenever I do, I always turn to God and ask for His forgiveness.

Neither am I afraid of the Devil, because I fight this monster on a daily basis, and he often tries to either "cozy up" to me, or he just insults me hand over fist. But I am never frightened of him, though I DO know not to let my guard down when he's around, because I know what a liar he is. The Word of God confirms this.

When he gives you evil dreams in which you do things you wouldn't do when you are awake, he is lying to you. Praying about it is fine, because God ALSO gives dreams, but not evil dreams that cause you to stumble when you are awake. If you are, in fact, already stumbling, and God is trying to SHOW you how so, I believe He only does this when you are awake. Dreams from God are often prophetic warnings and can often be needed to be interpreted correctly, for the imagery is often profound with a deeper message, and not a sin-laden dream of sex and debauchery, nor a terrifying dream or nightmare in which you are victimized. God does NOT give a spirit of fear. To say that our dreams are in and of themselves sin is incorrect, and your pastor is in error about this.

 

[upps64]

I would say that it is not a sin, cause in order for you to be tempted, you must think about it. Now, if you actually follow through with the act, then yes it would be a sin. Then that whole if you lust in your hearth then you have already commited adultry. You must define lust, if you are constiantly thinking of it, and really want to comit it, then you have in your heart. But if your tempted, and think about it only when it comes up, and not all the time, then I would say no.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

I often have intensely sexual dreams—usually they do not include my husband. I think the reason for this is that in the past few years my husband has not been interested in sex—and I feel that these dreams are sort of an outlet for sexual frustration. But a few weeks ago my pastor preached about this sort of thing as being sinful, even if they are out of our control, that if we were truly good Christians we wouldn’t dream about such things, that our dreams show our true selves. That just sounds a bit harsh too me, but I don’t know it could be possible.

To me, it al depends on the content, and the purpose.

A couple of weeks ago, I dreamed I was at a dance. Across from me was a very attractive girl. She was roughly 5'6 with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, with gorgeous blue eyes. But as strange as it sounds, this girl was understood to be my sister. I recognised this to be very odd as well, because she looked nothing like my sister.

It was soon clear that she was just as attracted to me as I was to her, and I asked her to dance. But it soon became clear that she wanted something else, and she started clutching at my clothing. She wanted to have sex with me.

I knwe that I could not even contemplate the idea of sex with my sister, so I quickly ran away. A few minutes later, I looked back, and she had transformed herself into the girl I knew to really be my sister. Then, I felt great relief, for I knew my real sister would never want such relations with me.

I cannot possibly consider this dream to be sinful. I was the one who fleed from the incest, and even if I had not, I still could not have sinned, for despite having been identified as my sister in this dream, this unidentified girl remains a complete stranger.

 

[Gracebewithyou]

In some dreams I have been tested this way,but I resist that temptation and then the dream ends quickly,this is one way satan tries to get his hooks into us when we are not aware.He hopes that we will carry out these acts in our awakening life ,thats why he tries to plant a seed of lust or hate and fear in our sleep hoping it will grow and take root ,but the devil is a liar and he has no control over us ,only the control we give him when we believe his lies. (This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would .Galatians 5:16,17) (Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.James 4:7,8) (Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
--Ephesians 4:31)

 

[ChrisCountryGirl]

No, You can't control your dreams

 

[syrin]

I do think that sometimes our dreams reflect problems in our lives. But, you are only human and you can not be expected to be able to control everything. I do not think you are sinning when you can't control the action. If you are having problems in your marriage, you should pray about that and hope the dreams will end. Don't be too hard on yourself, you're not perfect. Be strong, this too shall pass.
I keep you in my prayers.

 

[millerrod]

It is a warning from God of where your weekness of flesh may lie, what sin you are being tempted by or going to be tempted with, These pre warning signals are to alert us to the sin the ememy will use, it shows us our weekness so that we can prepare for the attack to come. God shows us these things because He Loves us and wants us to defeat our weeknesses and defeat the enemy. example: i collect antique bikes, and when i begin to dream of them i know God is showing me that my thoughts and time are being consumed by the desire of the flesh of wanting something material so i then know to back off the time i spend in this area. the first time God showed me my weeknesses He did so in a very horrible mind wakening way that i will never forget and in doing so i was able to overcome those weeknesses as so will you if you are willing to accept the fact that God is showing you of possible weeknesses as i am sure you will , may God give you the strength to do so.

 

[airest]

In some dreams I have been tested this way,but I resist that temptation and then the dream ends quickly,this is one way satan tries to get his hooks into us when we are not aware.He hopes that we will carry out these acts in our awakening life ,thats why he tries to plant a seed of lust or hate and fear in our sleep hoping it will grow and take root ,but the devil is a liar and he has no control over us ,only the control we give him when we believe his lies

This is a good revelation. I have also had dreams of a sexual nature, wondering where it came from since I thought nothing during the day to make me dream about it at night. It makes sense to me that the devil would plant these dreams in my head in attempt to influence me in some way during a regular day. The devil has also put dreams in my head of a scary nature. The night before I had a dream that I was attracted to a man, who could read my thoughts and approached me about it, and I asked how he knew. Anyway it turned out that he was a devil worshiper and was telling me about things he would do to gain his power. Now after waking up I felt this was the oddest dream for me to have since I wasn't thinking about anything like that during the day and I didn't watch anything on t.v. to make me think something like that in my dream. But I believe the purpose was to put fear in me. But I am not afraid. It is just a dream. The devil is a liar. And stupid too. One weapon I use to protect myself against these dreams is to pray at night for God not to let me have any bad dreams and to have good dreams. It works too. But if I wake up in the middle of the night and fall back to sleep without praying I may have a "bad" dream.

 

[a7chris]

Most at times dreams comes thru the things we occupy our heart with during the day, and this allows all kinds of thought lodge in our heart. Then at nigt, those thought over powers, base on how the person summited himself during the day thought. Thats why bible says we should guide our heart. Proverb. 23;19. Proverb. 4:23. KEEP YOUR HEART....OUT...ISSUES OF LIFE

 

[SpitfireOverThames]

If we dream of sexual situations in our dreams that would be sinful in the waking world, I'd say that its not a bad idea to go before the Lord and share your heart about what the dream made you feel. The biggest thing about a bad dream is to reject it so it doesn't gain any foothold in your heart or mind. That's why its important to repent or turn away from such thoughts. If we aren't careful, the dream that is a temptation becomes something we dwell on; it can be an opening for the enemy to entice us in other ways. This is just plain reality.

Sometimes, our dreams can reflect what is going on in our hearts. This is another reason to have a change of heart (repent) regarding what we dream. Our attitudes about our dreams could be casual and cause us to become vulnerable to the enemy or our flesh. Or we could treat them seriously and adjust to them seriously as well so they don't gain any kind of foothold.

Think of your dreams like D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France. The beachhead was won by the Allies because the resistance wasn't quite enough. Eventually, the Axis powers lost because of their inability to defeat the encroachments of their enemy. We need to take a no-nonsense response to any advancements of the spiritual wickedness or the sin-ridden desires of our flesh.

Hope this helps!
Sean

 

[AutumnDreamer]

We do not have control over our dreams. If we did we would never have nightmares. I personally do not believe satan can give you dreams, I have found nothing in scripture to support this. I do not believe satan can get into our subconcious that way, unless someone can show me in scripture where that is possible. I took a class on christian dream interpretation as I dream vividly and prophetically. Dreams that we feel may be wrong or insignificant or silly are sometimes the most powerful dreams. I once had a dream I was spiderman, thought nothing of it until it was interpreted and the meaning behind it was so overwhelmingly accurate to what I and a friend were going through that it put me in tears for that was th eonly outlet for the emotion I was feeling. Sexual dreams are the same way. God can and does use them to get our attention to a particular thing. For instance you said these dreams are usually not involving your husband, are you married in the dream? I mean is it a dream where you are cheating on your husband? Or are you a single person in your dream? If you are married, then it could symbolize a seperation with eitheryour relationship with your husband or your relationship with Christ. Unfortunetly I am still learning about the prophetic and dreams, and my books are packed away as we are in the process of moving, but pray about it, ask the Lord to reveal to you if the dream is a message He is trying to reveal to you.

 

[JesusIsHealingMe]

sounds too harsh to me as well

unless someone can prove to me that we are all in 100% complete control of our dreams, then i wouldn't carry around that guilt. i don't buyt it. I have dreams I don't like and wouldn't choose to have.

I don't feel I am in control of my dreams at all. Where in the Bible does it say what your pastor said???

 

[Randombitsofstring]

The pastor was preaching from Sermon of the Mount, Matthew 5:28 (But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.) and he expounded a lot on this verse about how we sin even when we are not aware that we are sinning and that even our thoughts are sinful. He also brought up James 1:15 “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” He didn’t say that the bible says that dreams are sinful but that our dreams reflect can reflect our true self. (I think he’s read too much Freud) I think what he meant was that if we are thinking about something that it will show up in our dreams. That if we dream about sex, then we are thinking about sex and if we thought about it then our thoughts are sinful and we have “committed adultery in our hearts”

 

[AutumnDreamer]

The pastor was preaching from Sermon of the Mount, Matthew 5:28 (But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.) and he expounded a lot on this verse about how we sin even when we are not aware that we are sinning and that even our thoughts are sinful. He also brought up James 1:15 “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” He didn’t say that the bible says that dreams are sinful but that our dreams reflect can reflect our true self. (I think he’s read too much Freud) I think what he meant was that if we are thinking about something that it will show up in our dreams. That if we dream about sex, then we are thinking about sex and if we thought about it then our thoughts are sinful and we have “committed adultery in our hearts”

I still think he is wrong, you can think about sex all day long and then dream about tulips, you think about tulips all day long and then dream about sex. I think what happens is as ministers many people take what sceince has "prooven" and tried to link it spiritually. But there are too many things that sceince has been wrong with.

 

[ahmunmun]

Your pastor is wrong.

Satan can give dreams, and he has invaded my dreams NUMEROUS times, usually with a dream that is either depraved, or "scary". I just had one night before last that was both.

When I am awake, I do not think about anything depraved voluntarily. When one of those evil carnal thoughts rears its ugly head, I cast it right out. I do not look at porno, or do anything of an explicit nature, with the exception of occasionally cussing...and whenever I do, I always turn to God and ask for His forgiveness.

Neither am I afraid of the Devil, because I fight this monster on a daily basis, and he often tries to either "cozy up" to me, or he just insults me hand over fist. But I am never frightened of him, though I DO know not to let my guard down when he's around, because I know what a liar he is. The Word of God confirms this.

When he gives you evil dreams in which you do things you wouldn't do when you are awake, he is lying to you. Praying about it is fine, because God ALSO gives dreams, but not evil dreams that cause you to stumble when you are awake. If you are, in fact, already stumbling, and God is trying to SHOW you how so, I believe He only does this when you are awake. Dreams from God are often prophetic warnings and can often be needed to be interpreted correctly, for the imagery is often profound with a deeper message, and not a sin-laden dream of sex and debauchery, nor a terrifying dream or nightmare in which you are victimized. God does NOT give a spirit of fear. To say that our dreams are in and of themselves sin is incorrect, and your pastor is in error about this.

Amen Ajax.

I too have been attacked by Satan in my dreams. You just feel it. The pain is just so real that you know it isn't from your subconscious. There is also a haunting effect after you wake up. Then I would have the urge to bind the dream.

When I think I'm in a dream, I would pinch myself and if I feel no pain, this means I am in my dream. However, demonic dreams are different. You would feel the pain like it's in real life.

I'm only speaking from experience. Scripture is silent about demonic dreams but that doesn't mean they don't exist. To anyone who's interested, here's a thread in the deliverance forum that talks about demonic dreams: http://www.christianforums.com/t3141136-demonic-dreams-and-insomnia.html