I agree with that. Augustine is well-known for having struggled to find a doorway into Christianity. Instinct actually blocked his path: he loved women in every sense of the word. It was the physical aspect of that which put him in opposition to faith. So there's a convoluted story in there for someone who might want to explore it.
And Christianity is dead as a worldview. Calling it a living religion is perhaps a nod to the possibility of its being absorbed into a new world religion as it once absorbed all the dead worldviews in its cradle. — frank
If we lost our sense of sight, in the short term, we would become disorientated. But as time goes on our others senses would become enhanced. The brain will gradually reroute resources, so we are able to function under the new constraints of no sight. If you repress the extroverted and materialistic aspects of sexuality, using will power and choice, a similar thing will occur, with the brain rerouting aspects of the brain's operating system.
One common affect of repressed desire is active imagination and fantasy. This is a gateway to the operating system of the brain. The personality firmware, associated with sexuality, will become more conscious, via fantasy and symbolism, as a way for it to get the ego involved to help it remove the dam, so the energy can flow. But if the dam persists, pressure builds behind the dam, and the potential finds new ways around.
These induced brain dynamics are the reason many, if not most religions, often deny aspects of the physical self. It was about a rewiring of the brain away from instinctive pathways of animal man. Born again is similar to a system update. But like any update, the brain first has to uninstall the old, which is a destructive process which can get stressful.
Bible prophesies, such as Revelations, appears to discuss a major update of the operating system of the human brain. The final human left are very different. The materialists will see an extroverted dynamics that occur outside themselves; materialistic and physical dynamics in cultural reality. But those who live in the gateway, due to the willful repression, witness an internal dynamics that requires a certain amount of willpower and choice to maintain sufficient potential for initiation.
The firmware of the brain first needs to be updated to accept the larger update of the operating system. The gateway to the firmware is connected to the new inner world beyond the dam.
An analogy is an older PC or Mac, may not accept the latest operating system, because some parts of the mother board first need to be updated. This may require a new computer or tablet unless one replaces the motherboard. The human brain is pliable and we can update the mother board, in situ, in advance, to accept the latest update in the operating system.
You don't want to try the update too early on an older computer, since the old operating system will be lost and the new not installed properly. Natural man can't accept the update. However, an updated version of natural man will appear after the update. Where faith comes in is an acceptance of the changes from the initial rewiring, then to uninstall, then to reinstall, so you don't corrupt the files. The Saints who appear, were like human dynamos.
But also the warnings are there to make sure you do all the steps or it will lead to your own destruction. This is where the motherboard is not prepared properly before uninstall.