The Pain of Porn
One of the attention grabbing headlines of the past several years was Playboy Magazine's announcement that they would no longer offer nude photographs in their magazine. One Twitter feed recently explained the reason why..."Breaking News: Playboy to stop publishing nude pictures, leaving men only 79,895,422 places to access photos of naked women." The internet is the new environment for the unspeakable. A Gallup poll released in June 2018 states that 43% of Americans believe pornography is morally acceptable. Polls show that young people believe that "failure to recycle" is a worse sin than pornography.
We now live in an age of access, with the resulting devastating effects. Movie producer and director Harvey Weinstein spent a lifetime in the movie industry, often featuring gratuitous nudity in Oscar winning films such as "Shakespeare in Love". Sadly, the litany of alleged sexual assaults leveled against Weinstein are merely the by-product of an industry that treats men and women as sexual objects that are to be used, abused and discarded.
C.S. Lewis once wrote, "we laugh at honor and yet are shocked to see traitors in our midst." The movie and film industry normalizing immoral behavior, helps create a society that normalizes porn but blindly believes there will be no moral fallout. An organization called "Enough is Enough" provides some startling statistics:
As a Christian, God calls us to shine the light (Eph 5:11). We are to shine the light on our own lives, pushing back the darkness of immoral behavior and we are to shine the light on darkness in the world, bringing the light of the gospel. In a world with increasing levels of pornography, consider:
1. Getting with a confidant and going through accountability questions to hold each other accountable regarding behavior.
2. Consider placing software on computers and devices to help block porn sites.
3. Fill your heart with the worship of Christ. The best defense is a good offense. As Job said, "I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a woman." May God give us strength, as we look ahead, fixing our eyes on Jesus.
We now live in an age of access, with the resulting devastating effects. Movie producer and director Harvey Weinstein spent a lifetime in the movie industry, often featuring gratuitous nudity in Oscar winning films such as "Shakespeare in Love". Sadly, the litany of alleged sexual assaults leveled against Weinstein are merely the by-product of an industry that treats men and women as sexual objects that are to be used, abused and discarded.
C.S. Lewis once wrote, "we laugh at honor and yet are shocked to see traitors in our midst." The movie and film industry normalizing immoral behavior, helps create a society that normalizes porn but blindly believes there will be no moral fallout. An organization called "Enough is Enough" provides some startling statistics:
- 46 published reports demonstrate that exposure to porn puts individuals at increased risk for committing sexual offenses.
- Extramarital sex is one of the leading reasons for divorce, and porn consumption is correlated with positive attitudes towards extramarital affairs.
- Porn sites get more visitors each month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined.
As a Christian, God calls us to shine the light (Eph 5:11). We are to shine the light on our own lives, pushing back the darkness of immoral behavior and we are to shine the light on darkness in the world, bringing the light of the gospel. In a world with increasing levels of pornography, consider:
1. Getting with a confidant and going through accountability questions to hold each other accountable regarding behavior.
2. Consider placing software on computers and devices to help block porn sites.
3. Fill your heart with the worship of Christ. The best defense is a good offense. As Job said, "I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a woman." May God give us strength, as we look ahead, fixing our eyes on Jesus.
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