About a year ago after a retreat a couple of friends and I raised the subject of Christians and pornography. One of the guy’s thought that a good title for a book on the subject would be “Porn again Christians”, thus the title for this entry.
Since then this subject has been somewhere on my radar. As I was reviewing information about the subject I ran into a website that really expressed how far we as Christians have succumbed to this problem that at one time seemed only a problem for the secular world. I must admit that when I saw it and began to read it, I was at once both mystified and horrified.
The site basically is justifying pornography for Christians by submitting a proposal calling for the need of Christian adult entertainment. It does so issuing a manifesto calling for a new paradigm in pornography and uses scripture in its argument. How low can we go? To what ends will we justify the things we know rightly not to be involved with?
In an article in Christianity Today, Porns Stranglehold the author shares the hold that pornography has taken within the church. Instead of us being salt and light and having an effect in our world it seems that the opposite is in fact happening. Statistics show that 70% of men ages 18-34 view porn at least once a month. and that one in three visits to adult websites are women. Somehow our world has bought the lie that porn is harmless. The church seems to be buying into that message as well.
Statistics compiled 2006: Porn Websites 4.2 Million (12% of total websites)
Porn Pages 420 Million
Daily search engine requests for porn 68 Million
Internet users who view porn 42.7 %
Average age of first Internet exposure to porn 11 years old
17% of women struggling with addiction to pornography
13% of women admit to accessing pornography at work
The USA tops the world in pornographic web pages
In a Poll taken by ChristiaNet in August of 2006, 50% of Christian men reported viewing pornography and 20% of Christian women reported the same. 57% of Pastors say that addiction to pornography is the most sexually damaging issue to a congregation. Another poll taken within the church reports that 60% of men have viewed pornography within the last year, with 25% responding that they had viewed it within the last thirty days. With the Internet having pornographic images just a click away and the ability to receive the images on mobile phones the situation worsens everyday. Worldwide pornography is big business reporting 99 billion dollars annually. and the united states, a so called Christian nation is the biggest producer and consumer of pornography.
Pornography is not harmless. Though many times viewed in secret, the damage is cancer like, causing shame and destroying relationships in its wake. In the process, women are treated like objects for sale adding to the ever growing problem of human trafficking.
Where do we go with this as a Church? How do we pave the way for the healing of individuals and relationships that have suffered due to this addiction? How do we take a stand against this insidious problem in our world? Any thoughts?
Picture: Eyes wide Shut, by Elizabeth Welsh
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THe Men of our Church are the pillars that will lead the church and their families. Porn tears those pillars out, it might be slow but Porn is Satan’s most desireable hook. Once hooked it becomes an addiciton that will bring those pillars down. We must continue to fight the good fight of the faith and persevere through the fleshly temptation of porn.
Here is a link that further investigates this.
http://relit.org/porn_again_christian/toc.php
The subject has been on my radar for many years. I would say the % is higher for Christian men viewing porn. It probably equals the secular statistics. It doesn’t just stop at “viewing” porn. The viewing most often than not leads to “masturbation” which is left out of the conversation when we talk about porn. But instead of statistics and numbers we as Christian men should focus on what the Church should be doing! What’s lacking is the leadership in our Churches for gathering of both “solid” and “shaky” men to flush this out of course albeit in a save environment with no guilt and no condemnation. Verses like James 5:16, Galatians 6:2, 1 Cor 6:18, 1 Thess 4:3,4 and others must be truly be practiced with strong accountability. check out this website dedicated to steering Christians from porn (www.xxxchurch.com)!
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