There are still some things you
can’t count on hearing from the pulpit. Here are three things the church won’t
teach you about [pornography].
1.
It’s becoming
more culturally acceptable, especially among young people. Okay, maybe you might hear about this in
conjunction with a long rant about our culture’s declining morals, but it’s
highly unlikely that your church will let you know just how acceptable
pornography is becoming in American society.
A recent, in-depth survey
by the Barna group has revealed that [pornography] use is on the rise among
teenagers and young adults, and that it is less and less seen as morally wrong
to use [pornography].
In fact, among the young people surveyed, only 32% said that
viewing [pornography] was “usually or always wrong.” Compare that to the
percentage of those who felt the same way about not recycling: 56%. This may be
tough to admit, but attitudes about
pornography are shifting, even among those in the church.
2.
Plenty of the
people next to you in the pews are struggling with it. But that doesn’t mean everyone in church is all fine and
dandy with using [pornography]. In fact, there are plenty of your fellow
churchgoers who struggle with [pornography], though you may never know it
because they would never admit it. These are the kinds of things that get
admitted on anonymous surveys but that don’t tend to come up at the latest
potluck.
No, while many people are starting to own up to their
struggles with [pornography], there are still plenty of those who are keeping
their struggles to themselves.
Because even though the church has made in-roads into
becoming safe places for people to admit their weaknesses and failings, there
are still far too many in the church who feel like they must keep their “happy
faces” firmly in place.
Sadly, even though most churches are aware of the breadth of
the [pornography] problem in their pews, very few churches have any formal
ministries or programs in place to help their members deal with their [pornography]
problem and find freedom from it.
3.
A shocking
percentage of the people on stage struggle with it. Once more we turn to the Barna survey, which shows that the
majority of pastors (57%) and youth pastors (64%) have struggled with [pornography]
either in the past or currently. Those who do struggle with [pornography] say
it negatively affects their ministry, probably because 55% of those pastors say
“they live in constant fear of being discovered.”
The fact of the matter is, your pastor is more than likely
someone who is currently struggling with [pornography] or who has had an issue
with [pornography] in the recent past. This can make them understandably less
likely to talk about it, but hopefully this fact can also give you grace for
them and for yourself if you’re someone who struggles with it.
“Remember that some men, even pastors, lead sinful lives,
and everyone knows it. In such situations you can do something about it. But in
other cases only the judgment day will reveal the terrible truth.”[ii] Though pastors serve an infallible God, they
themselves are fallible humans. They will make mistakes, but the Truth will set
them free.[iii]
One thing the church at large loves to talk about is
victory, but we’d prefer to see the church start talking about lasting freedom,
something that is available to everyone, whether they’re in the pulpit or the
pews... [Pornography] is here. It’s
growing, but it doesn’t have to. It’s time for the church to get the word out.[iv]
[iv] Adapted from the article, “3 Things the Church Won’t Teach You about Porn” by X3 on June 6th, 2016 (www.xxxchurch.com)
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