One thing I have noticed over the years of listening to Pastors, Leaders, Speakers within the Church culture when talking about the porno culture is this:
- We tend to show how unsatisfying having a secular view of sex is from today’s culture
- We try to show from science how watching porn causes problems
- We tend to focus on the men in general when it comes to porn
Though I think all the speakers that I have heard speak the truth, I believe most talks are a bit outdated.
- Women view and make up the consumer market or the porn industry today like men.
- Women use sex toys to stimulate themselves (Was in Denver and heard a stat that said 1 out of every 2 single women in the US use one!), so they pursue pleasure on their own terms.
- People who have viewed porn mostly are not deemed un-stable, chemically imbalanced people.
These are just observations.
But things are changing in the community and it is my heart to show people that the Bible addresses the overall problem; an unbridled, unchanged from times past, lust that dwells within all of us!
In sharing the dangers of porn I could tell students just how bad it is and how it messes you up in the brain and how you look at people all jacked and that if you keep doing it you will get to a place where nothing matters but your idol; porn…But that is only half of it. Porn is a mind set, it is a world view. What is the best way for me to help people see a Biblical world view? Maybe it’s through reading the Bible.
How many Christian parents out there would let their child watch a movie on the Bible? I bet if I asked the question to a room full of parents they would all say a resounding, “YES!”
But really, would you? Would you allow your teenager to watch the two becoming one flesh in Chapter 2 of Genesis or Onan later in Genesis spilling his semen on the ground? How about Jacob’s older sons killing a whole town of men in a terrorist attack while they are hurting from being circumcised? Or how about slicing the necks of animals and draining the blood, skinning the animal, and cleaning the inner parts out? Do you allow your kids to watch animal sacrifices from Bangladesh on video social networks sites? What about Lot getting hammered and having sex with his daughters? And then there’s Abraham with the maid! Or would you allow your kids to watch a show about Judah getting a bit horny while away on business and finds a escort, who just so happens being his son’s wife! And I’m not even out of the first book of the Bible!
I believe that everything we see in the world is just a re-telling of things in the Bible! Why? Because the Bible reports to be real history; real world history. So we shouldn’t be shocked that it’s reporting of the facts is just as hard core as the world we live in today.
There is nothing new under the sun. Nothing!
Everything we watch on Tv or in the movies, online or elsewhere is just a reflection of what has always been. The Bible tells us so.
So when I share with students the issues of porn and its effect on them, Genesis is a place I show them that the Bible is based in reality, we need not look any further. God’s own people struggled with porn (arousal through viewing women or men,) and so it shouldn’t be shocking when we do too! Yes, that means me too.
Great men and women of faith have been knee deep in the porn culture throughout the Word of God. How cool is that!
So would you allow your students or children to watch a movie on the Bible? I bet you wouldn’t if you really have read it. It’s about as hard core as you can get.
Do you allow your students to watch violent movies? Do you allow them to read the Bible?
Do you allow your students to see sexual movies? Do you allow them to read the Bible?
You following me now?
The reason the Bible is so cool and should be allowed to be read or watched, is that we see the realities of the world in their entire context where in a porn movie, we unfortunately take the ‘real’ context out and buy into a fantasy…a non – reality view, which causes arousal. (Lust)
If we were at the studio in Chatsworth, CA holding the lights for the porn vid, I’m not sure we would be aroused but you would see things in a better context for sure; starting, stopping getting water, resting, arms getting heavy from holding lights, getting hungry, when’s lunch anyway! But the Bible gives us the best context in which to view sex, violence and everything else in between this context is the God context. All is laid out before God in the Bible. You see the consequences of King David’s bad sexual problems. You see his son’s lust issues which come from the father. You see the destruction of the family because of lust’s reign! But you also see an incredibly merciful God, who reaches and touches the very heart of these men and women to move them to repentance. I love that!
Maybe the best way to help people see the destructive nature of porn is simply to read the Bible! When we see things in its proper context then we will not be moved. How is it that Jesus could talk to women alone and not have a problem with it though his all too wise apostles did? That sounds a bit like us men leaders today doesn’t it! “Don’t meet with women because you could fall!” mmm, once again, we have horrible contexts which even we in leadership view women. The more I hear that kind of statement, the sadder my heart get’s that maybe we are not seeing people in the correct way, and actually so bad that we can’t meet with a person without lusting!!! Urrrr, that stinks and it’s a porn view of sexuality.
The more students and adults read the entire word of God they will see everything in its correct context and understand that today as always people are simply doing what people do. The world is the same. It’s us in the Church that needs to get things in focus!