It is crucial these days to understand the online world the younger generation partially lives in. Too many in today’s Church culture are not even close to aware of the issues that young people face let alone what they see everyday online. As the younger generation has gotten older, they become our Youth Pastors and helpers in Church. And some of them no doubt, female and male, have seem much pornography. Avoiding this truth is bordering on ridiculous today. There simply is no excuse for older leaders to be ignorant of the struggles of today’s younger, online, generation.
The older generation should know all to well what happens when sexual issues are simply ignored or kept secret! I was discussing this with my mom, who is now approximately 70. Specifically about the sexual abuse of her generation and the secrecy which followed such acts. Pornography was seen as used mostly by “Dirty older men,” by her generation. But though there were no free porn back then or the porn industry as we know it today, there were so many young girls that were touched inappropriately. Way too many. One is too many! She was sharing that all of her friends growing up have stories of either rape or molestation in them! It is so sad that the older generation in our Churches today were told not to discuss it. And many girls remained silent and suffered in silence. The older generation should know the consequences of ignoring sexual issues.
It is certainly time for us to discuss these topics regularly as a part of our normal discussions in our close friendships. As a administrator at a Church, it is vital that my staff and I discuss these topics in a safe way. Talking about sex is not something that we should be afraid to discuss in these days of online free hardcore pornography which many young and old stumble on unwantingly. Keeping silent has implications of the same proportions that we see today in the lives of so many who live in a silent pain inflicted by predators years and years ago. We can help!
Help by being a person full of grace that is not afraid to discuss these topics. Porn is sex. You shouldn’t be freaked out by that. And as Bible reading people who are well aware that our Bible hero’s are those who slept with the maid, had multiple wives, were a part of the ancient cultures sex trafficking & prostitution, we of all people, should be comfortable discussing sex. It’s a shame if we cannot… on multiple levels. But you can be of such an encouragement to a person who might need a person to talk to. Remember, this younger generation have been guinea pigs in the United States’s free porn experiment! And who better than a person filled with the Spirit of Christ to help?
God desires us to heal from our past, so that we may help others. I pray that is what we are able to do more of. When a person on a Church staff or a member of a church is having difficulty with our lustful culture, having people available to talk with who can empathize would be ideal. This kind of friendship could prevent a pastor or member from keeping there sin a secret for years and in turn help with all the shame the feel. This is the heart of Running Light Ministries! We desire to be those people you can contact to share what is weighing down your heart. Cultivating a new paradigm in the Church starts with one person who is willing to help another. In order to do that we will need to do things a bit different from the current Christian climate…But then again, I think Jesus did the same.