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FIRST RESPONSE: Porn Nation? |
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Written by Don Williams
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First ResponseNovember 2007
Porn Nation?By Don Williams
Pornography seems to be as old as the human race. Wall paintings excavated in Pompeii, destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the later part of the First Century, graphically illustrate this. But what was a subculture of salacious sex is now mainstream. This is due to the Internet. No longer do lust driven people have to find satisfaction in seedy parts of town or in massage parlors fronting as legitimate businesses. Now, online, everything is immediately available at the click of a mouse. No one is protected and for untold Christians, in their loneliness , depression and sexual frustration, moral resolve dissolves. This has led, not only to personal shame, but it has also led to massive sexual addiction. This means that, try though they may, victims simply can't stop. It's not that they view raw sex daily. Many addicts follow the addiction cycle of pain buildup which leads to acting out followed by shame, guilt and deeper loneliness, isolation and more pain which then starts the cycle all over again.
The power of porn is not only in individual seduction, it is a huge business. Michael Leahy, as reported in The Ivy League Christian Observer, July 2007, is traveling around the country, visiting campuses, presenting his one man multi-media show, “Porn Nation – The Naked Truth.” His own life story of a destroyed marriage plus national statistics lead him to characterize the United States as “One nation under porn.” More revenue is generated through porn than through all professional sports combined. Oprah Winfrey calls porn, “America's number one addiction.”
Leahy claims, “America has become the world's largest producer and consumer of pornography, over $12 Billion annually.” For Leahy porn is an “exploitive value system...sex equals love and that a person's value is based on their body shape and size, especially if you are a woman. These long held values of the porn industry have now become the accepted standard for what our culture and our media consider 'normal' sexual freedom.” At Brown University a “high percentage of students have paid [in the form of either drugs or money] for sex.” This could be multiplied across most campuses. There are twenty million sexually addicted men and women in our country today and another eighty million who are vulnerable because of their exposure to porn on a regular basis.
Meghan Daum, in her recent L.A. Times op-ed column, “Porn's Lost Sex Appeal,”(Sat., Oct 20, 2007) adds that 12% of the Internet sites now traffic in porn. Moreover, 20% of all men and 13% of all women look at porn on the job and a staggering 90% of 8-16 year olds have viewed it online. She writes, “In other words, explicit sex has become the wallpaper of our era. We're living in the Porn Age.” She continues that the idea of people being traumatized by porn is quaint. Porn images have, for her, become boring. But she then admits that “demand for the product seems to increase even as genuine enthusiasm wanes.” But for Daum, the real shame is that sexiness which includes mystery has been replaced by “porniness.”
Daum's shallow critique misses the fact that porn does become addictive to millions and that for them mystery doesn't restore healthy sex. To the contrary, because in any addiction we quickly reach tolerance (we don't get the same high from the same amount), we need more unique and bizarre experiences. This easily leads to sadomasochism, bondage and other extreme behaviors. In all of this, our unique human value and the integration of our sexuality with our spiritual and emotional lives vanishes. All we are left with is the outer , burned out shell, diminishing as we age.
What then is the answer? Let's make the following points. First, we must replace the flood of porn images with healthy images of God's purpose and intention for integrated sexuality. Surprise! The Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) in the Old Testament offers us exactly that. Rather than allegorizing the text into a spiritual fantasy, we need to read it for what it really is: God's celebration of his gift of sexuality for us at the proper time in the proper place with the proper person. Second, we need to repent and detach from all porn materials and objects. Throw them out! We need to put filters on our computers (such as Net Mop) or establish accountable relationships for Internet usage such as Covenant Eyes. Third, we need to be honest with our struggles with our spouses and/or share honestly with a small group of trusted brothers or sisters who will pray for us and hold us accountable for sexual purity. We may also need deliverance from demonic spirits of lust or pornography. We may need to have generational sexual sins broken. We may also need healing from past sexual abuse, such as rape or incest, often going back to childhood.
Finally we need to hear God's Word: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, your were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (I Corinthians 6:9-11) Focus on the positive here. If you belong to Jesus you are washed from all past sexual sin, set apart from this fallen world and its fallen sexuality and justified before God through the merit of Christ alone and the life and power of his Holy Spirit. Now offer him your body as a living sacrifice day by day in worship and let his Spirit reform and renew your fantasy life and change your behavior. (Romans 12:1-2) The road is hard at times, the destination is sweet. Go for it!
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First Response 
