There are many struggles that a Christian will go through in their struggles to live up to God’s standards. Some will fall away because they feel as if they’re giving up too much of the pursuits and practices they’ve come to enjoy. Even long faithful Christians can become entangled in worldly things to such an extent that they slowly drift away from God and the brotherhood of believers. Sexual sin is one of those powerful snares that can ruin ones relationship with God.
Christians are not exempt from sexual sin. If you are one who has fallen into the traps of fornication, adultery, pornography, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, or any other sexual deviation, then you need to stop. Stopping will not be easy to do! You must seek the help of elders in your congregation to help you begin the long and arduous journey of recovery, accountability and learning abstinence. You must confess your sins to the Lord and break off your relationships that lead you or tempt you into repeating such sins. This may be hard to hear, but it is what is necessary for your eternal welfare.
Pornography in recent years has become a plague on our perceptions of sexuality. It has been allowed to define what is normal and acceptable. Porn addiction is a dark secret among Christian men and women. One that is undermining the cohesiveness of our congregations, our ministries and one’s personal relationship with God. The second being non-existent as long as you allow yourself to be a willing servant of pornography and succumb to all the bad behaviors it can bring into your life.
A new study done by Patrick F. Fagan examines the effects of pornography on individuals, marriage, family and community. Fagan is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Research on Marriage and Religion at the Family Research Council. He specializes in examining the relationships among family, marriage, religion, community, and America's social problems. This study is important for everyone to read as it demonstrates that it has damaging effects on individuals and families. In the summary Fagan explains,
Pornography is a visual representation of sexuality which distorts an individual's concept of the nature of marital relations. This, in turn, alters both sexual attitudes and behaviors. It is a major threat to marriage, to family, to children and to individual happiness. In undermining marriage it is one of the factors in undermining social stability.
Social scientists, clinical psychologists, and biologists have begun to clarify some of the social and psychological effects, and neurologists are beginning to delineate the biological mechanisms through which pornography produces its powerful negative effects.
Some of the findings inside the study include:
Pornography is addictive, and neuroscientists are beginning to map the biological substrate of this addiction.
Users tend to become desensitized to the type of pornography they use, become bored with it, and then seek more perverse forms of pornography.
Married men who are involved in pornography feel less satisfied with their conjugal relations and less emotionally attached to their wives. Wives notice and are upset by the difference.
Pornography use is a pathway to infidelity and divorce, and is frequently a major factor in these family disasters.
Among couples affected by one spouse's addiction, two-thirds experience a loss of interest in sexual intercourse.
Many adolescents who view pornography initially feel shame, diminished self-confidence, and sexual uncertainty, but these feelings quickly shift to unadulterated enjoyment with regular viewing.
The main defenses against pornography are close family life, a good marriage and good relations between parents and children, coupled with deliberate parental monitoring of Internet use. Traditionally, government has kept a tight lid on sexual traffic and businesses, but in matters of pornography that has waned almost completely, except where child pornography is concerned. Given the massive, deleterious individual, marital, family, and social effects of pornography, it is time for citizens, communities, and government to reconsider their laissez-faire approach.
You can (and should) download the study – CLICK here. QUESTION TO CONSIDER: Is your church leadership addressing the issue of pornography? Should it? How should it be done? You can rest assured that inside your congregation, quite possibly nearly 60 percent of the men, with women not far behind, are engaged in repeated and persistent use of pornography. It’s time to act to turn lives back to a path of purity and holiness before God.
NEXT WEEK’S POST... We’ll dig into porn and how it can so easily ensnare and derail a Christian's walk with God.
