Posted on 11/23/2012 3:42:45 AM PST by IbJensen
November 21, 2012 (Breakpoint.org) - Pornography is out there, and it’s not going away any time soon. So to help your kids guard against it, you have to prepare them. According to Josh McDowell, author of books including “Evidence which Demands a Verdict” and “More Than a Carpenter,” who has turned his attention of late to the devastation of pornography on our culture and the Church, this may rank among the greatest threats to Christianity we’ve ever seen.
Explaining why he decided to tackle the issue of pornography, Josh said in an interview with John Stonestreet of Breakpoint how he sensed a barrier to his apologetic work which had nothing to do with the Faith itself.
“I am an apologist,” says Josh. “I set forth positive reasons why to believe, in order to see young people come to Christ. But about five or six years ago, I kept sensing that there’s a problem out there. When I would interact with young people, something had become a barrier. I realized it was intrusive and pervasive sexual immorality and pornography on the internet. As an apologist, the one thing that can undermine everything that I teach is not in the area of apologetics, it’s in the area of morals. If you don’t deal with this issue, you won’t fulfill your role as a biblical apologist.”
Josh’s son, Sean McDowell, who is the head of the Bible Department at Capistrano Valley Christian College, as well as an author, speaker and apologist in his own right, works with youth full time. In that process, Sean has gathered a litany of sad stories of apparently model Christian young men and women who have fallen into the trap set for them by a culture saturated with sex and lust.
And that’s just the problem. The first points Josh and Sean McDowell hope to communicate to parents, pastors and teachers is that in today’s world, most children and students aren’t looking for pornography. “Pornography is looking for them,” says Josh. “Of those teenagers who have seen pornography, between seventy-eight and ninety-one percent were never looking for it. Researchers show that thirty-eight percent of those will become addicted.”
“How big of a deal is this for the body of Christ right now?” asks John Stonestreet.
“Well, the stats which I have documented,” explains Josh, “show that upwards of fifty percent of pastors struggle with pornography. Sixty-two percent of men who attend evangelical churches regularly struggle with pornography, and upwards of sixty-five to sixty-eight percent of teenagers. This is probably the greatest threat to the cause of Christ in two thousand years of church history, because it so undermines your life, your walk with Christ and your beliefs. My fear is that many pastors are not addressing it because they’re involved in it. Somehow, we’ve got to get the leadership in the body of Christ addressing this.”
“Give us some specifics,” says John. “How does it undermine Christians? How does it undermine Christian growth, how does it undermine marriages?”
“Apart from shame and loneliness,” explains Josh, “[pornography] produces a question about the authority of the Scriptures, of Christ, of the Resurrection, of the Church and of parents. It starts to darken the door of the brain to consider truths of the Christian faith. One you become involved in pornography, it takes over all your thinking, your morals, and your life. You have to understand: pornography just takes over your life. It takes over your relationships—your view of people, of women of children. And as a result, it doesn’t leave room for your walk with Christ. You can’t become involved with pornography and have a healthy walk with Christ.”
That, says Josh, is why he’s launched “Just 1 Click Away,” a website devoted to networking the old and young with resources and help. Sean McDowell gives a lecture at Summit Ministries which echoes the message of “Just 1 Click Away.” In it, he draws from the work of Drs. Joe McIlhaney Jr. and Freeda McKissic Bush in their groundbreaking book, “Hooked,” in which they describe how pornography and sexual promiscuity actually change the physical structure and chemistry of our brains, making it more difficult to love, bond and have sexual relationships with our spouses.
Another critical issue which the McDowells seek to address with this new campaign against pornography is the dreaded task parents have of educating and preparing their children. Both Josh and Sean discourage any hope that our children will be among the lucky few who never encounter pornography. Statistically speaking, say the McDowells, that’s a non-existent group.
“Your kids will encounter pornography,” says Josh. “It’s so sad, but it’s true.” We can take away internet, television and smart phones from our children and students, but these measures will barely stem the tide of pornographic images and themes which bombard them from other sources we cannot control, such a friends and classmates. Even if we isolate our kids and teens from the outside world, they will still become adults and have to confront all at once the sexual culture we tried to stifle. Our job as parents and mentors, believes Josh, must now be to focus on preparing our children to respond in a godly way when faced with pornography.
That’s why at “Just 1 Click Away” the McDowells have sought not only to expose the problem, but also to provide resources and training for parents and adults on how to open the channels of conversation with their children early, how to forearm them to face the battle ahead, and how to ultimately and consistently say “no” to the dehumanizing, degrading influence of our culture’s worst addiction.
“If children are raised as lone wolves, they will act as lone wolves. They may be good, Christian lone wolves, but they will never be part of a pack. Their spiritual lives may be good, but their physical lives will be poor. They will not know the joys of a happy marriage, and their children, if they have any, will also likely be socially crippled.”
Wrong again.
Many children who have been “raised as lone wolves” have been saved by the grace of God and subsequently lived productive and Christ-honoring lives, experiencing His healing and life-changing power—and written books upon books to tell about it.
“Sorry, disconnected Biblical invectives fail when, as it were, the rain falls on the just and unjust alike.”
What “disconnected Biblical invectives” were you speaking of?
Thanks for the post about pornography’s dangers. What is a greater threat to Christianity, pornography or the crimes against children attributed to Christian churches, priests and other clergy? Please read:
Justice for missing native children: Protesters
Brett Clarkson, Toronto Sun
Sunday, February 7, 2010
A few dozen protestors rallied outside a pair of downtown churches Sunday morning to call attention to the thousands of children who went missing or died during Canada’s residential schools era.
Protestors, including former residential schools residents, gathered at Metropolitan United Church and then St. Michael’s Cathedral to demand accountability from the United and Catholic churches over its role in the residential school system that ripped native children from their families and in some cases subjected them to physical and sexual abuse.
“The churches have been exonerated basically for these children who died,” said Kevin Annett, of the advocacy group The Friends and the Relatives of the Disappeared....
Continues here:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/02/07/12782671.html
David said in response, “That means there is a moral sin in your life that you will not give up no matter what. Your rejection of scripture tells me that. Because if you dared to accept the authority of scripture, that means you’d have to accept its judgment of your sin and turn from it. And you are not willing to do that.” (or something close to that).The man told David, “You are right.”
Interesting. Did Wilkerson elaborate on what happened next? You figure on a plane and captive audience there's more to the story...
every major religion at its core....Judaism,Islam,Christianity,Hinduism,Buddhism..pushes for self control,the greater good, respect for elders, respect for your spouse...and yes even Islam, before it became radicalized.....
without self control, you can not have society...without society, we have constant anarchy and violence...
but welcome newbie.....
its also the "hangup" about drugs, and the "hangup" about illegals flooding our services, and the "hangup" about girls at age 12 being let out of school for abortions...
yeah...all the "hangups"....
I think our side does get trashed because our side has to make all the adult decisions....its not easy being elected why one has be responsible....
> ...and yes even Islam, before it became radicalized.....
“became radicalized”? Islam has been a terrorist cult from its beginning.
I’m truly happy that such examples exist. However, the vast majority of people live their lives with human, instead of Christian rules. They do not pray that heaven will intervene in their lives and change their future; assuming that it is up to them to do so, instead of waiting around for heaven.
Today we have, for better or worse, studies such as psychology, to help us understand what we are. Most people prefer that to praying for a heavenly fix to what ails them.
If heaven helps you, great. Go for it. Most do not consider themselves so blessed, assurances that they are, or at least could be, notwithstanding.
Sorry, but you're wrong there. Porn has a huge affect on a person's personality and their treatment towards other people. I have seen people change after they became addicted to porn.
Perhaps if you gave him more hugs (and other affection), he wouldn't have been so interested in porn?
I think that in many cases, an interest in porn is a symptom of lack of sexual satisfaction in the man's regular life.
EVERY true believer in Christ has been changed (in condition) from the “old self” or “old man” in Adam to the “new self,” “new man,” or “new creation” in Christ, at the moment he/she believes in Christ for the forgiveness of sin. It’s not a “heavenly fix” or “praying for a change in one’s future,” it is a work of God and responding in belief to what God has said in His Word.
God says to those who have been saved: By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. [Ephesians 2:8-9]
It is called being “born again” in John 3. It is a condition of permanent, “forever” spiritual change and healing that begins in Christ, progresses in Christ, and ends in Christ in glory.
Read the apostle Peter’s sermon to the men of Israel after Christ had been crucified, buried, and had risen from the dead, Acts 1:22-36, and see how thousands of them responded by faith and were being saved, v. 37-47.
It is the truth/the Son who sets us free. (John 8:32, 36). Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father, but through Him. (John 14:6)
And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
Sin is what ails us, and God sent His beloved Son to cure our hearts and give us a new life in Christ. May you be touched by His loving gift.
Oh my Goodness... You Blame CC because of her ex-husbands actions?
No matter how I act that does not mean those around me are free to be jerks or rude or insensitve. People choose thier own actions. Even if they are wrong.
Porn isn’t a symptom, Porn is a tool of Satan to destroy families and corrupt minds.
Notice I said Porn not SEX..Sex is a beautiful physical action within the confines of a covenant Marriage.
I honestly cannot remember, but there may or may not be more to it. Maybe you can search for it with Google......
So glad I walked away from that shytt 30+ years ago...long before I was married. Was not easy to stay away early on, but have not fallen off the wagon even once in all that time. Definitely Satan’s tool but he failed with me.
I'm questioning what she tried in order to fix the situation: "I couldn’t even stand to hug my husband after a while because he so grossed me out" would result in driving him further into porn. The marriage vows carry an obligation to help your spouse overcome difficulties, rather than rejecting him because you now think he's "gross".
I think that in many cases, making a comment as you just did is indicative of trollish, anti-woman, anti-family, anti-conservative attitudes and is BULL SHIT.
You have my permission to have your own opinions.
A popular misconception. While the initial interest in porn is simply normal sexual wiring, an addiction only comes about when there are other abnormalities of development that prepare the individual for the addictive response. Rather like alcoholism. Beer may have a general appeal to many otherwise healthy individuals, but for some it is the path to apparently uncontrollable, self-destructive behaviors.
In the case of many, an overemphasis on physical sexuality, especially at an early age, creates a learning pattern that divorces sexual well-being from relational well-being. Very often you will find the addicted individual is sexually narcissistic because normal relationship development was interrupted by premature exposure to visual and or physical sexual behavior, often foisted on them by adults they trusted, who themselves have the same mental dichotomy between sex and relationship, and often for the same reason. It is generationally propagated.
That’s why you do need to be careful to not blame the victim, and the victim in these relationships is most certainly the healthy spouse who discovers their significant other is repeatedly and compulsively reducing them (and others) to sexual object status. They probably have no way to articulate or respond to how bad this makes them feel. You think you’ve got this love relationship, then discover this monstrous coldness in the other person. It can turn your life upside down. It would be a rare and exceptional person capable of not responding with revulsion, but with compassion. But the wound would still be deep and painful.
Pornography is well established as a way to divert young minds from a healthy pattern for learning how to be in meaningful and satisfying relationships. It is so reliable in this effect it is the basis of a multi-billion dollar addiction industry. At some point in the process, the overstimulation produces real chemical dependency, along with the unexpected side effect of lessened sexual capacity. Hence, one might even suspect that the general rise in chemical aids for sexual performance is a direct result of the culture of sexual addiction.
The problem with addictions is there is always a path back into the addictive behavior, even when the most compelling rational reasons would make any sensible person to back away. Irrationality becomes the normal state of mind. Productivity in other areas is diminished. There is no release through reason, or religious exercises, or even renewed spousal affection, because the addiction calls the shots.
There is only one reliable exit from the nightmare. There is a God in Heaven. He is real. If He didn’t exist, you would be stuck with who you are forever. But He does change people. I have seen it first hand. No power of Satan is great enough to resist His determination to rescue you. He can bridge the gap, fill in the missing piece of your soul, that stands between who you are, and who you want to become.
To any person reading this who suffers from this addiction, you know how helpless you really feel. You start by admitting your helplessness. You admit this is not normal, that it controls you, that it is hurting you and everyone around you. Christians call that sort of thing sin. Sin is sin because it’s not good, not good for you, not good for God, not good for anyone. It needs to go. It can be made to go. God can do this. How bad do you want your life back? Bad enough to really turn this over to God? Bad enough to lay it all out in the open for your spouse to see? Bad enough to believe in miracles? Then go for it. Do what’s right, don’t look back, and expect to be amazed by the love and power of God, who left the comforts and glory of Heaven for love, to give Himself for you on a cross, just to give you this new life:
Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Peace,
SR
I've just seen a lot of this type of thread over the years, and I'm getting rather tired of the presupposition that it's always exclusively the guy's fault.
What do you think of "romance novels" and female porn like the "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy?
AMEN!!!
I spends LOTS more time here than on the porn sites!
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