Porn in the Pews - International Pentecostal Holiness Church

And last, it must be understood in the spiritual context of
idolatry.
Sexuality
Porn touches a nerve today because it touches the sensitive
subject of sexuality, which has been a thorny subject
for a long time. Many ministers rightly feel the tension of
wanting to equip their people with a complete biblical view
of life—including sexuality—while at the same time being
sensitive to the diversity of their congregation. Week after
week preachers stand before mixed crowds of married
and single, children and adults, homosexual and heterosexual.
Preaching about sexuality involves an understanding
of your congregation and how best to speak to their
current situations.
With this diversity in mind, preachers must start with the
question, “How can I equip my congregation with a biblical
view of sexuality?” As the purpose and beauty of sexuality
is understood in a biblical light, lust and pornography
can be denounced as the warped things that they are.
When we only denounce pornography without promoting
righteous sexuality, we offer our people a lopsided truth.
Paul urged his readers to not have even a hint of sexual
immorality among them, and in the same chapter he urges
husbands and wives to nourish, cherish, love, and respect
each other (Eph. 5). We must expose the deeds of darkness
in porn for what they are, while at the same time
speak about what is good, right, and true about marital
sexuality (Eph. 5:7-13).
Media
We live in transitional times. In modern America we are
shifting from a print-based culture to an image based-culture.
It is a shift from the printed word to the digital image,
from the printing press to the computer. This shift affects
everything: how we do politics, how we advertise, how we
educate, and how we worship.
More and more studies reveal that overstimulation of media
actually changes the way our brains work, limiting our
ability to focus and set priorities. With print, readers process
information within the text at their own pace. With
electronic media, we must digest billions of bite-sized images—billions
of pictures painting a thousand words at
break-neck speeds.
Much of the media we see is hyper-sexualized. Pornography
is merely the tip of a very large iceberg. The task of the
preacher is to lower the water line to see how other forms
of sexual media actually fuel our desires to see more explicit
material. It comes through television, movies, and
the Internet. As we train others to guard their eyes, it is
important we don’t merely draw the line between porn and
non-porn. These “gray areas” also need to be addressed.
Prostitution
Ask someone if they would ever want to knowingly contribute
to sex trafficking or if they would ever want to financially
support a brothel. Most would say no. And yet
many are unaware of the connections between pornography
and other forms of commercial sex (such as prostitution,
trafficking, strip clubs, etc.).
Peel away the gloss of pornography
and we find a
very dark world. STDs are
rampant in the porn industry.
Alcohol and drugs are
regularly abused to help
performers get through their
scenes. Physical violence is
commonplace. There is a
push in the industry towards
rougher, more sadistic sex.
Behind the lights, camera
angles, and clever editing is
a toxic world of exploitation
and degradation.
Many are unaware
of the connections
between
pornography and
other forms of
commercial sex
(such as prostitution,
trafficking, strip
clubs, etc.)
A variety of personal factors might contribute to a woman’s
involvement in the industry, but consumers also bear
responsibility. To intentionally consume pornography is to
consume prostitution—to endorse the exploitation of another
human being.
Preaching about pornography need not merely be a call
to personal purity (though it certainly is that). Preaching
about pornography is also a prophetic call to Biblical jus-
Porn in the Pews • © 2010 CovenantEyes
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