Friday, December 20, 2013

Silent No More

I know it is the Christmas season and everyone is talking good cheer, but something has been bothering me lately and I need to say it. I usually don't talk about what other people are blogging or about what is in the media but there seems to be a trend going on with "truth". Not only the "truth" but how people are so easily offended by the truth. We in the church have become so afraid to offend people that we let sin run rampant in our midst. I guess this is a good time of the year to be bringing this up because Christmas is about birth and it is time for the church to have a rebirth of truth. I have been following another blogger Matt Walsh for a while now and I absolutely love how he speaks truth. Does he offend? Yes, but it's truth and it's not sugar coated. I recently read one of his blogs on a "forbidden" subject and this is what has been bothering me . The church has chosen to remain silent on a major sin that is destroying marriages, families, and lives. God has put human trafficking on my heart and I feel like this is the root of human trafficking. 
Pornography; there I said it; this filthy sin that we choose to keep hush-hush about eats away at the very core of our culture and our lives with out even a light shed on it because too many are too ashamed or embarrassed to talk about it. What ever the reason for the silence, it NEEDS to be talked about. The statistics are appalling.

  • the revenue porn brings in is larger than all combined revenues of the professional football, basketball and baseball franchises. ($57 billion worldwide, and $12 billion in the US)
  • 12% of all total websites are porn
  • porn searches equals 25% of all daily search engine requests
  • 35% of all downloads are pornographic.
  • 20% of men and 13% of women admit accessing it from work.
  • the largest consumer age group for Internet porn - 12 to 17 years of age.
  • 90% of youth between the ages of 8-16 years old have viewed porn online
  • 15% of youth between the ages of 12-17 years old have done so purposefully.
You say, "I'm a Christian, those statistics are for the unsaved". Argue with this then.
  • 53% of Promise Keeper men have viewed it
  • 47% Christians said it was a problem in their homes
  • 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women admitted to being addicted to porn.
  • 55% of pastors admitted to visiting a pornographic site.
  • 57% of pastors say that porn addiction is the most sexually damaging issue to the congregation.
It is a problem in the church. It is a problem in your church? I guarantee it. We think that because it is never mentioned, it's not there. It's like a child who cleans there room by shoving everything in the closet, but when you open the closet all the garbage falls out. The garbage has never been cleaned out, it is still there and it's dirty and filthy and making lives miserable. Here is a link to the blog that I mentioned earlier, he says it better than me. ( http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/11/25/married-men-your-porn-habit-is-an-adultery-habit/). 
 It's a dirty little secret and we can't seem to talk about it. Husbands and wives need to be honest and open. Pastors and Christians need to start talking about it and opening up conversations. People are broken and hurting; families are being torn apart. When we keep silent we let "shame" and "condemnation" win. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Bible also says "bear with each other and forgive one another" (Colossians 3:13). Is it coincidence that this passage is preceded by "put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry (Col.3:5)? I don't think so. We are called to hold each other accountable but we can't do that when we don't know what each other is struggling with. I know I have friends that are struggling with this, whether they themselves have an addiction or their spouse, yet they remain silent and try to battle alone, because everyone is scared to talk about it. It is time to break the silence and openly start a discussion. "oh", you say, "we don't want our kids to hear this kind of talk". Did you pay attention to the statistics? Look again. here are a  couple more for you.
  • roughly 67% of young men and 49% of young women agree that viewing pornography is acceptable.
  • 5% of all 12 year-olds; 10% of 13 year-olds; and 20% of 14 year-olds are sexually active.
Over half of our young people think it o.k! THAT'S NOT OK! They think that way because we are silent. We are letting the media and the social networks shape the next generation while we remain silent. Pornography is a sin. It is cheating if you are married, it is cheating on your future spouse if your not. For my friends and family who have been affected by this or who struggle with this, please don't take this as an attack. I love you but I come against the spirit of sexual immorality and I choose to no longer remain silent. We need to discuss pornography for what it is, unacceptable. We need to battle and stand against it together. If I am speaking to you I encourage you to speak out. Don't be ashamed because you fell, bring the sin into the light and ask others to partner with you to combat it. 
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