Father Orthoduck recently posted a series on Marge Simpson posing for Playboy magazine. As a result, Father Orthoduck received a comment from a person about the pornography industry in the United States. As a result, Father Orthoduck began to do some research on the subject, and came up with the following article.
A 1996 Promise Keepers survey at one of their stadium events revealed that over 50% of the men in attendance were involved with pornography within one week of attending the event.
51% of pastors say cyber-porn is a possible temptation. 37% say it is a current struggle (Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, 12/2001).
Over half of evangelical pastors admits viewing pornography last year.
Roger Charman of Focus on the Family’s Pastoral Ministries reports that approximately 20 percent of the calls received on their Pastoral Care Line are for help with issues such as pornography and compulsive sexual behavior.
In a 2000 Christianity Today survey, 33% of clergy admitted to having visited a sexually explicit Web site. Of those who had visited a porn site, 53% had visited such sites “a few times” in the past year, and 18% visit sexually explicit sites between a couple of times a month and more than once a week.
29% of born again adults in the U.S. feel it is morally acceptable to view movies with explicit sexual behavior (The Barna Group).
57% of pastors say that addiction to pornography is the most sexually damaging issue to their congregation (Christians and Sex Leadership Journal Survey, March 2005).
Father Orthoduck finds these statistics particularly challenging because he has not preached on pornography for a long long time. Like most pastors, Father Orthoduck knows that his congregation considers pornography to be wrong. The danger is, of course, that despite that being true, nevertheless, it is the area of addiction that needs to be dealt with. One can have all the knowledge that something is wrong without the power to do something about it.
The other thing Father Orthoduck got out of reading way too many statistics is the power that pornography has in this country and the damage it has done to the culture and to our view of men and women.
Is it porn or is it celebration of the beauty of God’s creation? I think some people get the two mixed up. Michaelangelo’s David is not porn. The website showing 20 ways to degrade your lover IS! Just because you show an ankle or even a rounded derriere does not mean it is porn. Bodies are beautiful whether they are young, vibrant bodies or elderly wrinkled bodies with the character of years on them. I am a nurse and throughout my career I have had to care for many bodies. The astonishment I always feel over the intricacy and the marvel of the human anatomy and physiology is very different from the salacious thrill some feel at beholding the illicit depiction and degradation of what was created to be holy and beautiful.
Sexuality is God’s gift as is the awesomeness of the human body. I have seen beautiful renditions that show the miracle of the beauty and intricacy of the human body. Not pornography, my dears. The loving intimacy of married people living their lives together striving to be closer to God in their celebration of their own union is beautiful and wonderful and spiritual. The coupling of two “actors” who may or may not even know each other for the purpose of making money and eliciting a secret thrill from the anonymous internet voyeur is anything but…..
Perhaps it is not the body depicted -it is the motive–uplifting or degrading-holy or unholy. Why do you think they call them dirty magazines? Maybe the test is–would you read it or watch it with your mother!!??!! Would you be embarrassed if your boss saw you with it? OR your children? Or your spouse? Or Father Orthoduck?
Having been in a marriage where pornography helped lead a man into the acting out of destructive temptations which destroyed a marriage, a family and led to institutions and prison and left a legacy that has taken years to only begin to heal, I am concerned about the easy accessibility of pornography in our society. I am equally concerned about the mentality that would censure that which shows bodies but is not pornography–like the lady who tacks a fig leaf on pictures of the aforementioned David and who censors the bare bottom pictures of a newborn.
Most of us are not in any doubt about what is really pornography and most of us–if we would just admit it–have been tempted to peruse it if only to see what the fuss is all about. Dear hearts, be forewarned. On that ocean beyond the sight of land, it should be noted that “Here there be dragons.”
Alix
LOL, I am not a fundamentalist. I am Orthodox. So, I do not have a problem with the statue of David. And many parts of Greece, the home of the Greek Orthodox Church, are filled with statues like David’s statue. They have never been destroyed, so that gives you an idea of the Orthodox viewpoint. But, several posts back, on one of my posts about Marge Simpson, one of the commenters brought up the fact that interviews of women involved in pornography, and who had left it, always commented on the extreme degradation that was part of their lives.
The problem today is that those involved in pornography try to convince everyone that there is no difference between Michaelangelo’s David and what they do. And too many have blinders on their eyes when they look upon videos or photographs of women who have been degraded (by their own testimony) and try to argue that they are art.
Women who have been involved in porn say they are degraded. In my opinion, everyone who is involved in porn is degraded. The depiction of what should be a spiritual bond between two people as illicit coupling, casual sex, titilating eroticism or–even worse–violence and horror degrades the participants, the purveyors and the watchers.
That being said, too many women have been lured into such arenas through promises of fame, fortune and fun–or to please their man–and find instead pain and guilt and shame. The purveyors of said “art” know full well that it is art in name only–but the money it brings wipes out their second thoughts. Besides, if they can con the public that it is not porn but art-entertainment-or whatever–anything but porn–they can feel themselves cleansed by the bromide that “everyone is doing it” “everyone knows that it is just good fun” everyone…….”.
But as every mother in the USA has said at one time or another, “If everyone were jumping off the Empire State Building, that doesn’t mean you have to do it.”
Nuff said…..
Alix
A lot of Evangelical (i.e. “Born-Again Bible Believing (TM)”) Christians are just as obsessed with sex as any porn type, just in the opposite direction. (“Thou Shalt Not” instead of “Do It Like They Do On the Discovery Channel”.) I wonder if the Extreme Anti reaction has set them up for a special weakness re porn as Forbidden Fruit.
There’s an essay somewhere on the Web called “The Christian Sex Cult” on the subject. (Don’t bother to Google it, the signal-to-noise ratio on that title search is way too low.) The essay traces its origin to St Augustine’s theological influence, and how his life both before and after his conversion experience was not conductive to a healthy & realistic attitude towards sex. (As in Monica’s sun Auggie was a real horndog before and in a cloistered celibate environment afterwards; in neither case did he have an opportunity to experience women as people — only as sex objects (before) or forbidden fruit/temptation (after). And this had to color his writings when he touched on the subject.)
Interesting, I had not thought of Saint Augustine’s writing on women and marriage in that light.
Pornography has nothing to do with desire. It has everything to do with selfishness. Pornography is not an image- its a thought and it is an action. However, there is a serious problem if we say that nudity should be more accepted in society on our TV screens, on signs, billboards, ect. Men always have, and always will think of the female body as a sex object. I went to art school for 2 years and still think the same way, and as someone who was an addict for 15 years, I can say that one of the causes of my addiction was too much philiosophy and not enough common sense.
Josh Harris, the Author of “I kissed Dating goodbye” and “Not even a hint” described such thinking this way:
“I know there is a problem with my Christianity when I am more concerned with what I am allowed to do than I am with what I should do.”
We can go to the two opposite extremes and still have the same problem. We can say that any amount of nudity is a sin and therefore not be able to go to the beach, watch TV , or even walk outside our house. The opposing extreme is when we say that nudity is not a problem at all and should be allowed for strictly liberal philosophical reasons. Imagine the chaos that would occur if nude people walked in public among traffic. Different but equally bad outcomes would occur. Even in societies where nudity is commonplace and not given any thought, sexual immorality is still prevalent.
We as men need to realize that its not about nudity or about desire. Its about being so concerned with our own pleasure that we make a toy out of a human being. Without a relationahip with Jesus Christ it is impossible to defeat lust. We can rid ourselves of the surface addiction of pornography without ridding ouselves of the heart of such addiction. For most men a pornography addiction is not just based on desire- its based on anxiety, selfishness, and the worry that God will never satisfy our desires with good things. If you are into this addiction and are trying to break it without God’s help, let me warn you that it won’t work. You need to be forgiven of your sins and let God help you heal. Only He can fully change your life.
I have written a blog post for all interested. It is entitled, “Christianity and Pornagraphy, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Adultery, Fornication, Homosexuality and Sensuality. What Do the Scriptures Have to Say About These Things?” Just type this or 777denny into any search engine to find it.
Did you know the Great Whore, the Vatican (this is NOT to offend Catholics, but is rather about telling the truth. I grew up Catholic — I plan on making a blog post soon about ‘Mystery Babylon’), has misinterpreted the word “fornication” for about 1,700 years? Did you know that until about 50 years ago Vatican teaching taught that sexual intercourse between MARRIED persons was considered fornication? Did you know that if the scriptures are silent on an issue, then it is up to the person or husband to decide whether it is right or wrong? Did you know that if you judge someone for doing something that is not prohibited by scripture that you are sinning?
Find out about all this and more so you can make an informed decision about the subjects in the title of the blog post.
Thanks for listening, 777denny