The Gospel and Porn

No, I won't "shut it" about porn.  I am quite aware that even bringing up the subject can cause some to wonder down the porn path.  That's how enticing it is.  But I must keep communicating the dangers of this horrible medium.  WE must speak up.  The snowball is rolling downhill fast.  It has been gaining exponential speed ever since pornographic material was invited into the home with the simple click of a mouse.

It seems that the only ones communicating honestly about the abuse of sex are the secular artists.  With their words, images and expressions, they reach down into our innermost beings and call our sinful flesh to feast at their table.  And they are good at it.  While at the gym the other day, not only did I pass by the front desk with an issue of MAXIM magazine in full display; but I also found my head bobbing to the lyrics, "I kissed a girl and I liked it..."  WHAT THE HECK!

Again, the snowball is rolling fast.  And its getting larger.  It is difficult to go anywhere or listen to anything without getting bombarded.  Sure, there is Christian television and radio...but I don't want to go there.  Most of it, though "clean" is only superficially so.  We go there only to find that the pendulum has swung to the other side.  This get's us nothing but a new Pharisaical friend.  What we really need is the gospel, which powerfully embraces the entire clock with redemptive arms.

The gospel is not afraid of sex - nor is it afraid of porn!  It, like the secular artist, is honest.  In other words, both the gospel and the secular artist are not afraid to say what is really going on!  Notice that I did not say that they (the gospel and the artist) agree on what is right (or wrong) about what is going on.

The gospel praises the pleasures of sex, but never the distortion of it.  The gospel exposes the fact that, yes, indulgence in pornographic material is exhilarating, pleasurable and intense; but it does not leave the individual in the slums.  The artist sinfully feasts in those slums and calls others for company.  When the song is over, however, all the guests are left with no artist and with dirty faces.  Let the guilt begin.

The Krispy Kreme donuts are gone, now everyone sits around trying not to puke.

The gospel, on the other hand, goes to the slums and calls sinners to a superior pleasure!  Again, porn is the horrible distortion of something that is gloriously good.  Porn feeds the human appetite for pleasure and sexual intimacy with something less than glorious.  The gospel doesn't call for an extinction of the appetite, but rather a redirection of it.  A lion who is foolishly addicted to oatmeal should not be encouraged to stop eating; but rather, he should be redemptively redirected to eating steak! 

Here's the only dangerous part - bringing the gospel to pornographers requires taming lions.  But here is the glorious part - the gospel tames lions.  And tamed lions live powerful lives.  As Christians we must live the gospel.  Christ died to set us free.  He tore down the wall that kept us from our Superior Pleasure - God.  This is forgiveness.  This is fulfillment.

Here is the truth...The gospel targets sinners.  Yes, even pornographers.  And when it hits them, it powerfully changes them.  Porn, though tempting, is no longer appealing.  The lion looks at the oatmeal and smirks.  By grace, I am living proof.