Pornography - Is It Really So Bad Series

Pornography

Is it really so bad?

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Last week as we talked about

defending life, and

celebrating the life God has given to the unborn,

I also want to take a moment and celebrate the life that God extends.

Marian turned 90 yesterday and we just want to encourage you all to wish her well as God uses her life to be a blessing in others.

Intro

We are continuing in our series Too Hot To Handle this week.

This week, we are talking about pornography.

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When I began preparing this series and the topics that would be discussed and began doing research, I found out that in the midst of this series there was actually a day that some Christian ministries had designated as Porn Sunday.

Porn Sunday?

It is a day where churches and pastors would discuss the problem of pornography.

Some may say, “Why do we need to talk about that in church?”

That type of conversation is not appropriate for polite conversation let alone, a Sunday morning at church, especially when we have teenagers here.

Well, in this series we have been talking about a lot of things that we might not think need to be talked about, but the fact is that our society is taking us down a road that we as the church

better start talking about these things and

talking what God would have us do and how we can combat these things in our life and our culture

or we are going to lose the future generations of the church because they will have been deceived by the views of society and become in deep bondage to the sins that so easily entangle us.

And the fact is that pornography doesn’t just affect

men in trench coats

who have to drive to the seedy part of town and

enter into dark back rooms or

sleazy bars to view pornography.

With the ease of access of pornography

through your cable or satellite provider or

on the internet in the privacy of your own home, or

even in novels with graphic language that appeal to women that can be read in the middle of the day to escape the mundane, where pornography is romanticized through words and emotions,

it has invaded every segment of society.

Men, women, kids, and it is no longer just in society at large.

And it has become a major problem in the church as well.

Statistics

In fact I saw some statistics on a site that said that 47% of Christians said that porn was a major problem in the home

And it isn’t just men for whom this is a problem.

The breakdown of visitors to porn websites is 65% male and 35% female

And the Pornography industry has become big business.

I have seen estimates of the revenue from Pornography anywhere from $3 billion per year to $12 billion per year. With revenue like that it surpasses the revenue for all football, baseball and basketball franchises combined!

Statistics accessed on 9/3/2007 from http://www.pornsunday.com/media.html

Pornography has become a cancer in our society that has, I am sure, touched nearly everyone here today through a spouse, a child, a family member or friend.

If Christians do not take a stand to halt the spread of this cancer within themselves, our society will continue down a path where one day America will make Sodom and Gomorrah look as wholesome as Branson, Missouri in comparison.

Even as we hear those statistics though, I am sure there are some here who are saying, What is the big deal?

You are making more out of viewing pornography than you should, after all,

it is not like having an affair and it is not really hurting anyone.

Both of those thoughts are lies of Satan because, first,

Viewing Pornography is like having an affair

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Jesus said in

Matthew 5:27-28

27 "You have heard that it was said, ’Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

When we

view pornographic images or

even imagine pornographic images with others outside of our spouse,

it causes us to lust and we have committed adultery in our hearts.

Now while lust is probably a sin that 100% of those over the age of 13 have committed at some point in their life, viewing pornography, or reading words that form images in our heads, takes the sin of lust to a new level, searing into our heads thoughts and images that hinder us from battling this sin.

Viewing pornography is always feeding the sin of lust and is in fact a manifestation of that sin. It is always wrong and sinful to view pornography.

Viewing it is not only like having an affair though.