BREAKING FREE!
OVERCOMING PORNOGRAPHY AND SEXUAL ADDICTION
We are living in an incredibly difficult time of sexual immorality in our culture.
Public attitudes and values about healthy sexuality have fallen away from a Christian belief as ordained by God. The electronic availability of sex has brought the most depraved sexual acts into our homes through the Internet. It is definitely a time when we must seek to follow the Bible’s teaching in Romans 12:2.
“Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
WHAT IS PORNOGRAPHY?
Pornography refers to words of images that cause sexual arousal.
The word pornography comes from the Greek word porniea, where we get the English word fornication which often refers to general immorality. It is also conveyed to communicate someone that is a salve to sex. Although it is used sometimes as a synonym for adultery, the word often means voluntary sexual intercourse by an unmarried person with someone of the opposite sex (premarital) or in today’s culture of the same sex. The word would include what is know as casual sex, including sex with a prostitute.
The Encyclopedia of Ethics, defines pornography as "the sexually explicit depiction of persons, in words or images, created with the primary, proximate aim, and reasonable hope, of eliciting significant sexual arousal on the part of the consumer of such materials." Here is a first, simple definition:
Pornography is any material (either pictures or words) that is sexually explicit.
In every case, fornication is presented as behavior opposed to the plan and will of God. Pornography is a spiritual problem, which undermines morality and creates a social problem. Pornography encourages lustful behavior, which for several millions people in the Unites States has become an addiction. Thus at the least, pornography erodes a society’s moral virtue while, at worst threatens peoples marriages and relationships with others.
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE PROBLEM IN THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
- Less than 12% of Christian families have filtering of any kind on their computers
- Research has indicated that 9 out of 10 Internet victims are adults! Of those Christian families that do not have a filter, 10% are not aware of the dangers on the Internet, 25% know the material is there, but they believe their family will not use that material or be harmed by it. The largest group, 65% simply doesn’t want to give up some material or feature of the Internet that they perceive a filter will deny even though they know it may not be good for them.
- 51% of pastors say cyberporn is a possible temptation
- 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography
- 37% say it is a current struggle (Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, December 2001).
- 60% of the women have significant struggles with lust
- 20% of church-going women struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis
- 4 in 10 pastors have visited a porn site (Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, December 2001).
- 17.8% of all "born again" Christian adults (in America) have visited sexually-oriented Websites (Zogby survey conducted for Focus on the Family, 2000).
- 63% of men attending "Men, Romance & Integrity Seminars" admit to struggling with porn in the past year. Two-thirds are in church leadership and 10% are pastors (Pastor's Family Bulletin, Focus on the Family, March 2000).
- A survey of 1,500 men at the Promise Keepers gatherings last summer. 51% of the sample reported a struggle with masturbation, and 51% also fantasize about having sex with women other than their wives. 74% reported that their sexual thoughts concern them. 15%percent reported they were sexually unfaithful to their spouse. About 33% reported enjoyment in looking regularly at sexually- oriented material, including videos and magazines.
HOW CAN A YOUNG MAN or WOMAN KEEP HIS/HER WAY PURE?
(We have workshops and support groups for teenagers also)
NOW IS THE TIME FOR THE CHURCH TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET AND BEGIN MOVING TOWARDS SEXUAL PURITY
Schedule a work shop or learn how you can offer confidential support groups in your church or ministry
(The standard of Internet Integrity)
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