A News.com report that the mass consumption of pornography is now a 'public health crisis' and this view is gaining considerable support.
Perhaps its most telling lines are: “There is going to have to be programs out there that get kids to understand how porn is manipulating them” and again “a public health issue, we can have success in the way that we had success with the issue of cigarette smoking.”
The Christian scene has expressed concern over this whole issue for ever and a day it seems. Christian news and Christian magazine on-line sites publish a continuum range of literature on the broad subject of sex and pornography.
It's no puzzle mind you – the Scriptures say our hearts are as filthy rags, and that generation after generation in the church are desperate to find ways to “praise wholesome sex as a blessing” and at the same time to protect our children and grand-children from falling victim of this 'curse'.
So again I read with interest another such article. This time written by Jay Dennis for the Thomas Rainer web site on pornography and pastors. The first sentence of this article reads: “Pastor, there are two truths I want to share: (1) Many of your fellow pastors are personally struggling with pornography and; (2) pastors must address the issue of pornography among the people they lead.”
According to this article, there are 10 things listed a trapped Pastor must do to once again become pure and then there is a list of seven things a Pastor must do in relation to leading his congregation out of such mire.
So many Christian agencies write on this subject, and next week you'll find another article on all this published somewhere, that will be even more pure and list 20 things to avoid. The danger is that the negative gets overdone and over reaches. The home computer has been the hallmark for all things pornographic. It's all become so common now that a different study revealed that pornography is being ignored by most students on US college campuses – a word for pornography - “it's overdone”. Boring …..
It's changed
Many in the church have expressed concerns with more enlightenment now. The Song of Songs is said to be the most erotic and exciting book in Scripture.
I can recall 19 years ago how several Australian Christian evangelicals and Pentecostals in line with fundamentalism were beside themselves with horror; aghast and baying for blood when the mildest of 'Christians and sex' websites (when compared to what is now available), explored this same subject on the Internet in an attempt to convey the joy of Christian marital sex to Christian young people.
There have been astonishing changes since 1999 in all this that has bought about such a revolution in evangelical and Pentecostal thinking and writing.
First, wiser heads within the evangelical and Pentecostal movement recognised that sex had to be raised and discussed within their Churches with an almost shocking openness, if a discussion with parishioners of all ages was to be maintained with credibility.
Second, all young people now have access to sex education in the classroom, and many reasonable evangelicals and Pentecostals saw their participation in the education process as an absolute necessity. Sadly, some will always have their heads in the sand. A recent survey showed that “14-18 year olds” had seen some form of on-line pornography. A trip to the movies reveal soft porn as the norm. Who's kidding who any longer?
Third, although books on sex for Christians have had this type of information for decades, websites for Christian material on 'sex' was basically non-existent 15 years ago. This area has developed exponentially as more and more people of all ages and walks of life find the Internet a convenient (and sometimes indispensable) way to get information.
Now there is alarm at the growing number of Australian young women travelling overseas and returning with HIV – one medical report says it's the furtherest thing on their mind when holidaying in seemingly exotic places.
PSI young writers
(PSI) Press Service International young writer program write on such topics and many speak openly about sex and co-responsibility. Casey Murray wrote one such article titled “Sex Isn't My Fault” which hit the top most popular list in Christian Today around the world.
We're in a very different era from my generation. Churches and missions have young leaders coming through the system who are not-put-off by any of this, for by the time they're 15, social scientists tell us they've already seen multiple hours of cinematic pornography and its derivatives such as on the home PC.
This new generation of Christian young leaders have a better grip on how to handle these issues with their peers – and sadly in my view, what's more, it's not a boy-girl thing any more.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html