I always get a bit nervous when political parties come up with their campaign slogans for any election, they are typically well researched, topical, beautifully presented and the catch cry captures you. The problem being that no beautiful slogan, well written speech nor a clever slogan can really accomplish the polished picture they present. We all know the issues are to big for easy answers, the causes are not controllable and the dream we chase is sometimes unrealistic. All sizzle and no steak. Not so different from the nervousness I feel around porn.
I get nervous around the issue of porn on two fronts, personal and corporate. My heart is still deceitful and sometimes very shallow and is, at times, captured by the seemingly harmless moments of release offered by seemingly willing women posing on the internet. It looks sleek, polished and well managed, the women are smiling and it all looks like harmless adult fun. About now you should be very nervous, its all sizzle with no steak and the promises it say’s it can deliver will actually begin to destroy the things you treasure the most. Your relationships will begin to crumble, the trust others have in you will fall, the happy man will be replaced by a moody angry man, shame will overtake confidence and before you know it you are captured.
On a corporate level I am downright scared of pornography, it frightens me to think of what it is doing to 13 year old boys, the repercussions are yet to be felt of the wave of porn that has swept over a young generation, the expectations this generation has of relationships and sex. It seems like a perfect storm, the systematic removal of fathers from the family and the onslaught of pornography besieging a younger and younger generation. We are hearing of the harmless kiss behind the bike sheds at school being replaced by blow job parties, and hearing of sexual encounters of a graphic nature at younger ages. It absolutely scares me when I think of the relationships of future generations.
Pastors we have a role to play and it begins with you and I being free. I have no doubt that many pastors are themselves caught in the addiction to pornography, I know as I was one. If we are to make a dent on the corporate results of a generation addicted to pornography then we need to get over our own embarrassment and shame, confess our addictions, get help then be part of an answer to a generation under siege.