Porn Sunday

Good morning guys,
Last Sunday our church (www.metrosouthchurch.com) had something called "Porn Sunday". You read right; porn. Shocking and offensive, and important. Jesus came after us when we were lost in sin and told us to follow His path. So we have to go after the stuff we'd rather ignore. Like porn.
I did some talking with the Mr. and daboyz after Porn Sunday. Then our pastor asked for my comments and I sent back what I've posted below. Nothing brilliant. No new theology hot from the Holy Spirit. Actually, it's the doctrine I was raised on. A little bit of something can make a big impact, guard your heart. So whether it's pornography or something else, don't compromise. Don't accept. Don't water down holiness. Diluted holiness is called sin.
Just my thoughts, coming full circle from Sunday School thirty years ago.

I am surprised with my own reaction to porn Sunday. There really was not anything in the content that I was shocked by. Because of my line of work, I'm exposed to some pretty intense depravity and actually I've seen and heard much worse. I guess I expected to see "nice" families realize that they were allowing too much in their homes and lives and to make a decision to clean house. Which is something I think we all need to do regularly as time and culture march on. But my "aha" moment, per Oprah, came during Sunday nights Q&A following the movie...

Two people (if I remember correctly) basically questioned the movie in that it didn't seem to depict the dark and ugly side of pornography sufficiently. That's where I was a little surprised. That with all we saw and heard and learned, it wasn't ugly enough. Wow. I had one word rolling around in my head for the next twenty four hours...desensitization.

Just off the top of my head, I remember that Missionary Positions included a man living in a 6 month rehab to try to avoid suicide, a woman whose marriage had ended, a young guy unable to pursue a healthy relationship with a girlfriend, an actress vomiting in a corner, a film maker who was clearly bottomed out emotionally and sickened by his own lifestyle, hundreds of people degrading themselves at porn shows and a young pastor trying to do the God thing and being spiritually beaten down in the process. How ugly does it need to be?
We are desensitized in our culture. That's the hook that draws us toward all the wrong decisions in our lives. We have filters in our spirits but the holes are way too big, everything fits through. When we can look at one broken life and think it's not ugly enough we've become too hard shelled. I'm as guilty as anybody on that. I think if we would've seen a 14 year old girl in a body bag who died in a gang rape inspired by a snuff film, we would be moved. But one balding guy in a Kentucky rehab center who mentioned suicide on his way out the door, we kind of miss the poignancy of.
So I think one of the things I need to pray about is not just the specific, "God keep me away from porn" or "God keep my family away from porn" but "God, make me ultra sensitive so that the things that grieve you would grieve me."
The truth of it is, people get involved because they don't see themselves being involved in the ultimate consequences, they can't picture themselves being involved in a gang rape. But maybe, just maybe, there's some one sitting there realizing that they are just a few steps removed from that kid who sits at his computer unable to find a healthy and whole relationship. Or maybe they are that kid. I think there is wisdom in not making it about drama. We are drama addicts in this country. We need to find life in the subtle moments. If we stop looking for the ugliest, bloodiest, saddest, sickest; we might find ourselves in the softer, gentler, "cleaner" places that still destroy lives. Satan doesn't necessarily want to dismember us. He just wants to find that road that will lead to our destruction. If that's murder, he'll go for it. But if it's sitting alone in front of a computer looking at porn while your marriage very slowly grows cold or your wife very quietly is broken he'll do that. I think our destruction more often happens in the quieter places that we are desensitized to.
So here's my point...99% of people involved with porn are not going to connect looking at the swimsuit edition to some porn star slitting her wrists. BUT they just might see themselves in those people who look and sound and act like us but are paying a price we don't want to pay for secret obsessions.
It is ugliness of the heart that kills.

Grace,
Sara

Proverbs 4:23 (New International Version)
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.