Posted on 11/23/2012 3:42:45 AM PST by IbJensen
November 21, 2012 (Breakpoint.org) - Pornography is out there, and it’s not going away any time soon. So to help your kids guard against it, you have to prepare them. According to Josh McDowell, author of books including “Evidence which Demands a Verdict” and “More Than a Carpenter,” who has turned his attention of late to the devastation of pornography on our culture and the Church, this may rank among the greatest threats to Christianity we’ve ever seen.
Explaining why he decided to tackle the issue of pornography, Josh said in an interview with John Stonestreet of Breakpoint how he sensed a barrier to his apologetic work which had nothing to do with the Faith itself.
“I am an apologist,” says Josh. “I set forth positive reasons why to believe, in order to see young people come to Christ. But about five or six years ago, I kept sensing that there’s a problem out there. When I would interact with young people, something had become a barrier. I realized it was intrusive and pervasive sexual immorality and pornography on the internet. As an apologist, the one thing that can undermine everything that I teach is not in the area of apologetics, it’s in the area of morals. If you don’t deal with this issue, you won’t fulfill your role as a biblical apologist.”
Josh’s son, Sean McDowell, who is the head of the Bible Department at Capistrano Valley Christian College, as well as an author, speaker and apologist in his own right, works with youth full time. In that process, Sean has gathered a litany of sad stories of apparently model Christian young men and women who have fallen into the trap set for them by a culture saturated with sex and lust.
And that’s just the problem. The first points Josh and Sean McDowell hope to communicate to parents, pastors and teachers is that in today’s world, most children and students aren’t looking for pornography. “Pornography is looking for them,” says Josh. “Of those teenagers who have seen pornography, between seventy-eight and ninety-one percent were never looking for it. Researchers show that thirty-eight percent of those will become addicted.”
“How big of a deal is this for the body of Christ right now?” asks John Stonestreet.
“Well, the stats which I have documented,” explains Josh, “show that upwards of fifty percent of pastors struggle with pornography. Sixty-two percent of men who attend evangelical churches regularly struggle with pornography, and upwards of sixty-five to sixty-eight percent of teenagers. This is probably the greatest threat to the cause of Christ in two thousand years of church history, because it so undermines your life, your walk with Christ and your beliefs. My fear is that many pastors are not addressing it because they’re involved in it. Somehow, we’ve got to get the leadership in the body of Christ addressing this.”
“Give us some specifics,” says John. “How does it undermine Christians? How does it undermine Christian growth, how does it undermine marriages?”
“Apart from shame and loneliness,” explains Josh, “[pornography] produces a question about the authority of the Scriptures, of Christ, of the Resurrection, of the Church and of parents. It starts to darken the door of the brain to consider truths of the Christian faith. One you become involved in pornography, it takes over all your thinking, your morals, and your life. You have to understand: pornography just takes over your life. It takes over your relationships—your view of people, of women of children. And as a result, it doesn’t leave room for your walk with Christ. You can’t become involved with pornography and have a healthy walk with Christ.”
That, says Josh, is why he’s launched “Just 1 Click Away,” a website devoted to networking the old and young with resources and help. Sean McDowell gives a lecture at Summit Ministries which echoes the message of “Just 1 Click Away.” In it, he draws from the work of Drs. Joe McIlhaney Jr. and Freeda McKissic Bush in their groundbreaking book, “Hooked,” in which they describe how pornography and sexual promiscuity actually change the physical structure and chemistry of our brains, making it more difficult to love, bond and have sexual relationships with our spouses.
Another critical issue which the McDowells seek to address with this new campaign against pornography is the dreaded task parents have of educating and preparing their children. Both Josh and Sean discourage any hope that our children will be among the lucky few who never encounter pornography. Statistically speaking, say the McDowells, that’s a non-existent group.
“Your kids will encounter pornography,” says Josh. “It’s so sad, but it’s true.” We can take away internet, television and smart phones from our children and students, but these measures will barely stem the tide of pornographic images and themes which bombard them from other sources we cannot control, such a friends and classmates. Even if we isolate our kids and teens from the outside world, they will still become adults and have to confront all at once the sexual culture we tried to stifle. Our job as parents and mentors, believes Josh, must now be to focus on preparing our children to respond in a godly way when faced with pornography.
That’s why at “Just 1 Click Away” the McDowells have sought not only to expose the problem, but also to provide resources and training for parents and adults on how to open the channels of conversation with their children early, how to forearm them to face the battle ahead, and how to ultimately and consistently say “no” to the dehumanizing, degrading influence of our culture’s worst addiction.
he is right, porn destroys all. you might think watching will just add a little kick to your married sex life but it will destroy it.
Magazines, tv commercials...food, cars, shampoo, toothpaste...you name it. Everything is about sex. We have become so desensitized..drip by drip.
Indeed, evil is rampant.
The thing I wonder is teen kids these days have their noses stuck in thier “phones” they aren’t just texting they aren’t just facebooking...
I have noticed that they get MAD if you tell them to put the “phone” down and communicate with the family or friends...
Porn is addicting and if you can’t get your “jones” you tend to get grumpy.. that’s all I’m saying.. Josh McDowell is prolly onto sumpin.
Yup. I've seen ads for vibrators on TV. Within five years, we're going to be swamped with TV ads showing homos buying wedding rings, buying furniture for their apartment, etc.
You’ve got it backwards.
It’s Christianity that’s a threat to porn.
That is an excellent statement: “It’s Christianity that’s a threat to porn.”
Swap out “porn” and replace it with any sin. Thanks for a powerful truth for contemplation this morning.
That’s HGTV. Already here. And it used to be one of my favorite channels c
Real Christianity is the most powerful force in the world today.
American followers of Churchianity are going to have to wake up to their gross apostasy and get with the program.
You’re absolutely right. Porn ended my 20 year marriage. I couldn’t even stand to hug my husband after a while because he so grossed me out. They get abusive when their hopped on porn all the time, too.
Christianity is most likely the only way to break that addiction. The reason for this is that Christianity reveals the addiction and its destructive ways...and then offers the means of liberation from that Satanic trap (Christ's offer of Salvation and Liberation from sin).
Now we know what the H and G really stand for.
The problem is much much worse than this.
Young people are not only exposed to it, but many are putting up pictures of themselves.
Don’t know about its being one of the greatest threats to Christianity, but to true Christians, it certainly would be a threat to one’s own purity (condition) and godliness (living) in the sight of our Lord. Seems to me that porn is a greater threat to those who are under Satan’s domain, tightening the grip that sin already has on the unbeliever.
Seems to me that the love of money (idolatry) is the root of all sorts of evil, as the Bible says, porn being one of the “all sorts of evil.”
Although it may seem like the “god of this world” is winning, that is not the truth. Revelation 12:7-12 describes his being thrown down to the earth at the end time and Revelation 20:1-3 & 7-10 describe the events leading up to and including his end. Until then the Bible says that sin and lawlessness will increase on the earth.
What should the Christian do? It’s on an individual basis: Confess and forsake sin, evil of all kinds, no matter how “small” the sin may seem. Flee from idolatry. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Be on the alert. Proclaim the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to this world of darkness. Yes, you will be persecuted and hated for doing so...increasingly so, as we are today witnessing. Our home is in heaven and He will come for us in His perfect timing. And an end is coming and the King of kings and Lord of lords is coming, described in Revelation 19:11-16.
What should the unbeliever do? Believe the truth—the gospel, the “good news” of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. He died to set people free from the bondage of sin, from death, and from the devil.
There is a life to live that honors God and His Christ, and God will empower us to live that life through His Holy Spirit, who is given to every person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. That life is lived through our faith (believing Him and His words) and in the power of the Holy Spirit, who indwells believers permanently. We have been granted all things in Christ! Look up, believers! He is coming!
You’re right, Rooster.
The development of porn in one’s brain is almost exactly what creates a homosexual or lesbian.
These comments prove that you’re no turkey!
In fact some psychiatrists have suggested that homosexuality is really nothing more than a type of sexual addiction (one that started in some cases in pre-adolescence...i.e. before clear gender/sexual identification).
This article surely has merit ,, but I believe 0bama and his minions are the biggest threat to Christianity today .
I hope you enjoy your stay here on FR, it won’t be a long one.
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