Pornography Destroys

by   Liz Minnick                                                                                                                                              Vol. VIII, No. 3, March 1995

Dan was introduced to pornography at age nine by a man in his 20s who showed him cartoons with explicit sex acts.

He admitted he has been a "porno addict" for more than 40 years, even though he is now a successful professional man in a large corporation, married, and with a family. He recognizes his problem, has had counseling, but he is "held in bondage to pornography." Yet, we are told pornography is a victimless offense.

Garrett told how, at age 10, a trusted friend of her family and a highly respected lawyer sexually abused her, starting with showing her Playboy and Penthouse. He robbed her of her childhood, and she attempted suicide. Too scared to tell her parents, she confided in the family doctor, who used the opportunity to assault and abuse her for two more years. Yet, we are told pornography is a victimless offense.

Another woman told how a cable TV company came into town with its package of programming, and her husband became addicted to porn movies within three months.

This completely changed their relationship and destroyed their 30-year marriage. When she wouldn't perform the acts he saw in the pornography, he found a woman who would. Yet, we are told pornography is a victimless offense.

Dr. Frank was the psychiatrist who thoroughly examined a man who admitted a brutal rape-murder following 19 other sexual assaults on women. Dr. Frank described how pornography was an essential part of the criminal's development. He needed pornography to commit sexual assault, and he progressed through every bizarre sex act until the final tragedy of murder. Pornography served as his script, as it did for Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. Yet we are told pornography is a victimless offense.

As these and many others testified before the Meese Commission on Pornography in 1986, Satan's battle plan was revealed. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10, NIV). Satan steals a person's childhood, kills natural affection in marriage, and destroys our families.

What can we do to combat this evil in our land? First we must awake from our apathy and educate ourselves concerning pornography. Warning! We don't need to view the materials to be aware, get facts, or join the battle.

What Are the Facts?

*There are more outlets for hard-core pornography in America than McDonald's restaurants. According to the FBI, the pornography industry grosses 8-10 billion dollars per year and is controlled by organized crime.

*At least one woman is raped every 48 seconds. Pornography often serves as a manual for rape.

*A survey of high school students in Kansas City revealed 60 percent of boys thought it was OK to rape a girl they planned to marry.

*Sexually transmitted diseases strike more children per year than polio did in the I l -year epidemic between 1942 and 1953. The typical child molester abuses 380 children in his lifetime. Both adult and child pornography are often used as an aid during the crime.

*Experts estimate that one out of three girls and one out of seven boys will be sexually molested by age 18.

*Pornography's number one consumer group is adolescent boys between 12 and 17 years old. This distorts their view of women, family life, and their own sexuality. Many boys start with their dad's magazines.

*Pornography has misrepresented the true nature of human sexuality as presented in the Bible. It attacks love, affection, commitment, and fidelity. A wife cannot measure up to the airbrushed pictures in magazines.

*The Meese Commission reported: "Depictions of heterosexual intercourse were a minority in porn, accounting for only 5 percent." Themes include sadomasochism, torture, violence, death, homosexual and lesbian activity, urination, excrement, cutting of genitals, oral and anal sex, sex with animals, sex with young children, rape, and incest.

You may think Satan uses the Mafia, the distributors of pornography, people like Hugh Hefner or Madonna, but what about church people? Are we used, too? Unfortunately, sexual impurity and its consequences are felt in the church too. Pornography often plays a part in our decisions to engage in sexual sin.

Personal Examples

Here are some examples I have encountered in the church as I taught my Sunday School class and spoke at various retreats around the country.

*A new Christian, a 17-year-old boy, had been addicted to pornography since he was 11 years old.

*A deacon's wife turned the mattress and discovered hard-core magazines.

*A young woman, as I witnessed to her, said, "I want to accept Jesus, but do I have to accept God too?" Her own daddy sexually abused her for years.

*A girl in my Sunday School class was being sexually abused by her dad. Her mother was dying, so she was placed in a foster home.

*A youth director caught young boys calling Dial-a-porn on a church phone. He called the number to check it out and became hooked. He lost his job and wife.

*A youth director of 17 years was convicted of molesting four boys ages 12-15.

*A businessman and Sunday School teacher goes to X-rated movies and nude dance clubs when out of town on business.

Liz Minnick is a speaker at various women's conferences and a Sunday School teacher at Great Hills Baptist Church, Austin, TX. This article and the accompanying box are reprinted from Home Life magazine, published by the Sunday School Board.

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We in the church are called to be light in our dark world.

How can we do this?

1. Commit to live a holy life (1 Cor 6:18-20, Eph. 5:3-18).

2. Resolve to pray consistently. Nothing can reach as far as our prayers. Prayer is warfare. I could not get out of my mind that there are more porn outlets than McDonald's restaurants. I am using this as a visual reminder. Every time I pass a McDonald's, I pray for my land; I pray for destruction of the porn business; I pray for the captives held by pornography to be set free (Luke 4:18). I pray God will heal those whose hearts have been broken as a result of porn (Ps. 147:3).

3. Teach God's view of sex at home and church. God created sex and gives us His standards, including the right time, place, and person (,Gen. 2:21-25: Lev. 18:1-30; Heb. 13:4).

4. Counsel with God's Word. The Greek word for fornication, porneia, is the root from which we get the word pornography (Rom. 1:24-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-20).

5. Start a Christian life or Family Enrichment Committee in your local church to educate others on the issue of pornography. Write the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission [Now: Ethics and Religious Liberty Commissions] at 901 Commerce St. #550, Nashville, TN 37203-3696 and request a packet to help you get started on a Christian Life Committee. Write Karl Babb at the Baptist Sunday School Board [Now: Lifeway Christian Resources] of the SBC, 127 Ninth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37234 for help in starting a Family Enrichment Committee.

6. Speak with your pocketbook. Do not shop at stores that sell porn or buy from companies that sponsor pornography.

7. Write and call your elected officials. Would you take a stand if your own money was being spent without your knowledge for pornography and blasphemy? Well, it is! It's a program of the U.S. government funded by taxpayers called the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In the past your tax dollars have paid for sacrilegious, pornographic art, and an exhibit of homoerotic photographs.

8. The head of the NEA is appointed by the President. Funding for the NEA comes from Congress. As they look for cuts in the federal budget. suggest the NEA be defunded. This is an example of a true clash of values. This is a cultural war, and the prize to the victor of this war is the American children.

       Call 202-2243121 or write your U.S. Representative and your two U.S. Senators and ask that the National Endowment for the Arts be defunded.

9. "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (Eph. 6:10-13, NIV).