Filed under: Christian, General, Real Life, Relevant Christian, Relevant Life
The church, and Christians alike, do not like to talk about the problem of porn. Why? Probably because it is already uncomfortable enough to talk about sex, let alone the tough issue of pornography.
That’s not true here at Relevant Christian however, we will talk about anything relevant to being an informed Christian in today’s ever changing culture.
It is sad to say but pornography is a HUGE problem today, and NOT just in the secular realm, but in the Christian ranks as well.
I recently read an article about Contemporary Christian Music Artist Shaun Groves, who admitted to having had a problem in the past with Pornography. It is a very bold move on his part considering that Christians are known for eating their wounded.
This post has been a while in the making because I wanted to make sure that I accumulated as much information as possible. The statistics were shocking to me. Not just the “secular” stats, but the stats for Christians shocked me even more.
Let’s face it folks…this is a very real problem. One that the church does not want to face.
Thank God there are a few brave people out there who are now speaking out on the subject of porn like XXXChurch.com, and Shelly Lubben, and Teens Against Porn, just to name a few.
Here are just a few of the statistics on the “Trouble With Porn”.
38 percent of adults believe it is ‘morally acceptable’ to look at pictures of nudity or explicit sexual behavior
59 percent of adults believe it is ‘morally acceptable’ to have sexual thoughts or fantasies
38 percent of adults believe there is nothing wrong with pornography use
42 percent of surveyed adults indicated that their partner’s use of pornography made them feel insecure.
41 percent of surveyed adults admitted they felt less attractive due to their partner’s pornography use.
March 20, 2007: At a men’s summit in Oregon before 2,000 men, Shelley Lubben of Shelley Lubben ministries challenged those who were struggling with porn addiction to stand. 30% rose to their feet. She immediately challenged them a second time, with the result that some 70% were standing.
March, 2007: At a small Christian conference in Austria, 75% of the 25 men in attendance admitted to being involved with porn; 50% within the past 6 months.
August 7,2006: 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust; 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year; and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.
In December of 2000, the National Coalition to Protect Children and Families surveyed 5 Christian Campuses to see how the next generation of believers was doing with sexual purity:
48% of males admitted to current porn use
68% of males said they intentionally viewed a sexually explicit site at the school
Roger Charman of Focus on the Family’s Pastoral Ministries reports that approximately 20 percent of the calls received on their Pastoral Care Line are for help with issues such as pornography and compulsive sexual behavior.
A 1996 Promise Keepers survey at one of their stadium events revealed that over 50% of the men in attendance were involved with pornography within one week of attending the event.
In 2000 Christianity Today survey, 33% of clergy admitted to having visited a sexually explicit Web site. Of those who had visited a porn site, 53% had visited such sites “a few times” in the past year, and 18% visit sexually explicit sites between a couple of times a month and more than once a week.
Out of 81 pastors surveyed (74 males 7 female), 98% had been exposed to porn; 43% intentionally accessed a sexually explicit website
In his book, “Men’s Secret Wars”, Patrick Means reveals a confidential survey of evangelical pastors and church lay leaders. Sixty-four percent of these Christian leaders confirm that they are struggling with sexual addiction or sexual compulsion including, but not limited to use of pornography, compulsive masturbation, or other secret sexual activity.
34 percent of female readers of Today’s Christian Woman’s online newsletter admitted to intentionally accessing Internet porn in a recent poll.
In March of 2002 Rick Warren’s (author of the Purpose Driven life) Pastors.com website conducted a survey on porn use of 1351 pastors: 54% of the pastors had viewed Internet pornography within the last year, and 30% of these had visited within the last 30 days.
47% percent of families said pornography is a problem in their home.
Focus on the Family Poll, October 1, 2003.
In a survey of over 500 Christian men at a men’s retreat, over 90% admitted that they were feeling disconnected from God because lust, porn, or fantasy had gained a foothold in their lives.
70% of teens have viewed pornography.
According to comScore Media Metrix, 71.9 million people visited adult sites in August 2005, reaching 42.7 percent of the Internet audience. At $12 billion a year, the revenues of the porn industry in the U.S. are bigger than the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball combined. Worldwide porn sales are reported to be $57 billion.
Porn is everywhere you look. It affects everyone. No matter where you go, it’s in your path. It reaches through TV networks, pay-per-view movies on cable and satellite, Internet Web sites, in-room hotel movies, phone sex, peep shows, and magazines.
Pornography is a real problem. It’s time that we all knew the truth and acted on it.
If you or someone you know is struggling with this addiction and would like prayer, just click here. It is totally anonymous.
Sources
Morality Continues to Decay. Barna Research Group, 3 November, 2003.
Marriage Related Research, Mark A. Yarhouse, Psy.D. Christian Counseling Today, 2004 Vol. 12 No. 1.
www.shelleylubben.com
www.xxxchurch.com
From the results of a ChristiaNet poll reported by Marketwire.com
Pastors.com
Focus on the Family
blazinggrace.org/pornstatistics.htm
National Coalition survey of pastors. Seattle. April 2000.
Filed under: Real Life
I remember the first time I ever heard of Duane Gish speak. I was a young, eager college student. I was excited to hear this man “prove” creation and disprove “evolution.” 
I even bought some of the most boring books I have ever read on the subject. I was so excited to share this “completely logical, has to be believed argument” to my pre-Christian friends. I was sure the superior arguments that Dr. Gish and his contemporaries provided me would sway my friends view of origins. But….then…..it ….didn’t. He just looked at me and said, “I’ve heard of Gish and his nutjob place. You believe that crap? No wonder you and I can’t talk.” Now, I know that this guy was way out of line in what he said. I also know that he showed he really didn’t want to talk about the issues. He simply felt he was right, and didn’t want to be bothered by the facts. I was still crushed. I discovered that cool arguments very rarely work, in fact I found that a lot of Christianity on its face seems to be illogical–I’ll be writing more about this over the next few days. Then a few years later I found this verse:
Hebrews 11:3 “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
Did you catch it? We believe God spoke everything into existence, by “FAITH.” Now, we can spend all of our time attempting to prove the Genesis account. In fact, I’m thankful for people who can intelligently debate the topic of origins. But, if someone believes in evolution, that is not the biggest issue in thier life. There comes a point where we simply have to point people back to Jesus. With dogged determination, force them to answer the question of what do they do with Jesus? We need to live out being Jesus to the people. It is so easy to get wrapped up in issues. Whatever the issue. People do not need us to convince them of the reality of creation. What they need is Jesus. My relationship with Him is the only thing that really changed my life. There was a time in my life where I lived purely for myself. There was two people, my wife (she was just an annoying girl then-not the hot momma she is now) and Ted Boykin who God used to make real lasting change in my life. They simply lived God to me. They never tried to prove to me the futility of my arguments, they simply loved me. They didn’t give me free passes but they let God’s love show through them. It was life changing. I believe in creation, I believe that God spoke everything into existence but, If I am honest, I have to admit the I believe in Creation because of faith. I think, I’m in good company, seeing the author of Hebrews agrees with me.
