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This is the most absurd, contradictory story I can remember: The current Time
magazine cover story reports on the disastrous effects of pornography
on those who view it. Yet the magazine's cover image is so explicit that
I warn you not to view it. The image that accompanies the story on page
40 is nearly as graphic. I would not want this magazine near anyone I
know.
First, let's discuss the content of the article. Belinda Luscombe
documents the growing number of young men who are convinced that "their
sexual responses have been sabotaged because their brains were virtually
marinated in porn when they were adolescents." So they are creating
online community groups, smartphone apps, and educational videos
designed to help men quit porn. Luscombe observes: "For the first time,
some of the most strident alarms are coming from the same demographic as
its most enthusiastic customers."
Many have been worried for years about pornography's degradation of
women and normalization of sexual aggression. British Prime Minister
David Cameron has begun the process of requiring porn sites to verify
the age of their users or face a fine. The Utah state legislature has
unanimously passed a resolution treating porn as a public-health crisis.
This is indeed a crisis. According to Time, forty-six percent
of men ages eighteen to thirty-nine intentionally view pornography in
any given week. Ninety percent of college-age men and one-third of women
viewed porn during the previous year. Now a growing body of scientific
research indicates that watching pornography is damaging to the brain
and highly addictive. The Time article focuses on those who are trying to stem the tide of porn for reasons that have little to do with morality.
Our ministry has been warning about this epidemic for years. (For more, please see my The Plague of Pornography.) I applaud Time
for lending its significant influence to confronting this crisis. But I
am shocked at the images they chose to accompany their story.
As I stated above, the magazine's cover image is so explicit I am
warning you not to look at it. The same is true for the image that
begins the actual article. Why would the Time editor choose to
show pornography for a story that warns against pornography? This is
like offering whiskey at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Unlike porn
magazines, Time is displayed at checkout stands and on magazine
racks all over the country, as well as online. Any person of any age
can see the images I'm warning you to avoid.
They are totally unnecessary to the story. I cannot think of a rationale
that defends including them. I can only assume that whoever made this
decision thought their graphic nature would sell more magazines. If so, Time is using sexual images to make money, which makes its magazine pornography.
Here we find more proof that Jesus was right: Lust is so devastating
that we must do whatever it takes to refuse it (Matthew 5:27–30).
Starting with this week's Time magazine.
So what can Christians do? In a world that is more numb to pornography
than ever, we can manifest the true nature of love. We can model
sexuality, dating, and marriage in a way that is pure, healthy, and
positive. We can show a skeptical culture that God invented love and sex
and intends them for our good and his glory.
The antidote to pornography and the key to genuine love are the same:
"To love someone means to see him as God intended him" (Fyodor
Dostoevsky). |
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