March 9, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – Time and again when I’m on the road for speaking tours, people ask me a question: How did things get so bad? How did our society manage to toss out our Judeo-Christian traditions and exchange them for such unrestrained promiscuity in such a short amount of time?
There are many answers to this question, of course. But for today, I’d like to pose one theory: Nothing has shifted our culture faster than the spread of viral pornography.
Think about it: If over 80% of men and close to half of women are viewing pornography every single month, how can we possibly expect them to be shocked by the exhibitionism and lewdness of the Gay Pride Parade? Within the confines of our homes we are watching thousands upon thousands of naked people committing every sex act imaginable, over and over again, day after day. When we emerge blinking into the sun, should it be any surprise that parades prominently featuring public nudity and bizarre sexuality would not ruffle us in the least? For many, it’s just as if the scenes on the screens have leaked onto the street.
It's Christians, too. About 77% of Christian men between the age of 18 and 30 use pornography every month. In one American survey, more than half of pastors copped to having viewed porn in the past year. Many complain that there seems to be a lack of moral leadership on issues surrounding pornography and sexuality within the Christian community and in the culture at large. Should that be any surprise when the majority of Christian leaders have themselves been implicated? Shame and hypocrisy are tremendously powerful forces.
The Sexual Revolution may have been the explosive event that blew a hole in the Judeo-Christian dam holding back pent-up floods of depravity. But it is the porn plague that has infected us all. It is the sexual sins surfacing on every screen that has made quislings of the very men who were tasked with rallying the forces of the church against the forces of the Revolution.
That is why the Porn Generation, even those growing up within the confines of Christian communities and spending each Sunday within the walls of churches, pay little attention to sexual morality. It’s a trend that’s being referred to as “sexual atheism”—those who claim to be Christian, perhaps even attend church services, admit the existence of God—but don’t think that their sex lives should be impacted by any code of conduct. They do what they please, and with whom they please. They have taken their cues on sex from porn, not from Scripture. Trees without roots easily blow over.
I believe pornography is also the reason so many young evangelicals and Catholics flocked to join the ranks of those calling for the redefinition of marriage. After all, anal sex and a buffet of other sex acts are mainstream in pornography. Can anyone expect those raised on this sexual diet to mount any protest against those calling for the state to formalize and endorse “alternative” sexual relationships? Especially when in droves, young Christians are beginning to experiment with alternative sexual lifestyles themselves?
Pornography has successfully normalized virtually every sex act, and as the result, they have become normal. The Telegraph reported on this trend some time ago:
According to a new piece of research by two American university professors, the more porn heterosexual men watch – the more it opens up their mind to be increasingly accepting of “non-traditional sexual situations”.
“Our study suggests that the more heterosexual men, especially less educated heterosexual men, watch pornography, the more supportive they become of same-sex marriage,” Indiana University Assistant Professor Paul Wright told The Washington Examiner.
“Pornography adopts an individualistic, non-judgmental stance on all kinds of non-traditional sexual behaviours and same-sex marriage attitudes are strongly linked to attitudes about same-sex sex.
“If people think individuals should be able to decide for themselves whether to have same-sex sex, they will also think that individuals should be able to decide for themselves whether to get married to a partner of the same-sex.”
As Christian parents, educators, and church leaders struggle to deal with the cultural currents, there is much to be done and many battles to fight. But at the end of the day, rooting pornography out of our homes, schools, and churches is the single most urgent task before us. Because pornography is poison, and it is murdering the moral character of millions who are drinking it daily and deeply. It is destroying relationships. It is rewiring the brains of adolescents who are learning about sex not from their parents or church leaders, but from contorted porn stars and smut-peddlers.
Many Christian communities spent decades building their church walls thick and high. But Wi-Fi signals ooze right through the brick, bearing a soul-destroying payload. Prevention and education are the only weapons we have left, and it is time we used them.
