The New Drug (Pornography)
Let’s Chat Afterglow #2
We decided to tackle an unattractive topic right out of the gate, pornography. It’s such a dirty word to a lot of us. It conjures up all kinds of disgusting images, sounds, and language, but it is obviously not appalling to everyone. As of September 2022, according to Fight the New Drug, the porn industry was worth an estimated 97 billion dollars globally, which is more than the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined; and more than CBS, NBC, and ABC combined. This is a staggering reality. One of the reasons that porn is such a big business is because some heavy hitters like Comcast, Amazon, Visa, and Twitter facilitate or profit from all types of sexual exploitation through advertising or providing access. It is estimated that 1 in 1,000 tweets are pornographic. What on earth? Or, maybe more apropos, what the hell? The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has placed Snapchat, TikTok, and Visa on its watch list. A couple of corporations that have made changes are Google who banned paid search results that led to adult content, Walmart, and Verizon. Hilton Hotels made the decision to remove porn from their hotel rooms. This last one reminded me of a story I heard that really impacted me.
A famous evangelist who traveled a lot shared that it wasn’t the excitement of the revivals, the throngs of women who gussied up for him (we all know a Christian woman or two who like to look “good” for the men), all the compliments, or the money that had the capability to in snare him, it was going back to his hotel room alone. He said it was typical for him to be a little down and melancholy when he got settled in for the night. The struggle became so real for him in fighting the urge to flip through the channels to a porn site, that he decided to never again travel alone without a hotel mate. He knew that eventually he would wear down and that all it would take is one “look at a woman” that could wreck his ministry, his marriage, and his family. Is this overkill? Are we over reacting? Or is it just a harmless distraction? Is it really hurting anyone? Well, it’s questions like these that we need to address. Pornography knows no boundaries and it can destroy everyone and everything in its wake.
One of the most overlooked aspects of pornography is the percentage of people, adults, children, men, and women, who are forced into pornography, performing against their will. We can pretty quickly attach human sex trafficking to prostitution, but not as readily to pornography. It is a monumental social injustice. In one study, according to The Exodus Road, data collected from 400 million web searches revealed that the most popular term related to sexual searches was “youth.” I can’t even imagine how the Lord feels regarding this global exploitation of innocent children. We can glimpse this by the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:6, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” There is no such thing as innocent or harmless pornography. Don’t fool yourself.
Pornography is quickly becoming known as the silent epidemic. Silent because nobody wants to talk about it. Silent because it brings shame. Silent because it’s done in the dark. If it really is no big deal, then why is it always done under the guise of darkness? We need to be agents of light regarding this plague. And it starts by exposing pornography for what it is. “For nothing is hidden that shall not become evident, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17).
