Post by mike on May 5, 2005 6:19:07 GMT -7
In early 2003 the church we formerly attended took a survey of the men and asked them when the last time they'd looked at porn was. The results were:
25% - within 1 month
44% - within 6 months
61% - within the past year
The leadership of the church did not publish the results to the congregation, nor did they do anything about it. In the church we went, the topic of porn was mentioned once from the pulpit in 7 years, and I've heard of similar experiences from others who go to other churches.
The problem of this silence is that it causes those who struggle with lust to believe they are a freak, or pervert, or that they will be rejected, so they keep their problem a hidden secret until it blows up. In part this is why so many men have a hard time coming to a support group for the first time; if I'm "the only one" who struggles with porn, then I dare not tell other Christians.
This is why those who need help usually don't look for it until they've gone too far and their life has bottomed out. Most guys who come to our groups have done so because they got caught and were forced to get help.
We who are talking about this topic are the tiniest tip of the iceberg; this issue needs to be discussed in clear terms from pulpits everywhere, often, until the stats no longer show that 50% of Christian men have an issue with sexual sin. As long as numbers are showing "half", we have a crisis of character on our hands.
And, when the issue is discussed from the puplit, we need to provide clear answers and hope on how to break free from lust; we need to do more that just say it's sin. We need to encourage those who are sexually broken to step forward and get help.
25% - within 1 month
44% - within 6 months
61% - within the past year
The leadership of the church did not publish the results to the congregation, nor did they do anything about it. In the church we went, the topic of porn was mentioned once from the pulpit in 7 years, and I've heard of similar experiences from others who go to other churches.
The problem of this silence is that it causes those who struggle with lust to believe they are a freak, or pervert, or that they will be rejected, so they keep their problem a hidden secret until it blows up. In part this is why so many men have a hard time coming to a support group for the first time; if I'm "the only one" who struggles with porn, then I dare not tell other Christians.
This is why those who need help usually don't look for it until they've gone too far and their life has bottomed out. Most guys who come to our groups have done so because they got caught and were forced to get help.
We who are talking about this topic are the tiniest tip of the iceberg; this issue needs to be discussed in clear terms from pulpits everywhere, often, until the stats no longer show that 50% of Christian men have an issue with sexual sin. As long as numbers are showing "half", we have a crisis of character on our hands.
And, when the issue is discussed from the puplit, we need to provide clear answers and hope on how to break free from lust; we need to do more that just say it's sin. We need to encourage those who are sexually broken to step forward and get help.
