DOCSLIB.ORG

Porn in the Pews: Teaching Your Church About the Dangers of Pornography Table of Contents

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Porn in the Pews: Teaching Your Church About the Dangers of Pornography Table of Contents $9.99 CovenantEyes Guarding Hearts | Protecting Integrity Porn in the Pews: Teaching Your Church About the Dangers of Pornography Table of Contents Chapter 1: So You Want to Open the Can of Worms?. 3 © 2010 Covenant Eyes Covenant Eyes Chapter 2: 1525 W. King, Box 637 Owosso, MI 48867 Seven Reasons Why Guys Like Porn. .8 Toll-free in the U.S.: 1.877.479.1119 Outside the U.S.: 1.989.720.8000 Chapter 3: E-mail: [email protected] Breaking Free: The Way of Wisdom . .14 Web: CovenantEyes.com Document Lead Luke Gilkerson Chapter 4: Contributing Writers and Editors Brotherhood . .20 Sam Black Lisa Eldred Appendix A: Design Lead Grace Hammersley Pornography Statistics. .28 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from Appendix B: The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Resources. .33 Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1: So You Want to Open the Can of Worms? Porn in the church. You’ve read the stats. You know the In this chapter we will explore four key strategies for ad- problem is big. Your gut tells you that men, women, and dressing pornography concerns in your congregation: even kids in your own church are struggling with this is- sue. 1. planning events that woo people out of hiding; How can you “open the can of worms” for your church? 2. using personal stories to encourage an More importantly, how do you deal with the worms once environment of confession; they’re out? 3. preaching about pornography; and 4. equipping the members of your church for service. Porn in the Pews • © 2010 CovenantEyes 3 Cracking the Lid: tion members. Perhaps there’s a mature Christian in your midst that used to struggle with pornography. Or maybe Events Woo People Out of Hiding there’s a brave man who’s still in the thick of the struggle who is willing to be brutally honest with others. Perhaps Churches that do the best job bringing this issue out into you have a story of your own. the light usually start with some sort of event that breaks the ice. These events involve someone leading from the If you don’t know anyone in your congregation who is able front, either a down-to-earth talk about pornography or a and willing to share their story, there might be others in heart-felt story of struggle. your network you can find. Are you a part of a denomina- tion or ministerial association? Ask some of your fellow The point of events like these ministers if they know anyone with a story to share that Those who are is to woo people out of hid- you can bring in. struggling with ing. Those who are struggling pornography with pornography on some Another option, though often not as powerful, is using on some level level are very likely struggling some sort of multimedia. Covenant Eyes has provided are very likely alone. They don’t feel free to videos on its YouTube channel2 as resources to help you bring their sin into the light get started. A free DVD can be shipped to your church struggling alone. of confession. Perhaps they by calling toll-free at 1.877.479.1119. You can also surf aren’t close enough to any- through our “Favorites” to find videos made by other min- one to trust them with their secret. Perhaps they simply istries and companies. feel too ashamed. Perhaps they’re not ready to give up their sin and they prefer the secrecy. Having a large-group event is not the ultimate goal. It is a means to the goal of Removing the Lid: getting people out of their dark corners. Preaching on Pornography What events would work best for your church? Consider While pornography may be a taboo subject in your com- a Saturday morning men’s breakfast, or a youth event. munity or congregation, addressing this subject in a Perhaps you have midweek services that are widely at- frank and honest way is vital in our modern age. When tended. Or maybe this is something that deserves a Sun- the prophets and apostles spoke of the sexual tempta- day morning message. Whatever you choose to do, don’t tions assaulting God’s people, they were able to be frank shrink back because you know this topic will ruffle some without being crass, specific without being lewd, and holy feathers. Any time you open a can of worms, you’re likely without being prudish. The language and tone we use from to get a few squirms. the pulpit needs to reflect the real-life temptations people face. Pastors, ministers, and teachers need to speak in a Lifting the Lid: way that links Biblical principles to the everyday experi- The Power of Story ences of those in the congregation. Pornography, like any sub- Jon Acuff1 talks about giving people “the gift of going sec- ject, can only be understood The language ond.” When some brave person is willing to share their in its broader contexts. First, and tone we story first, this gives the rest of the church the gift of go- it must be understood in the use from the ing second. When one person is willing to say, “I love you behavioral context of sexual- pulpit needs to enough to crucify my public image and get real with you,” ity. Second, it must be under- this motivates others to be honest themselves. stood in the modern context reflect the real- of sexualized media. Third, life temptations Who should tell their story? Ideally it should be someone it must be understood in the people face. people in your church might know—one of your congrega- hidden context of prostitution. Porn in the Pews • © 2010 CovenantEyes 4 And last, it must be understood in the spiritual context of electronic media, we must digest billions of bite-sized im- idolatry. ages—billions of pictures painting a thousand words at break-neck speeds. Sexuality Much of the media we see is hyper-sexualized. Pornogra- phy is merely the tip of a very large iceberg. The task of the Porn touches a nerve today because it touches the sensi- preacher is to lower the water line to see how other forms tive subject of sexuality, which has been a thorny subject of sexual media actually fuel our desires to see more ex- for a long time. Many ministers rightly feel the tension of plicit material. It comes through television, movies, and wanting to equip their people with a complete biblical view the Internet. As we train others to guard their eyes, it is of life—including sexuality—while at the same time being important we don’t merely draw the line between porn and sensitive to the diversity of their congregation. Week after non-porn. These “gray areas” also need to be addressed. week preachers stand before mixed crowds of married and single, children and adults, homosexual and hetero- sexual. Preaching about sexuality involves an understand- Prostitution ing of your congregation and how best to speak to their Ask someone if they would ever want to knowingly con- current situations. tribute to sex trafficking or if they would ever want to -fi With this diversity in mind, preachers must start with the nancially support a brothel. Most would say no. And yet question, “How can I equip my congregation with a bibli- many are unaware of the connections between pornogra- cal view of sexuality?” As the purpose and beauty of sexu- phy and other forms of commercial sex (such as prostitu- ality is understood in a biblical light, lust and pornography tion, trafficking, strip clubs, etc.). can be denounced as the warped things that they are. Peel away the gloss of por- When we only denounce pornography without promoting nography and we find a Many are unaware righteous sexuality, we offer our people a lopsided truth. very dark world. STDs are of the connections Paul urged his readers to not have even a hint of sexual rampant in the porn indus- between immorality among them, and in the same chapter he urges try. Alcohol and drugs are husbands and wives to nourish, cherish, love, and respect regularly abused to help pornography and each other (Eph. 5). We must expose the deeds of dark- performers get through their other forms of ness in porn for what they are, while at the same time scenes. Physical violence is commercial sex speak about what is good, right, and true about marital commonplace. There is a (such as prostitution, sexuality (Eph. 5:7-13). push in the industry towards trafficking, strip rougher, more sadistic sex. Behind the lights, camera clubs, etc.) Media angles, and clever editing is We live in transitional times. In modern America we are a toxic world of exploitation shifting from a print-based culture to an image based-cul- and degradation. ture. It is a shift from the printed word to the digital image, A variety of personal factors might contribute to a wom- from the printing press to the computer. This shift affects an’s involvement in the industry, but consumers also bear everything: how we do politics, how we advertise, how we responsibility. To intentionally consume pornography is to educate, and how we worship. consume prostitution—to endorse the exploitation of an- More and more studies reveal that overstimulation of me- other human being. dia actually changes the way our brains work, limiting our Preaching about pornography need not merely be a call ability to focus and set priorities.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
    Case: 14-55329, 07/25/2016, ID: 10060962, DktEntry: 33-1, Page 1 of 23 FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT LEAH MANZARI, PKA Danni Ashe, No. 14-55329 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. v. 2:13-cv-06830- GW-PJW ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS LTD., Defendant-Appellant. OPINION Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California George H. Wu, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted February 12, 2016 Pasadena, California Filed July 25, 2016 Before: Andrew J. Kleinfeld, M. Margaret McKeown, and Sandra S. Ikuta, Circuit Judges. Opinion by Judge McKeown Case: 14-55329, 07/25/2016, ID: 10060962, DktEntry: 33-1, Page 2 of 23 2 MANZARI V. ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS SUMMARY* Defamation /California’s Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation Statute The panel affirmed the district court’s order denying the Associated Newspapers Ltd.’s motion to strike a complaint pursuant to California’s anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation statute, in an action alleging defamation by Leah Manzari, a pioneer in the online adult entertainment industry and famous under her professional name, Danni Ashe. Manzari alleged that Associated News Ltd., in its online tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mail Online, used a photograph of her to convey the defamatory impression that she had tested positive for HIV. The panel agreed with the district court that, at this stage in the litigation, Manzari had presented sufficient evidence to move forward with her claim that Daily Mail Online employees acted with actual malice when they published an article implying that Manzari was an HIV-positive sex worker.
    [Show full text]
  • Jews Control U.S.A., Therefore the World – Is That a Good Thing?
    Jews Control U.S.A., Therefore the World – Is That a Good Thing? By Chairman of the U.S. based Romanian National Vanguard©2007 www.ronatvan.com v. 1.6 1 INDEX 1. Are Jews satanic? 1.1 What The Talmud Rules About Christians 1.2 Foes Destroyed During the Purim Feast 1.3 The Shocking "Kol Nidre" Oath 1.4 The Bar Mitzvah - A Pledge to The Jewish Race 1.5 Jewish Genocide over Armenian People 1.6 The Satanic Bible 1.7 Other Examples 2. Are Jews the “Chosen People” or the real “Israel”? 2.1 Who are the “Chosen People”? 2.2 God & Jesus quotes about race mixing and globalization 3. Are they “eternally persecuted people”? 3.1 Crypto-Judaism 4. Is Judeo-Christianity a healthy “alliance”? 4.1 The “Jesus was a Jew” Hoax 4.2 The "Judeo - Christian" Hoax 4.3 Judaism's Secret Book - The Talmud 5. Are Christian sects Jewish creations? Are they affecting Christianity? 5.1 Biblical Quotes about the sects , the Jews and about the results of them working together. 6. “Anti-Semitism” shield & weapon is making Jews, Gods! 7. Is the “Holocaust” a dirty Jewish LIE? 7.1 The Famous 66 Questions & Answers about the Holocaust 8. Jews control “Anti-Hate”, “Human Rights” & Degraded organizations??? 8.1 Just a small part of the full list: CULTURAL/ETHNIC 8.2 "HATE", GENOCIDE, ETC. 8.3 POLITICS 8.4 WOMEN/FAMILY/SEX/GENDER ISSUES 8.5 LAW, RIGHTS GROUPS 8.6 UNIONS, OCCUPATION ORGANIZATIONS, ACADEMIA, ETC. 2 8.7 IMMIGRATION 9. Money Collecting, Israel Aids, Kosher Tax and other Money Related Methods 9.1 Forced payment 9.2 Israel “Aids” 9.3 Kosher Taxes 9.4 Other ways for Jews to make money 10.
    [Show full text]
  • The International Political Economy of Pornography
    The International Political Economy of Pornography. Speech given at 30 year celebration seminar of Finnish Council for Equality. 4 December 2002. Sheila Jeffreys. The international industry of pornography that has developed since the 1960s has had a profoundly damaging effect on the lives of women and constitutes a major obstacle to the possibility of equality between women and men. In the 1990s, in particular, the pornography industry has expanded at an unprecedented rate in profits and respectability but also in extremes of cruelty towards the women in the industry. I shall argue here that pornography constitutes violence against the women used in its production. Pornography is simply the photographing of prostitution but may be more harmful to women than other forms of the industry in the extreme violation of women that takes place. In 1977 when I was involved in creating the first UK anti-pornography group we were shocked by ‘salmon sandwich’ or ‘split beaver’ i.e. women’s genitals as double page spreads in porn magazines. Now women are subjected to multiple men engaging in practices such as anal and dual penile penetration over many hours to make movies. Big corporations like General Motors now, not just mafia run companies, are living off the earnings of prostitution, as pornography becomes a new growth market of international capitalism. As the feminist theorist Kathleen Barry wrote in her book Female Sexual Slavery, pornography is the ‘propaganda of womanhatred’. It promotes to generations of male consumers the idea that women are objects for men’s use who enjoy the violent and degrading practices to which women are subjected in pornography.
    [Show full text]
  • Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Regulating Sex Businesses”
    Eric Damian Kelly, FAICP, is a planner and lawyer who is a Professor of Urban Planning at Ball State University. He continues a consulting practice with Duncan Associates, of Austin, Texas, for which he is a Vice President. He is general editor of Matthew Bender’s 10-volume treatise, Zoning and Land Use Controls, lead co-author of a new book from Island Press, Community Planning: an Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan, and a frequent contributor of planning law articles to Land Use Law and Zoning Digest. He is the author of three previous PAS reports, lead co-author of a fourth, and a chapter con- tributor to another. He is a past president of the American Planning Association Connie B. Cooper, FAICP, is president of Cooper Consulting Company, Inc., and a principal with Cooper Ross, with offices in Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia. She specializes in comprehensive land- use planning, development regulations, and community outreach and goals setting for jurisdictions across the United States. She is a former president of the American Planning Association and is currently serving as President of the American Society of Consulting Planners. She is also the principal author of PAS Report No. 493, Transportation Impact Fees and Excise Taxes: A Survey of 16 Jurisdictions. Many people have supported our work on this report in a variety of ways. First and foremost, we want to thank our spouses—Sandra and Joe—whose patience, trust and good humor have allowed them to support us as we have undertaken the sometimes extensive field work, lengthy conversations, and end- less e-mails through which we have developed much of our understanding of the sex business and the issues surrounding it.
    [Show full text]
  • Title of [Thesis, Dissertation]
    VIRTUAL REALITY AND ADULT ENTERTAINMENT: THE NEXT HIGH-TECH SYMBIOSIS by Erik Rochner Almklov A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Science and Natural History Filmmaking MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana November 2016 ©COPYRIGHT by Erik Rochner Almklov 2016 All Rights Reserved ii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 2. ANCIENT XXX ..............................................................................................................6 3. DEFINING PORNOGRAPHY ........................................................................................7 4. TECH-SEX ORIGINS .....................................................................................................8 5. OBJECTIVE SEX ..........................................................................................................11 6. PORN ON TAPE ...........................................................................................................16 7. CYBERSEX ...................................................................................................................20 8. A BRIEF HISTORY OF VR .........................................................................................25 9. CONTEMPORARY VR ................................................................................................28 10. VR PORN IS A THING ..............................................................................................31
    [Show full text]
  • The Internet and Sex Industries: Partners in Global Sexual Exploitation Donna M
    http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/siii.htm The Internet and Sex Industries: Partners in Global Sexual Exploitation Donna M. Hughes Technology and Society Magazine , Spring 2000 (forthcoming) As a part of globalization, women and children are increasingly becoming commodities to be bought, sold, and consumed by organized crime rings, tourists, military personnel, and men seeking sexual entertainment or non-threatening marriage partners. Through financial and technological interdependence, the sex industry and the Internet industry have become partners in the global sexual exploitation of women and children. Those with power are using new information technologies to expand their capacity to exploit women and girls throughout the world. Industrialization and Globalization of Sexual Exploitation The sexual exploitation of women and children and the trafficking of women for purposes of prostitution have existed for all of recorded history, but the escalation and "industrialization" of sexual exploitation are less than a few decades old. The sex industry, as defined in this article, is the collection of legal and illegal, single and multi-party operations that profit from the selling of women and children through trafficking, organized prostitution and/or pornography. 1 The trafficking of women and girls has reached crisis proportions around the world. Each year, an estimated four million people, mostly women and girls, are trafficked throughout the world and one million children are trafficked into local and international sex industries [1]. The selling of young women into sexual bondage has become one of the fastest growing international criminal enterprises, earning traffickers an estimated US$6 billion per year [2]. Recently, U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Sex on the Internet: a Legal Click Or an Illicit Trick?
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by California Western School of Law California Western Law Review Volume 38 Number 2 Article 9 2002 Sex on the Internet: A Legal Click or an Illicit Trick? Matthew Green Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwlr Recommended Citation Green, Matthew (2002) "Sex on the Internet: A Legal Click or an Illicit Trick?," California Western Law Review: Vol. 38 : No. 2 , Article 9. Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwlr/vol38/iss2/9 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by CWSL Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in California Western Law Review by an authorized editor of CWSL Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Green: Sex on the Internet: A Legal Click or an Illicit Trick? SEX ON THE INTERNET: A LEGAL CLICK OR AN ILLICIT TRICK? Matthew Green' INTRODUCTION Due to the influx of reality-based television shows and voyeuristic Web sites that utilize live Web cameras, t incidents of Internet users paying to watch cybersex and other sexually titillating activities is at an all-time high. Because of the accessibility of such Web sites to minors, coupled with community morals, several localities are searching for ways to protect mi- nors by eliminating cyberpomography.2 In an effort to curb these adult- oriented Internet activities, district attorneys could potentially prosecute Web site owners, Web users, and Internet performers under pandering,3 pimping,4 and prostitution laws.' .J.D. Candidate, April 2003, California Western School of Law; B.A., Political Science, University of California, at San Diego, 2000.
    [Show full text]
  • Porning of America : the Rise of Porn Culture, What It Means, and Where We Go from Here / Carmine Sarracino and Kevin M
    The Porning of America The Porning of America The Rise of Porn Culture, What It Means, and Where We Go from Here Carmine Sarracino and Kevin M. Scott beacon press boston Beacon Press 25 Beacon Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108-2892 www.beacon.org Beacon Press books are published under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. © 2008 by Carmine Sarracino and Kevin Scott All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 11 10 09 08 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the uncoated paper ANSI/NISO specifications for permanence as revised in 1992. Text design and composition by Wilsted & Taylor Publishing Services Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sarracino, Carmine The porning of America : the rise of porn culture, what it means, and where we go from here / Carmine Sarracino and Kevin M. Scott. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-8070-6153-4 1. Pornography in popular culture—United States. 2. Pornography—Social aspects—United States. 3. Sex in popular culture—United States. I. Scott, Kevin M. II. Title. HQ472.U6S37 2008 306.77—dc22 2008008099 To Tamara, Dante, and Carina Sarracino and Mary Ann, Connor, and Maisie Scott— for their patience, support, and encouragement. Contents Introduction ix 1 Normalizing the Marginal 1 2 A Nation of Porn Stars 31 3 Popping Rosie’s Rivets: Porn in the Good Old Days 49 4 Porn Exemplars: Advancing the Front Lines of Porn 81 5 Would You Like Porn with That Burger? 117 6 The Nexus of Porn and Violence: Abu Ghraib and Beyond 137 7 Women and Porn 169 8 Where We Go from Here 195 Acknowledgments 223 Notes 225 Index 235 Introduction As college professors, we usually write about subjects that we hold at arm’s length: objective, intellectual, dispassionate.
    [Show full text]
  • Pornography Statistics
    Pornography Statistics Compiling accurate information about the adult industry and the uses of pornography can be a daunting task. Statistics found on the Internet often lack context. Other statistical compilations may not site sources at all. Some use statistics anecdotally, making over-generalized statements from one or two sources. This statistical resource is different. Each stat or quote is carefully footnoted with the original source. When possible, many of these footnotes are also hyperlinked so that the reader can easily find the sources online. In this way, this compilation of stats, quotes, and figures does not act as a last word on the subject, but as a first word, providing a good starting place for your own research. Pornography and Profits: In all fairness, the size of the adult industry may be difficult to determine. In 2001, for example, the New York Times quoted a low-end estimate for the porn business at $10 billion (when you combine porn networks, pay-per-view movies on cable and satellite, Internet websites, in-room hotel movies, phone sex, sex toys, and pornographic magazines). This, they said, came from a study by Forrester Research.1 But that same year (2001), Forbes magazine counteracted this figure, saying the porn industry was no bigger than $3.9 billion. The Forrester Research study, according to Forbes, only totaled online adult content revenue: $750 million to $1 billion. The $10 billion figure excluded sources of income. Forbes gave figures for adult video sales and rentals ($500 million to $1.8 billion), Internet sales ($1 billion), pay-per-view ($128 million), and magazines ($1 billion).2 Nonetheless, many researchers are confident that the size of the adult industry can be accurately stated: • In 1997, US News & World Report stated that adult entertainment was estimated to be an $8 billion industry.
    [Show full text]
  • The Erotic Spectacle
    The Erotic Spectacle: Sexting, Technological Innovation & the Reconfiguration of the Pornographic Imagination by David Rosen Some certified masterpieces (from Chaucer to Lawrence) contain passages that do properly excite readers sexually. Susan Sontag1 21st century pornography The outing of a number of male In March 2015, four teenage students politicians, most nobably Congressmen between 15 and 17 years of ages and Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Chris Lee who attended Ridgewood High School (R-NY), suggests how sexting is going in Norridge, IL, were arrested for mainstream.4 A 2014 Pew Research posting to Twitter videos of study reported that “sexting … is themselves engaging in consensual practiced by couples and singles alike” sex acts. According to local law and the practice nearly doubled since enforcement, they were to be charged 2012. The most active adults engaged with disseminating harmful material to in sexting were between 25 and 34 minors.2 These teens are but two of a years of age. “Married and partnered growing number of young people, and adults are just as likely as those not in an increasingly number of adults a relationship to say they have sent throughout the U.S., engaged in sexts,” it noted.5 Sexting is spreading “sexting,” the exchange of sexually- to an older age cohort, being explicit messages via a wireless integrated into popular culture. device. They are the tip of a mass social phenomenon remaking the Nevertheless, teen sexting messages, pornographic imagination.* sexts, are often misidentified as child pornograph, a form of sexual Sexting is the first original exploitation.6 Teen form of pornography to sexting subverts the emerge in the 21st century.
    [Show full text]