Posts Tagged ‘porn’

I was just shown a very good article about sexual addiction in the March 2008 edition of Christianity Today entitled, “Help for the Sexually Desperate“. The author does a very good job of describing the issue.

Here are some of the sub-sections from the article with my abstraction:

Beyond Lust
Answers the question, “What exactly is sexual addiction?”

Disease or Sin?
How should Christians look at the issue? Is it sin that must be repented of or a disease that must be treated?

Internet Accelerates Addiction
Classical definitions of sexual addiction involved backgrounds of abuse. The internet changes all that.

Confession Works
Getting the details of compulsive sexual behavior out in the open is critical for healing.

Stigma Lingers
The church needs to wake up to this problem sitting in the pews.

Integrity Daily
Frequent accountability and confession regarding lust is an essential component of healing.

Opportunity Awaits
The largest audiences for online pornography are teenagers and young adults. For this reason, some believe that the problem of sexual addiction will continue to mushroom.

I strongly recommend reading the article in its entirety.

Before the explosion of the internet there were natural barriers to acquiring pornography. Book stores had a special sections on the top shelf of the magazine rack where magazines wrapped in plastic were displayed. The really hard stuff could only be purchased from adult book stores or through mail order. By contrast, the internet allows anyone of any age to access hardcore pornography with just a mouse-click. In the view of many, this is basically like taking those top-shelf porn magazines and putting them unwrapped on the bottom shelf of the children’s section.

The question of regulating pornography is not an easy one. In the United States, there are Constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of expression. Most agree that these protections extend to adult material. It is a slippery slope to begin suppressing First Amendment rights, regardless of personal distaste.

One of the more interesting proposals to solve the problem of adult content on the internet is from a group known as The CP80 Foundation. This group proposes a simple technical solution.

Internet traffic is transmitted through computer channels known as “ports.” You can think of these ports as channels on your television. The default port for web traffic is port 80. CP80 proposes that the international regulatory body for internet domain addresses, known as ICANN, segment traffic on port 80 to be community-safe content only. Adult content would be channelled into another computer port, termed the “open port.”

Presently, the best way to block adult content is by using a web filter. However, filters are far from perfect and often inconvenience users. While a little inconvenience isn’t terrible in my opinion, filters definitely are not a perfect solution. With the CP80 solution filters become obsolete. All that would be necessary to block adult content is to shut off access to the “open port” and allow access to the “community port” (port 80). It would be as easy as blocking a certain channel is with your cable television.

I’m not sure if this idea will ever come to fruition, but it is one of the more interesting and simple solutions I have seen.

You can learn more by visiting The CP80 Foundation’s website.

Here is a surprising article from the Associated Press…

AMSTERDAM – The municipal pornography archive in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden is missing and officials fear it may be gone for good.

What is surprising to me about this article isn’t that the pornography was stolen, but that a government municipality had an official porno archive.

I know a guy who was arrested for stealing credit card numbers to use when accessing pay porn sites. Porn and theft going together isn’t anything new. An official government porn collection, on the other hand, is new to me!

As I was enjoying my daily dose of LOL Cats I came across this picture. It quickly reminded me of how it feels sometimes with lust and temptation.

There are times when it seems to follow me around and haunt me everywhere I turn. All I have to do is “stop the car” and I will be overrun by this behemoth that has been following me around. Not unlike this picture, sometimes an attractive woman in my rear-view mirror while sitting at a red light can be something to kick of fantasy.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
- 1 Peter 5:8

Roaring lion, pack of stampeding elephants; same thing, right?! As this verse tells us, we have to be self-controlled and alert. The enemy literally stalks us at times and he knows our weaknesses.

For those of us who have habitually given in to lust, porn, etc., we have given up self-control to our flesh. We have to work diligently to regain it and be alert. However, there is a twist. Scripture also teaches us that self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galations 5:22-24).

As with anything in the Christian life, success is not measured by work but rather by faith. Growth in Christian character, including the spiritual fruit of self-control, is a work of grace that God is actively pursuing in our hearts. We know that he is working to conform us to the image of Christ. The work that is ours is to trust that God is indeed doing a work in our lives and trust him to bring it to completion.

There is so much more to say on this topic. But for further reference, here are a few more scripture references.

Romans 12:1-2
Philippians 1:4-6
Colossians 3:9-10