What's the big deal??!!

Hello,

This blog, if not obvious, is about shining a light and creating a discussion over the issue of porn and lust, from the perspective of real-live sinners in need of the Real-Live Jesus.

So why is porn a big deal? Most of us have heard the statistics. Here are some interesting/frightening ones:

Worldwide visitors to pornographic web sites 72 million visitors to pornography: Monthly

80% of 15-17 year olds have had multiple hard-core pornography exposures

There are 116,000 Daily Gnutella "child pornography" requests

47% of Christians who said pornography is a major problem in the home

(http://www.familysafemedia.com/pornography_statistics.html)

Is it a bigger problem if you're married as opposed to being single? If you're single is porn an acceptable form of release that prevents pregnancy and disease? If married, is it an acceptable way to keep from having an affair? These rationalizations sound reasonable.

So, is it a big deal? If Job lived in our culture would he change that verse to say, "I've made a covenant with my eyes to not look lustfully at a live girl, but digital girls are ok...nobody's getting hurt"?

Is anybody hurt by looking at pictures/videos of women (or men) digitally fulfilling our sexual fantasies? If I visually consume that stuff, am I hurt by it? Are those around me hurt by it? Does it somehow toxify my soul? Or is it victimless?

Does being a man of God leave room for secret sexual sin? Are godliness and porn compatible as long as I keep the problem to a minimum, and confess it occasionally? If we know it exists in our churches, what do we, as men, do about it?

grace and peace,

Job