Had a very interesting discussion with a friend today about pornography...it's an issue that the church still seems to skirt around uncomfortably. I think that people are coming up with good harm reduction strategies like accountability groups, internet filters, etc. But these are still only harm reduction, and they fail to address the pertinent issues at the heart of the porn problem.

C.S. Lewis said something to the effect that if a society got all hot and bothered looking at pictures of food, you'd think that something was twisted about their appetite for food. So since we get all hot and bothered looking at naked people, something must be amiss with our sexual appetites. Obviously we are corrupted by sin and the natural sexual impulse is twisted. But I don't see a whole lot of work being done by the church at large to discuss a "redeemed sexuality" if you will. Especially when it comes to single people -- we just tend to shrug our shoulders and say "uh...I dunno."

So as not to merely complain without suggesting anything positive, let me posit this: maybe we could do more to affect the objectifying of women in our society? Surely that's another root cause of pornography -- a warped sense of beauty where we must always feel like something "better" is out there. If women didn't feel like they had to dress a certain way to be attractive, for instance, perhaps this would tone down the general lustfulness that seem to be prevalent everywhere. Of course that requires the church to take a prophetic stance. Can we give women the freedom to be beautiful without being cheap? Is this a step toward a healthy, redeemed sexuality?

This entry was posted by 141NYC, on Monday, October 10, 2005. You can leave your response.