The best way for me to conclude this post is for me to be very clear
on what I'm calling for.
Yes, in my previous post I said that we need to get rid of all pornography. I can understand if your immediate response is, "Yea, like that's going to ever happen! It's about as likely as us getting rid of all greed." Why would I call for something that I
realize is unrealistic? By addressing pornography one person at a time, we can see the consequences of pornography (broken homes, wrecked lives, drained bank accounts, sexualized culture, etc.) get real help by addressing it one person at a time.
Here's what I'm realistically calling for:
I'm calling for each person who is reading this to do away with
pornography in your life. I urge you to, first, stop watching it in all
forms, even the subtle yet real promotion of sex through movies that
treat sex and sexuality in a casual way. Second, I urge you to
stop endorsing, stop attending, and stop allowing your children to go to movies
that have nudity in them, that clearly are using nudity to attract
viewers. Third, I urge you to take the high road. Use Covenant Eyes or
Net Nanny or another service that either keeps you from certain sites
or keeps you from viewing sites undetected. These sites have done an
excellent job of both keeping trash out of your home and eyes while not hindering you from doing normal things that you need to do on a
day-to-day basis. Fourth, I urge you to have high standards of screen watching in your home, that computers be in plain site of all, and that hand held devices be highly monitored. If you have cable,
satellite, or a video streaming service, utilize the parental controls
as if you're physically protecting your home from a predator.
Do your
part. Say, "Not in this home. Not in this place. Not on my watch"
Then, take it a step further. Be an advocate of healthy respect of
other people, that we see each person as valuable, no matter their
mental capacity, their history, their affiliation, their race, or their age. That
you go out of your way to ask them questions, to look them in the eyes
and listen to their response, to treat them with truly unconditional
love. Be that person that looks that girl in the eye and says, "Hi!"
Especially, dare I say (and I regret that I have to say it this way, but
our culture has already judged women this way), those girls who are not
accepted because of their looks or who have bought into the lie and are
clearly seeking to earn a place in society by the way they dress.
IF
you're a young man and you are of a dating age, I urge you that, if you
find a girl that you like, treat her with respect. Open doors for her,
don't make any sexual advance on her, tell her that you've chosen not
to have sex until marriage because you don't think it should be the
basis for marriage. And if you don't believe this then don't be dating
at all. Because until you're at a point when you can love a girl the
way God has made her inside and out, you have no right dating. Be a
man!
If you're a young lady and you're reading this, I
urge to be the woman that you were made to be by treating all others
with respect, by not making sexual advances on a boy; by dressing in such a
way that you don't need to be noticed physically in order to be
accepted; by not watching things that will feed the romantic fantasy in
your life where the next boy that says the "right thing" will sweep you off your feet.
Let's address this, not by villainizing every man that's had a bad thought about a woman, not by blaming women who "dress to kill," and not through well-worded social media quips. Rather, let's each repent of the part that we've played and let's each respect and love people for how God created them, not how the world has defined them.
Please, do your part, that's what I'm asking. Do your part.
Amen!
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