Currently, Jane and I are vacationing at a cabin in Muddy Pond, Tennessee (and no, I’m not making that name up). It’s one of our favorite vacation spots and will be our 4th time there. It’s nestled in the mountains and we even have our own lake. Our nearest neighbors are bullfrogs and perhaps an errant cow. It’s in the middle of a Mennonite Community, folk who have become friends and whose simpler lifestyle is a wonderful retreat to encourage deep soul rest. It’s a large, one room cabin with a bedroom, living room, kitchen and even a jacuzzi. The only separate room is the bathroom. Our view though of that “bathroom” totally changed after our last visit a couple of years ago. That bathroom is NOT a safe place.
We were about to go to bed. I believe I was reading, dozing between somewhat intelligent thought and la-la land, when Jane cried out for me with a very serious tone, “Scott, there’s an enormous spider in the shower!” Since Jane is known for her dread of spiders, I must confess that it wasn’t a “Husband of the Year” moment and I didn’t take it all that seriously. So, I ambled out of bed and peeked. It wasn’t “enormous.” Gargantuan would be a more accurate description! It was the Godzilla of spiders. No doubt it had illegally immigrated from some South American country or escaped from a local zoo. It was terrifying! My greatest fear was that I might miss when I sought to execute it. Then, neither of us would sleep all night for fear that we’d be dragged out of bed and have all of our internal organs sucked out and fed to its offspring.
Fortunately, I was able to terminate it with one quick, hard shot from a broom. But every night this vacation, like someone who has watched Psycho one too many times, I’ll be peeking behind the shower curtain.
Wouldn’t it be foolish to clean up spider webs and never kill the spider? Ours is a culture though that cleans up webs, even wrings its hands over them, yet fails to acknowledge even the existence of spiders.
Nearly every day there is news of another sex crime. A teacher or minister molests a child. Someone is arrested for child pornography. Another victim in the #MeToo movement comes forward and names some person of power or fame as their abuser. Those are all spider webs.
The Godzilla Spider no one seems to want to acknowledge that is behind the curtain is pornography. Imagine this scenario – America has a problem with obesity. As a result, there’s a needed emphasis on healthier food.
Can you imagine though how much worse it would be if every time you turned on your computer, a dozen donuts popped out? Or, when you googled something on your smart phone, Skittles appeared? As you channel surf, Big Macs pour out of the remote? Obesity would become a gargantuan problem. Yet, that’s exactly what happens with porn. It’s ubiquitous. It used to only be found in the back of the magazine rack of sleazy stores. Or, it could be found in “Adults Only” stores where creepy men, shuffled in late at night. But that’s not the case today.
It was horrible when porn came in on our computers via the Internet, now it’s invaded our smart phones. A device invented for communication is the entry point of unlimited moral debauchery.
Here are some spider statistics you may be unaware of. Porn sites receive more regular traffic than Netflix, Amazon, & Twitter combined each month. Those who admit to having extramarital affairs were over 300% more likely to admit consuming porn than those who’ve never committed adultery. 30% of all data transferred across the internet is porn-related. The most common female role in porn is of women in their 20’s portraying a teen. Recorded child sexual exploitation (child porn) is one of the fastest-growing online businesses. Porn is a global, estimated $97 billion industry, with about $12 billion coming from the U.S. In 2016 alone, more than 4,599,000,000 hours of porn were consumed on the world’s largest porn site. 64% of young people, ages 13–24, actively seek out porn weekly. A study of 14 to 19-year-olds found that females who consumed pornographic videos were at a significantly greater likelihood of being victims of sexual harassment or sexual assault. A study of 18-year-old males found that frequent users of pornography were significantly more likely to have sold and bought sex than other boys of the same age. A 2015 meta-analysis of 22 studies from seven countries found that internationally the consumption of porn was associated with increases in verbal and physical aggression, among both males and females.
What does all this mean? As long as porn is so pervasive, sex crimes will continue to escalate. Or, they will be decriminalized. As porn desensitizes, self-control becomes more difficult. Eroticism becomes an insatiable raging inferno. As culture becomes desensitized, perversion like child porn will be “normalized.” The Guardian recently featured an article with a disturbing claim that there’s “not even a full academic consensus on whether consensual pedophilic relations necessarily cause harm.”
Personally, I think the #Metoo movement has a short shelf life. Illicit sex is a cash cow. The lust for money will ultimately muzzle the movement.
What should a Christian do? By God’s grace, live out biblical purity. If you have a problem with porn, confess it as sin and repent. Often, it helps to have an accountability partner. Then, if you wouldn’t hand the keys to the car to a child, why hand a smart phone to a teen? Limit their screen time. Know what they’re watching.
Be careful what you rationalize as “entertainment.” Soft porn slipped into popular shows erodes our souls. We begin to see image-bearers of God as commodities and less than human.
May Christians join with a teenage Joseph, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”? (Genesis 39:10). We must honor and celebrate marriage and biblically healthy sexuality (Proverbs 5:15-19). It’s time to stop sweeping webs and start killing spiders.
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