Christians: How to guard against the porn trap

Transcript

Hey, I’m Ryan McKeel, and in this video blog I would like to talk to you about porn. Now, statistics are in the U.S., actually all over the world, that 12% of all websites are pornographic, all over the internet. That’s 24,000,000 sites. Every second, $3,000 is being spent on pornography. 40 million Americans alone are regular visitors to porn sites. What does this mean for Christians? It means that we have to be aware of what’s happening in our homes, our dorm rooms, and all over the place. So I thought I would throw together a quick “anatomy of temptation” in the late evening. So, this is about what it looks like. [Turns from the camera towards his computer. He turns on some music, drinks from a soda, snacks on some chips. Starts playing an innocent online computer game. Gets bored and decides to browse on Facebook. Starts looking at someone’s account and sees miscellaneous pictures; leans in to get a closer look. Stumbles across another site that’s advertising a massage; shows a woman relaxing with only a towel covering intimate areas. Brings up Google homepage with a blank search box. Stops to consider for a second.] Alright, I’m gonna stop it for a minute here, it’s getting a little bit too real! So, what do we have going on here? It’s late at night, I’m married and my family has gone to sleep, my kids are asleep and… what am I doing? I’m isolated and no one is around, I’m aimlessly wandering the internet, it’s late (I forget how late it actually is), it’s almost 11pm on a work night. I’m just chilling, there’s not a lot that I’m doing; playing some games, looking at Facebook. Facebook is a great trap because you start idolizing people’s lives, you start looking into things, you click on a couple times and you’re at some pretty wicked sites – and not wicked in the good Bostonian way. Here are a couple resources for you, some Bible verses: 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man.” Remember that Jesus was tempted in all ways as we were, so He dealt with this. The Bible is a great resource. Stay in the Word. [Continuing in 1 Corinthians 10] “God is faithful who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able”. If you think something is way too tempting and you can’t control yourself, you’re wrong! Because God won’t put you in a position that will tempt you beyond what you are able, [continuing in 1 Corinthians 10] “…but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you will be able to bear it”. Look for the escape path – late at night, when I feel like I have nothing to do and I’m just wandering the Internet, the escape path is the door! It’s going to bed – and that’s about as simple as it is. I think I’ve seen enough of how Satan works that I’m able to see, “Okay, now is the time that I need to go to bed!” I can kind of feel that switch go off in my mind where it’s late enough that I’m not going to do anything more productive today. Check out James 4:7-8; “Submit yourselves unto God, resist the Devil and He will flee from you.” Notice that here [points to the computer screen showing 2 Timothy 2:22] it says “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.” Really, you’re not wanting to resist temptation, like saying, “You know what, I’m going to prove how good I am, I’m going to hang out just for a couple more minutes, I think I can do it. Last night it was like this and I didn’t see any porn or go on Facebook and lust after any of the women…” But really, all you’re supposed to do with temptation is flee, [turns again to 2 Timothy 2:22 displayed on the screen] “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” Proverbs 5 in The Message translation says, “The lips of a seductive woman are oh so sweet, and her soft words are oh so smoothe, but it won’t be long before she’s gravel in your mouth, pain in your gut, a wound in your heart. She’s dancing down the primrose path to death, she’s headed straight for Hell, and taking you with her. She hasn’t a clue about real life, about who she is, or where she’s going. So my friend, listen closely, don’t treat my words casually (this is coming from Solomon). Keep your distance from such a woman, absolutely stay out of her neighborhood.” Well, I tell you what – if you go to a woman’s Facebook page, you’re in her neighborhood, you’re in her house, you’re looking at the pictures she took, and that’s not where a Christian man is supposed to be. I know this affects women too – with Facebook especially, women are prone to gossip (and I won’t say that men aren’t susceptible to that also), but with women, that’s kind of how they’re wired. Just like men are wired to be visual and see women. There’s a Proverb that says… you know what, I forget! So I’ll bring that to you in another episode. Just wanted to show you what the anatomy of a tempting night is like so that you can try to avoid it. Thanks!