Why do churches struggle to address the issue of pornography?
It’s hard for churches to address this issue because it just seems ugly. It’s not a topic that makes for a warm and fuzzy sermon series. It’s not likely to keep the big givers coming back and enthusiastically contributing to the ministry. These are valid concerns, but they miss the larger issue.
The majority of Christian men struggle with pornography and maybe a third of Christian women as well.
If we found out that, for some strange reason, evangelicals contracted cancer two-thirds more than anybody else, we would talk about it. We would find it strange if our pastor never mentioned cancer, addressed cancer prevention, cancer treatment, or screening yourself. If our pastors never raised those topics, we’d think he was failing his church.
That pastors don’t broach the topic of a dangerous cancer of the soul, (pornography) are guilty of a type of malpractice. That’s exactly what we have in the body of Christ today.
We have pastors who love their people, they’re men of goodness and integrity, but they don’t understand the danger we’re in.
I often think of Winston Churchill, he’s one of my heroes. When Germany was attacking Britain he was basically telling the rest of the world that everyone had to get into this fight. Most people were saying they didn’t want to get involved or risk instigating further trouble. However, Churchill warned that if Germany defeated Britain, it would defeat other countries next. Thankfully some people listened to Churchill. The allies entered the conflict and they were able to turn the tide of the war.
They recognized the danger. Do we?
This sexual issue is not just another issue that Christians deal with. It ties into human sexuality, our relational abilities, and how we are intimate with God, self, and others. If that relational ability is broken, if that’s disordered and disfigured, pastors need to address the root issue. If pastors are not at least touching on that in a yearly series, at the very least, they’re not preaching the full gospel.