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There’s an adorable little girl. Just picture her, blonde curly hair, wide blue eyes, smiling and ready for school, in a plaid pinafore dress, long white socks, shiny black shoes. She only comes up to your thigh in height. She’s literally, your little girl.
You’re walking her home from school, and stop in the newsagents on the way (if you live in Crookes, imagine it’s somewhere like Baxter’s, although disclaimer - other newsagents are available!) You’re buying a newspaper, like you do everyday, sometimes accompanied by bread, or milk, or a white envelope, or some stamps.
She looking around the shop and her eyes glance over at some bubblegum. Tacky and American – no, JDog didn’t just walk in – I’m talking about the bubblegum.
It’s full of E numbers and sugar, no good for her whatsoever. But she wants it.
You say no.
But she doesn’t understand. She grabs the bag and runs out of the shop.
The guy behind the counter panics.
“You’re gonna have to pay for that.”
She started running, gradually faster and faster, grasping the bubblegum with her hands the packet almost burst.
She’s getting glances from people in the street, other people taking their own kids to school, some even recognise her. They call her name, but she keeps running.
The running begins to slow as she loses her breath. Slowly but surely, she keeps walking.
Not before long, there’s no-one around. She rips open the bubblegum but it tears all down the side, each and every ball in each and every colour fall out of the bag and onto the pavement. Upset, she’s close to tears.
She got up, dusted herself off, and put every last piece of bubblegum back in the packed. She turned around – the first step was the hardest – but she began to walk. And by the time she’s halfway back, she’s running faster than she ever ran away, grasping the bag so tightly there’s no chance she’ll let the bubblegum drop back out.
Back at the shop, you stand there waiting outside. The girl bursts into tears, but you wipe away her tears, and put a finger on her lips, not letting her speak. You take her by the hand, take hold of the bubblegum, and go back into the shop. You put the bubblegum on the counter, with a pound coin next to it. You then go back to the stand where you got the bubblegum from and go for the bigger bag. You place another two pound coins on the counter, and walk her home, massive bag of bubblegum in one hand, and her delicate hand in another.
Sometimes, well, a LOT of the time, there are things in life that God wants for us, but they’re no good for us now, and we misuse them. Things like Sex, Music, Alcohol – there’s our way, and there’s God’s way. This is just my little way of saying, God’s way is always so. much. better. He’s our Daddy. He just wants the best for us.
And there’s nothing we can do that will make him love us any less, he’s always got his arms wide open, every time we stray away, waiting for us to come back home.
Pornography is something that many struggle with. Both men and women can get caught out by it’s tempting powers and drug like addiction. It’s something that church rarely mentions or deals with. However, at churchforstudents.com we want to voice our opinion, what God has to say and give some helpful tips of how you can remove it from your life once and for all.
* 89% of porn is created in the U.S.
* $2.84 billion in revenue was generated from U.S. porn sites in 2006
* $89/second is spent on porn
* 72% of porn viewers are men
* 260 new porn sites go online daily
God created man and women (Gen 1:27). He created them in His own image and what he saw was very good. God then blesses them, ‘Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take Charge! (Gen 1:28). So right from the beginning God created man and woman to ‘REPRODUCE’ and to fill the earth.
Sex is a God created activity. It is to be enjoyed…’rejoice in the wife of your youth…Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love’ (Proverbs 5:18-19).
‘Because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. The husband should not deprive his wife of sexual intimacy, which is her right as a married woman, nor should the wife deprive her husband’ (1 Corinthians 7:2-3)
‘Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery’ (Hebrews 13:4)
PORN is ‘SEX’. However, it is a corrupt and blurred perspective of true God intended sex between husband and wife. In other words, PORN is glorified prostitution. You might feel safe behind your computer screen, TV, DVD player. You might not be paying for the ‘pleasure’ of watching. But you are taking part, watching people who are often outside marriage, being paid to entertain themselves and ultimately entertain you so you come back for more. Which means more money for the industry.
If you think that porn won’t effect your future marriage then you are wrong. If you think that marriage will instantly remove porn from your life then you are wrong. If you think a sneaky peek won’t harm you then you are also wrong. PORN can and will consume your life, control your character, the way you interact with people, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands and wives. It will become a god in your life.
Command 1 – ‘You shall have no other gods before me’ (Exodus 20:3)
Command 2 – ‘You shall not commit adultery’ (Exodus 20:14)
Command 3 – ‘You shall not Covet’ (Exodus 20:17)
Adultery = Act of unfaithfulness in marriage that occurs when one of the marriage partners voluntarily engages in sexual intercourse with a person other than the marriage partner
Covet = is to wish to have the possessions of others
‘Our bodies were not made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord. and the Lord cares about our bodies’ (1 Corinthians 6:13)
‘Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body’ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
If God really hated you He would not have sent is one and only son (Jesus Christ) to die for you (John 3:16)? If God really hated you why does He offer forgiveness over and over again (Matthew 18:21-22)?
He loves to watch you grow and learn. He loves to see you be loved by another human. He loves to bless you endlessly. He loves you because of who you.
If we truly repent, turn the other direction, ask for forgiveness, seek His loving grace then we will see the PORN in our lives become ruins that have no control over our lives. Through repentance our bodies and mind will be made right again so that we might serve Him.
‘As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved’ (Ephesians 2:1-5)
If you struggle with PORN then we are here to help you. Do not be ashamed as we have heard it all before. So here are a few things you can do:
(Bible quotes – taken from NIV and Message)
If this resource has impacted you and you would like someone to chat with then please email us at students@stthomascrookes.org or call us 0114 267 1090. All conversations and emails are taken seriously and confidentiality is honored.