A False Intimacy

Flee sexual immorality.  Every sin that a man does is outside of the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
1 Corinthians 6: 18-20 NKJV

It can be a shocking revelation to those who do not know  it's true revenue potential.  It surprised me.  One recent study estimated the total yearly take of the pornography industry in the United States to be no less than 10 Billion U.S. dollars.  Now, this list includes adult video sales and rental revenues at 1.8 billion, internet at 1 billion, pay per view at 128 million and magazines at 1 million.  This is serious money!  Would the worlds problems with Pornagraphy addiction be that much less if everyone knew these numbers?  Not likely.  However, I am amused each and every time some liberal whacko comes out and starts once again railing against Wall Street billionares!  Do these people know where the money is?  Why do they rage against capitalism, yet engage in it themselves to satisfy their need for a false intimacy?  Yes, I believe that we can narrow the pornography issue down to a simple issue of our need for intimacy with another.   By the numbers, 64% of christian men and 15% of christian women have admitted to viewing pornography at least once a month according to a study done by the Barna Group.  This is compared to 65% of non christian men and 30% of non christian women in that same study.  Can we agree that this is a serious issue not only among evangelicals but non christians as well?  Is pornography a victimless crime as we've repeatedly been told?  Well, in a 2004 testimony before the United States Senate, Dr. Jill Manning shared some shocking numbers.  It seems that through her research she discovered that 56% of divorces in this country are a direct result of one party having a obsessive interest in pornography.  Now, if these stats are accurate, then a conservative estimate would mean that somewhere around 500,000 marriages each year are lost to a pornography addiction.  Of course, this doesn't take into account marriages that are broken up by infidelity due to prostitution or someone the person knew.

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'you shall not commit adultry.'  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already commited adultry with her in hiis heart."
Matthew 5: 27-28 NKJV

Most people place the actual act of commiting adultry as that of physical, intimate contact with another.  However, if we were to go by the definition of adultry established by our Lord Jesus in Matthew 5, we just might take a different view of this indiscretion.  Jesus didn't pull any punches when He warned of the dangers of our lusts.  For I believe those in Christs day held the very same view we do today, that adultry requires physical contact.  However, Jesus drew a line in the sand here and associated our glances, thoughts and mere intentions as adultry.  I am inclined to agree.  How many relationships have become strained because of one or the other persons wandering eye?  How many spouses have felt neglected due to a partners paying undue attention to someone outside of their relationship?  Victimless crime?  Let me go one step further here and bring children into the issue, for they are not immune in this equation.  How many families have been broken u due to a parents sexual sin?  I know a good deal about this, as my parents were divorced due to my own fathers adultry.  Victimless crime?  How many have suffered as I have the loss of a parent to divorce during their younger years?  How many more need to suffer before we acknowledge this as a major family issue in our country?  This not only a christian issue, but a HEART issue!  For it is from our desires for the company of another that we engage in this false intimacy.
I mentioned the issue of pornography as false intimacy, and I stand by that.  What is one major reason one engages in pornography, is it not as a substitute for human interaction?  Will a husband be tempted to engage in pornography if his wife for one reason or another denies him intimacy?  Of course!  Does he have to take this route?  NO!  It ultimately comes down to a choice one makes, a heart issue.  To call this a victimless issue is to deny it's effects on others entirely.

~Scott~