Pro-Life, Anti-Porn

Can I talk to you for a second about porn?  I know we have never met (and I know porn isn’t the most comfortable topic to discuss…), but I thought you would care about stopping porn.

Because you care about life.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after years of leading a purity ministry is that porn kills.  Porn kills intimacy between spouses.  Porn kills healthy expectations about sex.  Porn kills the joy that God wanted to characterize our lives.  Porn kills the confidence we feel in approaching our Father in prayer.  Porn can kill the eternal life Jesus died to give us.  Despite all the pleasure it promises, porn kills.  

Porn is anti-life.

Sadly, porn is killing lots of us.  According to The Porn Phenomenon, a massive study by the Barna Group, 51% of men (13 and older) use porn every single month.  1 in 7 senior pastors confess that porn is a current struggle.  The average kid is now exposed to porn before finishing 5th grade.  Sit in any given pew on any given Sunday, and you’re likely to be sitting next to someone struggling with porn.

So, what do you do if that’s you?  Or your husband?  Or your daughter?  Or your sister-in-law?  Or your best friend?  If porn is taking the life of someone you love, where do you turn?

Answer:  To Life!  To Jesus, who called himself “the Life” (John 14).  To Jesus, who came on an unstoppable mission to give life to those who were dead in sin, yes, even dead in porn.  To Jesus, who left plenty of proof that he loves porn users.  If the way he dealt with prostitutes and women caught in the act of adultery is any clue, Jesus wants to give life to every kind of sexual sinner.  

While Christians who struggle with porn tend to want man-made, effort-driven, white-knuckling plans for moral purity, God has a better plan.  This plan relies on the power of grace given by the Holy Spirit.  Here’s the proof:

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7)

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions.” (Titus 2)

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Cor. 5)

I pray you would meditate on those promises until the Holy Spirit grips your heart, until grace teaches your soul to desire something that lasts longer than porn, until Christ’s love compels you to find pleasure in God and not in porn!

If you or someone you love needs help with porn, visit Conquerors through Christ (www.conquerorsthroughchrist.net).  CtC is a gospel-driven purity ministry that helps people reject, resist, and recover from the wreckage of porn.  You’ll find the 5 Steps to overcoming porn use, wisdom on rebuilding trust in relationships, and gospel truths to breathe life back into weary souls.

If porn has left you lifeless, take heart.  There are Christians we want to help you get your life back.  Far more importantly, there is a Christ who already has.

“In [Christ] was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” (John 1)

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Guest Author: Pastor Mike Novotny
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Pastor Mike is currently serving as the campus pastor at The CORE in Appleton, WI; and will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Men of His Word conference in Oshkosh.