Purity

I know this topic has been done to death in some Christian circles, but I feel the need to weigh in. Today we had the all-hall meeting at Moody, which is basically a meeting where you get introduced to the residence life staff and talk about some policies and some plans for the year for your dorm. Every year for the last while, the leadership of Moody have talked about the issues of masturbation and pornography, which I think is really important. Please understand that this article is for Christians, only. If you are not a Christian, you will probably not understand my view on this at all. Right now, I am not explaining it. Once again, this is written only for Christians.

More than half of male Moody students eventually admit that they were using pornography at the time they arrived at Moody. I would strongly suspect that there are many who never admit to it. I also suspect that pornography and masturbation use among girls is much higher than statistics would suggest because there is much more shame and secrecy associated with sexual sin among females than among males. (1 in 3 users of porn sites are female.)

Honestly, I think the Church as a whole handles issues of sexual sin almost as badly as it possibly could. At most churches, the most any pastor will do to address sexual sin is preach a vague sermon once a year on the dangers of sexual sin. For a nation that idolizes sex, this is simply not good enough. For too long the Church has swept all issues sexual into a corner.

This is neither Biblical nor effective. Most of today's Christian youth are struggling with sexual sin, and very little it being said to them about it. Most of today's Christian youth would like to be free of sexual sin, but they don't know how to be. It's not as simple as 'try harder, pray more, and just stop sinning.' There are people in their churches that know how to help, but the addicts are afraid that, if they reveal their sin, they will be judged and rejected. This is especially true among women.

Also, rarely do the people that know how to help talk about it. People who are struggling have no idea who to go to or how they will be received because the Church refuses to give it the necessary public attention.

If we could be open and honest about the problem, we would be very close to solving it. However, for that to happen, people have to know that they won't be judged and ridiculed for admitting that they have a problem. And that means that people who aren't struggling in this area need to step out and talk about sexual sin, and admit that they have done things that are just as bad, because all sin really is equally heinous in the eyes of God. We need people to offer to talk to those who may be struggling with sexual sin and let them know that it's okay, even good, to come forward. And we need those struggling with sin to be passionate enough for God that they are willing to confess their sins to others in order to work toward holiness.

I think another big problem in the Church is that we don't really value purity. We degrade and shame people who aren't pure, but we don't really praise or honor those who are. I think this especially important across the gender barrier. If guys knew that girls respected them for not masturbating, rather than thinking there was something wrong with them, there would be that much more motivation for purity. In the same way, if guys would refrain for channeling their interest towards the most flirty, most scantily dressed girl, and rather honored purity among women instead of making fun of it, be could raise up our sisters in Christ in a new way.

I am a part of a group called the Barbarians, which deals with much, much more than sexual sin. We are a fraternity of Christian all over the world that strive to live all out for God. We strive to excel in all areas of Godliness, from speech to good study habits to emotional control to sin issues such as pride, lust, etc. If you are a Moody man, and you would like to join the group, let me know and we would be happy to talk to you about the possibility of joining. If you are a man from somewhere else interested in starting or finding a local chapter, send me a message and I will see if there is a group in your area or where we should go from there. If you are a female, there is a sister group (which I believe calls themselves the fairies) that I may be able to connect you too.

If you struggle with sexual sin, I want to say a few things to you.

1. You're not a freak. God still loves you. We, the Church, still love you. We won't judge you, we won't condemn you, we won't think you're weird or that we're better than you.

2. It's not okay. Sexual sin is an offense to God. Paul says, "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." -1 Corinthians 6:18-20.

3. You can't deal with it on your own. Sexual sin is addictive, powerful, and isolating. God made sex to bring intimacy, Satan twists sex to make it isolating. Because of this, you CANNOT break the cycle on your own. James 5:16 says, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

4. Tell someone. Actually, I suggest telling at least two people. Tell a spiritual leader, such as a pastor, mentor, small group leader, etc. And tell a close Christian friend of the same sex. Confess and repent, and then have them keep you accountable to breaking free from sin. What you should not do is tell everyone. Doing so might drag a weaker Christian down.

5. Be willing to do whatever is necessary to pursue holiness. If that means you need get rid of the internet on our computer, get rid of some music or movies, or get a different job, do it. Any part of your life that is dragging you into sin needs to be cast off. This is what Jesus meant when he said, "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." (Matthew 5:30.)

6. Check out some resources. Look around at XXXChurch.com. They have a lot of help for both men and women, as well as some free internet accountability software. Also, Covenant Eyes has some good reasources as well as some better accountability software. (Albiet, not free.) I am still looking for a good book on this subject, if you find on, let me know. The one on XXXChurch.com's website looks really good, but I haven't read it.



I know this topic might be awkward for a lot of you reading this. Honestly, I think you need to get over it. We live in a highly sexualized culture, and if we want to be in the world, we need to be comfortable with addressing sin (but not with sinning.) Most of you know I feel God's call to be a youth pastor. Sexual sin is one of the issues amoung youth (but not only youth) that desperately needs to be talked about. I am very passionate about addressing these issues openly and boldly, and I am not going to sit down or shut up about them. They need to be discussed. If you don't think that the Church should be talking about issues like this, I want to know what Bible you're reading. Whenever there was a tough, disgusting, hard to deal with issue, the prophets talked about it, Jesus talked about it, and the apostles talked about it. I'm going to talk about it, and maybe you should too.