Gossip has lost most of its taboo in too many Christian circles. It’s there, it’s accepted, it’s hardly noticed most of the time—despite not small amount of condemnation of gossips and slanderers in Scripture. Aside from your good ol’ talk-behind-their-backs gossip, we’ve got a few more options available to use today (I suppose none of these is new, just perhaps the mediums are). First is that which positions itself as well-meaning gossip. These come in the form of concerned alerts: For example, I know a few people that have had affairs—not because I r knew anyone involved at the time, or because they told me later—but in both cases the info was just passed on to me because, well, I guess this info just can’t sit inside. (This is destructive for all parties, especially the listener, because it affects how they (I?) view that person with the information I wasn’t supposed to have.) Or there is the all-too-common prayer request, summarized in a comical way by Jonathan Acuff
I have a prayer request I need to share. You know Tim and Nancy? They are having some marital problems right now and need some prayer. Turns out Nancy put a filter on their computer because Tim has been staying up late on the computer. Well after a week of secretly monitoring all his online activity she found pornography on it. So she told Tim and her told her to stay out of his business. And you know their daughter isn’t going to graduate high school. She drinks so much and runs with that goth crowd. She’s a mess, but bless her heart. I think they’re going to go to counseling but money is tight because of Nancy’s shopping habit. Their credit debt is just out of control. I’m really concerned and as a close friend I just want to lift them up in prayer.
It’s just so easy to do, either intentionally, or carelessly. And when we are careless, we often don’t stop to consider whom we are hurting. Or we just do not care. So while we’re on the issue of hurting others carelessly, one area we need to take seriously is the realm of pornography. It’s here, it’s everywhere. And as it grows and grows, it also carries behind it a tow cable that pulls with it the boundaries of decency and modesty, and as it moved, things that would not have been acceptable become commonplace (like publicly proclaiming your bra colors under the guise of breast cancer awareness… a stunt which got even more risqué this year). And we know this isn’t good for families, for marriages, hence the ever growing number of accountability groups, even for those not in a church. And we of course want our children protected from it. We (collectively) defend with with kicking and screaming peoples “1st amendment rights” to distribute porn—because don’t-you-know that women have a right to their own bodies (unless a woman wants to use her body to peacefully protest outside an abortion clinic, that’s criminal, but I digress)—but we actively (and rightfully) so push harder and harder to keep kids out of it (though kids are still being exposes younger and in higher numbers. The damage done in the minds of men (and women) is incalculable. It, like so many things we’re told are victimless are anything but. How can men not compare their wives, the women around them to the images and videos of women we see in ads, on tv, and in pornography? (As a note: I would highly recommend Tim Challies’ book:
Exceedingly long intro aside brings me to this blog post I saw today. It’s a remarkable insight into the ugly side of the industry for those of us that are not ‘in the know.’ And they do a good job of pointing out that the victims, as much as everyone else, are the real people (especially the women) that are caught up in it—often with no way out. Those are real people on the screen, with real problems—that need real help. It’s absolutely tragic that the ‘shackle-freeing’ force of radical feminism has helped open the door to women being able to more easily become paid slaves to the worst and most base desires of men. Shelley Lubben, the author and former porn star says this:
I went back to the porn industry 10 years later and started Pink Cross Foundation, a non-profit organization, offering help and a way out for adult industry workers at porn conventions, nightclubs, and in their local area and through this outreach hundreds of women and men have poured their hearts out to me about the violence and abuse they’re being subjected to.
That’s heartbreaking. Also heartbreaking are the other statistics she brings to light, and elsewhere on the blog. Take a look at the post here: Porn Is Not Glamorous.
