Because no one in your church is looking at porn.
Sure, 79% of men ages 18 to 30 are looking at porn once a month and 63% are looking at it several times a week. It makes total sense that all the 18- to 30-year-old men in your church are a part of that 21% of men who aren’t looking at porn. I mean 21% is a big number right? And, yeah, 76% of women in that age bracket are looking at porn monthly, but the stats give you a whopping 24% who aren’t, and those have got to be the ones in your church. Same for the 67% of men ages 31 to 49, 49% of men ages 50 to 68, 38% of women ages 31 to 49, and 25% of women ages 50 to 68 who are looking at porn monthly.[1]
The reason these stats are relevant is because of how important it is that churches deal with the real issues enslaving people to sin and keeping them from the abundant life Jesus promises. But since no one in your church is looking at porn, then by all means, continue to avoid it at all costs, because (see Point #2) the Bible certainly does!
Because the Bible has nothing to say about porn.
We preach the Bible, right? Well yes…but with this, it’s important to only preach the PG sections of the Bible. I mean, you might have kids in the sanctuary, and you don’t want them hearing about naughty things. So it’s best to keep everything at the level of a Pixar comedy in order to bring about real transformation in people. Because we all know life is just like a Pixar comedy. It’s not as if our kids and their friends own tablets and smartphones with unlimited access to graphic sex and nudity right? No way. And even if they did, our kids would never look at that stuff. They only use their phones to watch Bibleman and Veggie Tales.
When preaching the Bible, it’s important to skip Proverbs 5-7, skip 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, skip Matthew 5:27-30, and skip David’s debacle with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. If you’re really brave, you can teach people to save sex until marriage, but don’t mention porn. And you’ll want to spell out “S-E-X” instead of saying the word because little ears will be listening. Most importantly, remember that everything is perfect in the lives behind those happy, shining faces you see every Sunday morning. Just ask someone how they are doing and I guarantee they will say “good” or “great” or maybe even “I’m blessed!” Enough said, no issues there.
Because talking about porn in church will make people uncomfortable.
You’re not going to grow a church by making people uncomfortable. And you never find Jesus making people uncomfortable. If anyone knew how to draw a crowd and keep them happy, it was Jesus. People don’t want to hear about sin or awkward things like porn, they just want to feel good, so give them what they want. Scratch their itch. Not that the Bible says anything about “itching ears,” like in 2 Timothy 4:3. It’s not as if there is a huge group of people who have left the Church because its sermons are increasingly irrelevant to what people are actually going through. It’s not as if we are all sinners in the same boat, fallen short of a holy God, or that Jesus’s grace covers all.
Because porn is a topic reserved for extreme sex addict groups.
Only freaks with major issues talk about porn. If you start talking about it from your pulpit, people will start to think you might be one of those freaks! I mean, what’s so appealing about porn anyway? It contains the endorphin rush and pleasure of sex without any of the sacrifice or commitment. It’s not like any normal person is going to want that or be drawn to that.
Because the Church doesn’t actually contain the solution to porn!
This one hits home. The biggest reason not to talk about porn in church is because we’ve got nothing on porn. Porn offers people fake intimacy, fake love, and a fake sense of value. What on earth could the Church possibly have that could be better than that? It’s a really good thing we don’t talk about porn because Jesus’s love poured out on the cross, His adopting us as sons and daughters, His marrying us as His Bride, and His calling us valuable, whole, righteous, complete, loved, and holy because of what He did on our behalf really doesn’t hold a candle to porn. So as long as we believe that, it’s best to not bring up “the P-Word” or we might end up revealing Jesus for how weak we truly believe He is.
For a complete (and less sarcastic!) conversation about porn in the Church, including Pastor Noah’s personal testimony of overcoming porn, view this Covenant Eyes Facebook Live conversation between Pastor Noah Filipiak and Covenant Eyes CEO Ron DeHaas:
And if you think that we should, in fact, be talking about porn in church and want to help your own congregation start taking action, check the new book by Covenant Eyes author, Sam Black.
[1] 2014 Pornography Survey and Statistics. Proven Men Ministries. http://www.provenmen.org/2014pornsurvey/ (accessed Dec. 29, 2014 by Covenant Eyes’ 2015 Pornography Statistics Packet, page 8).
We can no longer address the issues of life in a “church” what next? Truly we are in Laodicea. Apostasy in the House of the Lord.
10/10 dude, 10/10
I think your tone was totally uncalled for *sarcasm!* Thank you for your work and your frankness. Yes, this is an issue that everyone faces and that NO ONE wants to talk about. Keep doing what y’all are doing, and know that it has had a positive impact on my life.
Hello,
I will be more than happy to share my journey, recovery and new creation in God. I do not use much sarcasm and I am very direct. My preference is to do this live within groups. My battle title is Shaw’s Law. The unrelenting transparency of God’s truth in society and most importantly when we are behind closed doors of homes, rooms, etc. We must act in private as we would in public among all ages.
Peace in Christ,
Daniel
One of my childhood friends, got married, had two daughters and became hooked on porn. He fell in love with a woman he could only see on a TV screen in a movie. His wife also became a porn addict. They eventually divorced. Alcoholism destroyed his health and he died weighing less than 100 lbs. His oldest daughter had 5 children. She destroyed her health because of stress and worrying about her father. She divorced her husband after her father died and she may now need a heart transplant. Thank you for motivating Pastors and church members to speak out on the evil of Porn.
Last week I spoke to a Gideon’s meeting about Covenant Eyes. It was a great surprise to the men to hear me speak up against pornography and encourage them to join Covenant Eyes. It’s a taboo subject in most churches and among most Christians. It’s the BIG elephant in the room no one ever wants to talk about. Thank you for walking under the Power and Anointing of the Holy Spirit to take this generation back from the gates of hell. God richly bless everything you do in Jesus Name, Amen.
Noah, You are one of the few that will speak the truth about this ungodly sin. Most churches will not touch this subject! They have many small groups yet ignore this monster that is eating our children at an alarming rate. Could it be that they ignore the monster because the church is full of people harboring that very monster in there homes? God help us! Please keep posting on this very disturbing subject. I appreciate your website and it has helped me a great deal in understanding this terrible thing.