The Number One Secret in America

Some secrets are fun:

• Knowing about a surprise party.
• Knowing the best place to fish.
• Knowing the secret to a card trick.

 

But some secrets are far from fun. In fact, we may want some secrets to stay secret.

Do you know what the number one secret is in America? It’s who views pornography.

• Approximately 40 million people are sexually involved through the Internet.
• Almost 9 out of 10 young men (87 percent) and 1 out of 3 young women (31 percent) report viewing pornography.
• Twenty-five percent of all search engine requests are pornographic related.

Sure, lots of people view pornography, but the secret is who these people are. It’s not the kind of behavior people openly talk about—especially in Christian circles. But maybe we should.

• Fifty percent of Christian men regularly view pornography.
• Twenty percent of Christian women regularly view pornography.

Let that sink in. These statistics do not reflect those infrequent Internet searches that may take you someplace you did not intend to go. These are Christians who regularly view pornography.

Is that such a big deal? After all, no one is being harmed by what I do in the privacy of my home.

Where do I even start with the fallacies in that rationale?

1. Pornography does affect our relationships!
2. Pornography is more than “just images,” because those images are of somebody created in the image of God and for whom Jesus died.
3. “Mental sin” is just as harmful and deadly as any physical sin. But don’t take my word for it. Listen to Jesus.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:27-28). 

Friends and co-workers can applaud our outward behavior. That’s good, but God looks at the heart.

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7).

I want to please Christ in everything: my actions, my character, and my thoughts. I want to be a man of integrity—through and through.

Join me.

 

This post supports the study “Distinct in My Relationships” in Bible Studies for Life.