Sensitive (but important) subject

This is Tracey posting, not Casey...

I reminded my husband last night, ever so gently, that he hadn't posted on his blog in quite some time. My husband has many, many commitments when it comes to the campus ministry, so he needs those 'blog breaks' now and then. However, he has allowed me to share a post from my own blog, so here goes.

I don't know how many of you saw Oprah yesterday, but it dealt with something that I wish would be discussed more. Of course, I think it should be discussed more openly amongst Christians (especially young adults), not just on Oprah, but she's good at getting the word out, so I guess that's fine. The topic was pornography and its addictions, and mostly focused on Kirk Franklin, a very high-profile gospel singer (remember the song "Stomp"?), and one other 'regular' guy named Josh.

I could go on and on about what I wish they would have or would not have said, but there were still some good points made. For instance, Oprah asked Kirk Franklin, "But aren't you just looking at nude bodies?" to which he replied, "No, it's sex." (Read more about this particular show here.) I think we need more people like this man to step out of the shadows and talk about how pornography is ruining marriages. I don't have a bunch of data and statistics to back that statement up, but it's what I believe. One of the statistics that Oprah shared was that 45% of those who took a poll came from Christian homes, and said that pornography was a major problem in their home. We are talking about a multi-billion dollar industry, and that is in the United States alone.

What bothers me so much is how casual people are about pornography. You hear about it more and more and more as it soaks every bit of our society, until nobody is even blinking an eye when Victoria's Secret airs a special on TV and calls it a "fashion show"...do you think that's what young men are tuning in for -- the fashion? Please. Now, I'm not saying Victoria's Secret = pornography. I'm just trying to illustrate how sexual our society has become, and how easy it is to slip from one thing to another, and then one day everyone is wondering why marriages are falling apart and how STD's became so rampant.

Pornography is not the source of every kind of bad thing that's going on -- Satan is. But the world isn't going to acknowledge that. Taking away the pornography doesn't take away Satan, but allowing God into your heart will protect you from him. To paraphrase a wise man, "Sin has its greatest power when it's in secret." How did Kirk Franklin overcome his addiction? The first thing he did was bring it out of the dark and tell his wife. I'm sure that was a very difficult thing to do, and I wish all of us would bring these kinds of things out in the open more often. It's an ugly, ugly world...we've got to shed some light somewhere!