seXXX & the church

October 17 2011, 9:47 pm | Blake Hudspeth

According to a net poll done by ChristiaNet in August of 2006, 50% of Christian men admitted to being addicted to porn…and 20% of women.

Surprised? Probably not, it's affecting everyone.  It doesn't surprise me because, in August of 2006, I was one of those statistics…and I’d be willing to bet that those stats are higher in 2011.

Porn. Masturbation. Sex.

Even reading those words are uncomfortable for most people (especially the middle one).  They are graphic words.  Delicate words. Weighty words.  Awkward words. Words we, as parents, need to talk about often with our teenage sons and daughters.  And words we, as the people of GOD, need to fearlessly engage.

Had it not been for the Word of God working through the people of God, I would still be ensnared to some of those words.  As I write this, they haunt many, many families in our church.  They are warping my generation’s understanding of sex and sexuality. 

I speak to 100 students every week that are dealing with those words.  Future daddies and husbands, mommies and wives.  I’m raising a daughter who will most likely get married one day…to a boy who is going to have to start dealing with those words 10 years from now.  I pray almost daily for his parents and his purity.

So, what do we do? 

We start talking.  Talking to our wives.  Talking to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Talking to our children.  We must ask the Spirit of God to awaken us to the Word of God and, through it, to purify us as the people of God.  We must humble ourselves…and ask for help.  We must learn how to respond to sin as Jesus does.

The awkwardness of the words should never justify their silence.  On the contrary, we MUST talk about them because they are all but silent in the lives of people.  Here are a few resources that might encourage the conversations...

“The Best Sex Life Ever” – a talk I gave in February to high school students during our 3D series where we answered the question, “How can we have the best sex life ever?” [CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO]

“Guys Q & A”- this is also from our 3D series.  We let high school guys ask ANY questions they had on sex and sexuality…we took the top 8 questions.  Questions such as, “How do I get rid of past memories?  Is masturbation a sin, and, if so, how do I stop?  Is oral sex wrong? How do I fight for purity?” Danny Jones, John Scott, Justin Hinrichs, and myself were on the answer panel.  [Due to the nature of this talk, I’m only making it available to men.  Leave a comment or email me at bhudspeth@thesummitchurch.org if you’d like a copy of the audio.]

xxxchurch.com- a great website filled with stats on porn as well as free accountability software (which I have on my iPhone/Mac). 

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ- an edited book by John Piper and Justin Taylor on the beauty, majesty, and sacredness of sexuality.

Desire and Deceit- a short book by Al Mohler on the cost of the new sexual revolution, its history, and how to respond.  Mohler addresses everything from cohabitation to homosexuality to the theology of pornography.

The small group of 10th grade guys I lead talk about these things often.  I’d love to start talking with others…

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