I just came across a great post and dialogue from More Than Fine. There’s some really good thoughts outlined and suggestions for what the church should do. For the most part I agree with the blogger especially in discussing how we as “Christians” deal with sexual sin individually and corporately. Yes, sexual sin is wrong. It’s just one of those sins that hurt the ones that commit it and other people them so subtly inwardly. It affects whole communities.
I think it’s true that in the church we may tend to scare and lay guilt upon our members even well-intentionally. We don’t talk about it honestly and with a sense of reality. We get squeamish around the subject especially in the pulpit.
My first few messages as the new pastor was on sex and marriage. Shortly following I received a phone call from a parent that didn’t feel comfortable with the subject matter and having to sit there with their teenage children through it all. I assure you that it was a tame message and I had even given the congregation fair warning for a month before diving into the subject. I considered the call a good sign. No news is bad news. But then again thats not saying anything about my preaching skills. My conscience is clear. All I can say is I try to be faithful to the word of God and depend on the Spirit. Good enough?
It’s one thing to preach/teach about it, but more importantly how do we restore/react to those trapped in sexual sin or that have outted themselves? Do we condemn? Do we have compassion? I know it’s not that simple but generally I’ll venture to suggest that we’re probably not doing a very good job at both ends. In the Chinese church there’s a great deal of guilt and shame. No one talks about this stuff. No one dares to “come out.” We’re very good at being all religious and looking like we’ve got our lives together – no need to bother anyone but internally everything is all twisted. There’s other people who’ve got “real” problems. Psychologically we’re so conflicted and even more so for ABCs who balance different worlds. Religion does not help us. I hear echoes of whitewashed tombs.
Where Muslims Get It Wrong
The most conservative of conservatives don’t fare much better when it comes to porn. Check out this article from the BBC.
Up to 70% of files exchanged between Saudi teenagers’ mobile phones contain pornography, according to a study in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
“The flash memory of mobile phones taken from teenagers showed 69.7% of 1,470 files saved in them were pornographic and 8.6% were related to violence,”
abcpastor 
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