I wanted to be at the University of Cincinnati last night to observe the debate between porn star Ron Jeremy and Pastor Craig Gross of xxxchurch.com. I couldn't make it because we had our prayer meeting and, anyway, they weren't going to let the general public in until after all UC people had seats; I didn't want to make the trip and be turned away at the door. Gross' organization has been the champion of evangelical Christianity against porn addiction, but they fight the battle on many different fronts. Most notably, they attend porn conventions, handing out Bibles and trying to convince industry people to change their professions. They also have free accountability software you can download from their website to keep your internet usage more wholesome.
I have to admit, and I might take some criticism for this, the church's fight against pornography sometimes wears me out. It seems churches everywhere have figured out how porn has infiltrated the pews and are making a concerted effort to bring it to the forefront. I'm not saying that pornography isn't a problem, but that it's the fruit and not the root. Too many times we Christians concentrate on combating individual sin rather than individuals' sins. Pornography is problematic, but the bigger fish to fry is sin in general. Perhaps the reason it's become so rampant within our ranks is because we ministers have softened our stance on preaching about sin. Maybe we've been preaching too many cutsie "how to make your life better" messages. It could be time to stop teaching that garbage and be straight-up about sin again.
If we somehow found a way to completely shut down the porn industry we might feel a sense of accomplishment, but something else would rise to take it's place. There will always be things hindering us in our walk with God. That's what sin does. And that's why we elevate Jesus above everything else, because we believe that He takes care of our sin problem.
Still, I admire what Gross and associates are attempting to accomplish. If you check out xxxchurch.com, you'll see that Gross has been able to use these events as an opportunity to get to know Ron Jeremy better. They're still miles apart philosophically, but you can't get people to buy into the gospel message until they can witness what it's done in you.
p.s. On the xxxchurch website, check out the blog section from March that talks about their unfortunate tangle with a Bible seller that wasn't willing to cooperate with them. I'd link it, but wasn't able to nail down a url.