Many Born-agains Aren't So Born Again After All: Porn Is Stronger Than Their Faith

[Minnesota]

Almost 18 percent of people who called themselves born-again Christians admitted visiting Internet porn sites, according to a 2000 survey of 1,031 adults by the evangelical group Focus on the Family. In a 2002 Pastors.com survey, more than 50 percent of responding pastors reported viewing pornography in the previous year.


"It's definitely the church's dirty little secret," said Mike Foster, co-founder of the anti-porn site XXXChurch.com, which hosts online support groups for Christians trying to kick the habit.


MORE HERE

[Epoetker]

18 percent of believers and 50 percent of those believers in leadership positions? Lower than I thought. There's definitely hope...

[DivineOb]

Anyone who expects Christians to act honorably or consistent with their belief system hasn't met too many Christians yet.

[The Laughing Man]

Anyone who expects Christians to act honorably or consistent with their belief system hasn't met too many Christians yet.

Anyone who expects DivineOb to make intelligent or well-reasoned comments hasn't read too many of his posts yet.

Gosh. Even Christians sin. Wow. How exactly is that against their beliefs system, DO? Exactly where in the Bible do you read that becoming a Christian will utterly prevent someone from sinning? Exactly how far is your head... nevermind.

[The Laughing Man]

Almost 18 percent of people who called themselves born-again Christians admitted visiting Internet porn sites, according to a 2000 survey of 1,031 adults by the evangelical group Focus on the Family. In a 2002 Pastors.com survey, more than 50 percent of responding pastors reported viewing pornography in the previous year.


"It's definitely the church's dirty little secret," said Mike Foster, co-founder of the anti-porn site XXXChurch.com, which hosts online support groups for Christians trying to kick the habit.


MORE HERE

Yes? And? How does this article fit your silly thread title? Does becoming a Christian completely remove all temptation and sin from one's life? Do Christians believe that it does? If you answered "yes" to either of those questions, you need to have your head examined.

[DivineOb]

Gosh. Even Christians sin. Wow. How exactly is that against their beliefs system, DO?

Sinning is not contrary to being a Christian. Habitual sin, on the other hand, is. There are some who would insist that habitual sinning indicates that one is not actually saved.

Exactly where in the Bible do you read that becoming a Christian will utterly prevent someone from sinning?

A Christian becomes a new creation in Christ. Would a new creation in Christ habitually engage in the same sinful behavior?

This is the argument I constantly hear against homosexual Christians -- Yes they might have faith in Christ, but someone who will habitually engage in some sinful behavior may not have truly made a decision for Christ.

Exactly how far is your head... nevermind.

Felt it?

[The Laughing Man]

When did "habitual" enter into this discussion? (Answer: when DO realized that his argument was a load of horse doody.)

[Minnesota]

Yes? And? How does this article fit your silly thread title? Does becoming a Christian completely remove all temptation and sin from one's life? Do Christians believe that it does? If you answered "yes" to either of those questions, you need to have your head examined.

[DivineOb]

When did "habitual" enter into this discussion? (Answer: when DO realized that his argument was a load of horse doody.)

Did you read the article? How about this?

"I've seen pornography impact guys all around me," Cotter said. "I've seen it tear up marriages, guys losing their jobs, all over the board. In a lot of cases, they were Christian guys going to church, with otherwise `normal lives.'"


Bernie Anderson, a pastor at Seventh-Day Adventist churches in the Dallas area, said an addiction to sexually explicit images threatened his marriage and his ministry.


"It was like a double life," said Anderson, 33.


For 20 years, he found himself drawn to pornographic Web sites, movies and magazines, he said. He would get up at night, telling his wife he needed to study, and would surf the Internet for porn. Later, he would spend hours accessing porn sites from the computer in his church office.


"You go take a shower, clean up and say you'll never do it again. Yet the next day, you fall right back into it," he said.


Last summer, the guilt and shame finally became too much for him to bear, he said. The father of three confessed his compulsion to a pastor friend and enrolled in an exhaustive five-day workshop offered by a Christian counselor.


Anderson learned how his habit kept him from true intimacy in his relationship with his wife, he said. Recently, he celebrated "100 days sober" from porn, he said.


He said: "The most powerful thing about it is that it's a secret. Nobody knows but you, so you're just kind of fighting yourself."

How about the headline? "Billboards Target Christian Porn Addicts" Does an addict sound like someone who habitually engages in this practice? Sounds like it to me.

[Paulbarbee]

I figured it would be higher than 18 percent, but 50 percent leadership is also much highter than I expected. I expected the leadership rate to be more in line with the laypeople's rate. On the addiction thing, yeah, lots of Christians including myself are addicted and while I don't consider it right I do my best to fight it with the strength God has given me. We just have to remember 1 Cor. 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

And yes, I freely admit that too many times I forget that verse or simply fail to believe it and thus fall into temptation.

[Mr. Bottlenose]

They should give writing a try.

[Vorkosigan]

I figured it would be higher than 18 percent, but 50 percent leadership is also much highter than I expected. I expected the leadership rate to be more in line with the laypeople's rate.

Why? Power and sex go hand in hand. Ask any male in a position of status.

[NeilUnreal]

I question whether this as much a Christian phenomenon as it is an American phenomenon. In America, one is presented with conflicting views of sexuality. On the one hand, we say “sex is a natural part of life,” but then again, we do everything we can to prove we think otherwise. We sometimes pretend like sex doesn’t exist, sometimes we take umbrage and act like sex is inherently dirty, and then we turn around and associate sex with glitz, glamour, and artificial views of perfection.

We treat sexuality in much the same way we treat alcohol: abstinence, occasional medicinal use, punctuated by binges, followed by remorse or denial. Any hint of sex as normal is treated like drinking wine at lunch: “that’s the kind of thing they do in Europe!”

It’s no wonder wide segments of our adult population have anything but a normal and healthy response to sexuality. I’m not sure half the people in the U.S. realize that hens’ eggs and cows’ milk don’t originate in factories (much less appreciate their role in procreation). Give us another twenty years and we may start to believe babies are directly caused by defective contraceptives (while simultaneously denying any knowledge of what a contraceptive is for).

-Neil

[seer]

Almost 18 percent of people who called themselves born-again Christians admitted visiting Internet porn sites, according to a 2000 survey of 1,031 adults by the evangelical group Focus on the Family. In a 2002 Pastors.com survey, more than 50 percent of responding pastors reported viewing pornography in the previous year.


"It's definitely the church's dirty little secret," said Mike Foster, co-founder of the anti-porn site XXXChurch.com, which hosts online support groups for Christians trying to kick the habit.


MORE HERE

No man really understands the power of evil until he begins to resist it. And since most atheists never really resist sin they know not what they speak of.

[Minnesota]

since most atheists never really resist sin they know not what they speak of.

Ok, we've got a new winner here in the Sorriest Attempt To Get A Rise From An Atheist category. Please be alert for tomorrow's winner.