Naked: The Elephant in the Pew
I’m sure that most of us understand the term, “The elephant in the room.” It refers to the big issue that exists but nobody wants to talk about. Most of the time we ignore the elephants hoping they will go away. Others walk into the room and want to know why nobody is acknowledging the elephant. We tell them we don’t know what they are talking about…but deep inside…we know. Families have elephants. Churches have elephants. My prayer for Pathways is that we would never be a community that ignores our elephants. It stunts spiritual growth.
One of the elephants that has affected the church for a long time is that of pornography. Nobody wants to admit that it exists within Christian homes or acknowledge it’s influence in our families. If we want to get serious about our pursuit of God’s heart and return to His intent for sexuality…we have to talk about pornography.
There is a ministry out there that is talking about it quite a bit. XXXChurch was started by Criag Gross and Mike Foster several years ago to address the growing issue that was affecting men and women within the church. The ministry has since taken off and begun reaching out to the people involved in the porn industry – even helping them to get back home, start their education and get jobs. What XXXChurch is helping people to realize is that behind every photo/video/camera there is a real person with a real story and real hurts and pains that have led them to an involvement in this industry. They are the Imago Dei and understanding that is the first step to beating porn in our own lives and in culture in which we live.