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Porn Sunday: Christians nationwide address the problem of porn from the pulpit
WAVERLY — Sex. A three-letter word not easily uttered from the pulpit.
Porn. A four-letter word sure to make pew-sitters blush.
Yet this Sunday, hundreds churches across the nation will take part in a bold initiative to address what pastors call a serious epidemic in society as well as the church. Porn Sunday, the brainchild of California pastors Craig Gross and Mike Foster, intends to bring awareness to the problem of pornography.
Several churches in Waverly, Shell Rock, Janesville and Clarksville are participating. An edgy Christian organization that reaches out to porn addicts and porn workers, xxxchurch.com, offered discussion materials.
“We recognize that it is a valuable topic,” said Bill Carpenter, a pastor at Community Vineyard Church in Waverly. “I think the role of the church is that it is to be a safe place where people can come regardless of what they’ve struggled with in life.”
Carpenter, like other pastors, intends to incorporate pornography into his Sunday sermon. At the Vineyard, children ages 1 through junior high are typically excused for Sunday school during the sermon hour and Carpenter will likely give parents a heads up he’ll be mentioning a sensitive issue.
The community is invited to a free showing of a documentary film Sunday night. “Missionary Positions,” rated R, follows Gross and Foster as the pastors examine the porn industry.
Ken Burrow, of Thunder in the Desert, a Christian ministry sponsoring the viewing, has previewed the film and said mature viewers should not automatically be put off by the provocative title.
“The language and some situations in the film are rough, but are well-handled and well-presented,” Burrow said.
The film’s Web site indicates the content has — and will — offend some: ” … Doing the work of the Lord is not always easy. Not only are there money problems and personality conflicts, but also hate mail and Turkish computer hackers to deal with.
“(Gross’ and Foster’s) wives are ‘way’ suspicious and Christian Power house Pat Roberston won’t let them on his Christian news show.”
One reason the church has shied away from talking about pornography, Burrow said, is that many don’t realize the severity or the magnitude of the problem. But pornography has plagued pastors and parents, young and old, males and females.
“A lot of people don’t think porn is a problem or that it is only a problem with child molesters, people with rap sheets, that kind of thing,” Burrow said. “It can be such a personal, silent struggle because you can go on the Internet all by yourself and nobody has to know it.”
“There seems to be more of a stigma attached to it than anything else,” he added.
The church has a responsibility to both love people who are struggling and to show them God’s way of doing life, said Angela Thompson, children’s pastor at Open Bible Church in Waverly. Open Bible isn’t participating in Porn Sunday but the church will offer a support group for those with a variety of addictions
“If we don’t meet people where they are living right now we can’t offer them very much,” Thompson said.
For more information about how Christians are addressing the problem of pornography, visit the Web site xxxchurch.com, dubbed the No. 1 Christian Porn site, or pornsunday.com.
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