Matthew 9:36 (ESV)

“When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

This could be translated: “When Jesus saw them, he felt like he had been kicked in the stomach, because he saw that they were being pinned down and molested… which is what happens to lone sheep…”

Global Child Porn Ring Shattered.

Austrian authorities say the child porn ring involved more than 2,300 suspects from 77 countries, including hundreds in the United States, who paid to view videos depicting infants and young children being sexually abused.

Think about this next time you surf the darker side of the Internet (or Kazaa, or whatever Peer to Peer file sharing app you use), looking for a quick fix.

I wanted to post this picture here, but decided against it. It’s just a stock photo, but probably drives the point home..

> Hidden. Forbidden. Addictive. Porn In America. > > ABOUT THE SERIES > In Part 1 on Monday, Glenn profiles a man’s addiction to online porn, and we’ll show how he and his wife got through it. On Tuesday, we examine the proliferation of the multibillion pornography industry. In Part 3, we look at what new technology porn companies are embracing. And Thursday, we’ll profile a woman who left the business and now counsels others.

Can someone tape this for me?

“Constance” By Mr J of The Procussions.

This is probably the best hip-hop/rap song I’ve ever heard. Ever. Telling a very hard store about a shocking reality in our country: The pervasiveness of child pornography, and the sex slave trade that fuels it. Men, if you struggle with porn (which most of you do), watch this video. I hope it makes you sick to your stomach. That’s what happened to me.

Focus On The Family has, for years, been a cornerstone resource for American Christianity. Providing support in many areas to the Christian family in America, helping countless individuals, and generally encouraging Christian parents to lead their family well.

However, recently, I heard a fairly alarming thing… apparently these two great tastes, dont’ taste great together. Focus does not recommend X3Church to those struggling with pornography. Instead, they refer people to their in-house counseling staff. I can understand this, of course, if you have people on staff, why refer people outside of your organization?

However, this is interpretted by some as a negative endorsement of X3Church. Causing churches to pull their support of X3Church as well.

Maybe what is alarming to me here is not Focus’s lack of endorsement for X3Church, but rather, churches looking to Focus as arbiters of what is good and what is bad. This is problematic. X3Church has some incredible resources and is making an amazing impact against pornography. They need all the support they can get.

Also alarming to me is this: why, when called and asked about X3Church would Focus, whose word (for whatever reason) carries a lot of weight in Evangelical Christendom, say, “We do not recommend them.” Notice in the article linked above, Focus does not say why they do not recommend X3Church, simply that the don’t.

Come on, people.

[tags]x3church, focusonthefamily, Christianity[/tags]

I wrote up a little piece about it on my other blog, and will probably include it in part 2 of my message a week from this Friday.

Check it out.

Overall I thought it went fairly well. It’s gotten an interesting reaction so far, and from what I hear, as I hoped, it has stirred much conversation.

I decided to split the message into two parts. This one was on “Porn: why men don’t respect women.” When we get back from Spring Break, I will be speaking on “Porn: why women don’t respect themselves.”

Should definitely be interesting.

[tags]sex, church, christianity, religion, spirituality[/tags]