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"Lust"

Rusty Miller


Danni Ashe, a former nude model and topless dancer, has given all that up. "I'm out of the modeling business for good," she says. What has brought about this change? A spiritual conversion? Legal problems? A desire to be a better example for children? No. She has given up dancing and modeling because she makes much more money on the sexually oriented Web site she created.

In fact, Cyberporn, as it is called, is the most profitable enterprise on the Internet. While mainstream Web sites are struggling, pornographic sites are taking in money to the tune of millions of dollars per month. What is the reason for the growth in this industry? First and foremost, in America, sex sells. But experts give a further reason: "On the Internet, customers can view racy fare without having to slink into a sleazy bookstore or even visit the back room of the neighborhood video shop. Customers can peruse raunchy fare in the privacy of the home--or office" (Thomas E. Weber, The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, May 20, 1997, page A1).

Americans are obsessed with sex, and so much the better if they can access it without having to look someone in the eye. This does not mean that all the sex business has gone underground. To the contrary, Playboy and Penthouse still do plenty of business, and mail order X-rated video sales are still very popular. But the pornography business is only the tip of the iceberg that is America's sexual obsession.

The truth is sex is everywhere. It is the major selling point of a majority of television commercials. Almost every movie, even those rated PG, contains at least references to sex, if not some simulated form of sex out right. Television programs, without even considering cable, are now treating as normal what was once sexually deviant. Sporting events are not complete without the presence of cheerleaders/dancers in skimpy outfits.

More than just these voyeuristic obsessions, sex is used as the basis for many, many lives. The abortion debate stems from people who want sex without consequences. So does the trend, still growing, of couples "living together." U.S. News & World Report, in their May 19 issue, discussed the tendency to denounce premarital sex among teenagers while accepting the same from older couples. Ironically, the number of unwed mothers aged 20 to 29 is more than double that of teens, and the same goes for the number of women having abortions each year. Clearly, while teenage sexuality is a problem, teenagers have learned it from the acceptance of society for this older group. Mike Males, author of The Scapegoat Generation, says, "If the president really wanted to prevent junior high sex, he would lecture grown-ups" (U.S. News & World Report, May 19, 1997, pg. 62).

Part of the problem has been that our government has winked at and even aided the problem, with plans which call for the distribution of condoms and welfare programs which seem to reward unwed mothers. In Louisiana, the state government's condom distribution program has proven so "successful" that the state recently unveiled plans to market its own condom brand, featuring a logo and the name "Louisiana Royal." This despite the fact that Louisiana HIV and AIDS cases continue to rise (Source: Dallas Morning News, Monday, June 9, 1997, pg. 8A).

What has this brought to America? Happiness? Better, more informed marital choices? Healthier sexual appetites? In all cases, no. However, these are precisely the things which were promised by "free love" advocates of the 1960s, and which are still the rationalization for those who wish to continue in them. "Living together" is simply, "trying it out, seeing if it will work," but the divorce rate among "live-ins" who later marry is higher than for those who marry without "living together."

As for happiness, Jennifer Grossman of MSNBC-TV writes, "This all-you-can-eat sexual buffet is leaving a lot of men and women feeling very empty. I see a pattern among my girlfriends--when they sleep with men, they cry. Sleeping with a man you've known for a week is such an 'almost.' It's almost what you want--but a chasm away from what you really need" (U.S. News & World Report, as above, pg. 64).

What is God's view? "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (Heb. 13:4). What a contrast to a nation which sees sex only as an outlet for pleasure.

God has called for sexual purity (1 Thess. 4:3; 1 Cor. 6:18), and it is interesting to note what grows from disobeying Him. First, sex becomes cheapened, no longer the beautiful expression of love God intended for husbands and wives ("living together"). Then, it is degraded further by those who would sell it (Cyberporn). Then it becomes dangerous, as disease (AIDS and other STD's) and psychological problems (guilt, comparing of sex partners) abound. Finally, it does not even resemble what God intended. It has long been joked that Song of Solomon is the "racy" part of the Bible, but I challenge you to read it and see that it depicts sex (between a bride and bridegroom) as a wonderful, love-building experience, not the cheapness offered by society.

Ironically, as people grow up and begin to try and raise their own children, they then want to affect a different view of sexuality than when they "sowed their wild oats." Suddenly, free love (sex) is no longer an ideal to be embraced. Dallas Mavericks star A.C. Green, who is 33 and says he is still a virgin, says his lifestyle is considered "unrealistic" by his fellow ballplayers, with one exception: "It's ironic, but the guys who are parents--and especially the guys who have daughters--tend to look at sex before marriage a lot more carefully now" (U.S. News & World Report, as above, pg. 59).

This kind of hypocrisy will never work, of course. Teens are more likely to emulate what they see than what they are taught, so acceptance of premarital sex among adults while admonishing teens to abstain will bring about exactly the problem of teen sexuality which we now face. Tolerance of any social problem (read: sin), will result in more and more people embracing that sin. And once a sin is embraced, it becomes more difficult every day to bring about a change which will once again cause people to say, "This is wrong."

What answers can still save America from this obsession?

One thing Christians must do is eliminate the obsession from our own lives. All the moralizing we wish to do will be of no effect if we are unwilling to remove the hypocrisy which can be found in those who say, "Do as I say, not as I do." We must find contentment in the sexual plan God has given us, as any straying from that path will render our words hollow.

Then, we must again take up God's word, teaching and preaching to others about God's plan for men and women. Religion columnist Michael McManus, in his book, Marriage Savers, asks, "Have you ever heard a sermon on 'living together'?" While some of us assuredly have, we cannot help but admit that they have become fewer in number in recent years, and this backing away from speaking the truth about sin has only hurt us. If we cease to be the outlet for God's condemnation of sin, and if we cease to explain to people why they need Jesus (because they are sinners), and if we cease to offer God's plan as the alternative to our nation's obsession, we might just as well lock the doors, sell our building and join the world, for we will have lost our way and our purpose. A people of God who are unwilling to call fornication and adultery a sin will have ceased to be the people of God.

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