19/04: Sex and Power
Category: General
Posted by: an okie gardener
We have a scandal here in Oklahoma involving sex and power. A male county sheriff has been charged with forcing female inmates to perform sex acts. Drudge has the link to this article. The sheriff has not yet been tried, so we'll presume innocence until proven guilty, but I do want to offer a few thoughts.
People have misused their God-given sexuality since sin entered the world. But it seems in our day we are reaching new lows. On South Park this week, the characters reacted to the internet drying up as it slowed from a river to a trickle. In a parody of Grapes of Wrath, millions of people piled belongings on their cars and headed for California, where rumor had it Silicon Valley had service available. Different people missed different things--email, instant messaging, news, and porn. (For those of you unfamiliar with South Park, it is an often brilliant satire on contemporary culture, but is usually vulgar.) Here is a clip from the official site. Living in camps along the way, Randy tries to feed his internet porn addiction. As he tells someone: once you've been able to see Japanese women vomiting into each other's mouths, you can't go back to Playboy. Some men have set up a tent to provide "virtual internet." He goes in where he is told to sit in front of a fake screen and say outloud his search terms, then say click. After he calls out each of his (disturbing and disgusting) search categories, a hand drawing is lowered into the screen. The "virtual internet" doesn't work for him. But when they get to California the Red Cross has set up a camp and provides small doses of internet by lottery. That night he breaks into the trailer where the computer is locked up, looking for his fix.
more below
From the Christian Science Monitor:
Surveys show that 40 million Americans regularly view Internet pornography, which accounts for $2.5 billion of the $12 billion US porn industry. Some 25 percent of search-engine requests are porn-related; 20 percent of men and 13 percent of women admit accessing porn at work.
Full article.
Internet porn is one of the obvious signs that we have a cultural problem. We have elevated sex into a position of ultimate importance. In preaching terms, we've made an idol of it. And we've done this by separating the ideas of sex and marriage. "Free Love" ultimately delivers neither. Idols destroy their worshipers.
In the Christian view, sex is a good gift from God, a part of his creation. But, sex is intended for marriage, where it can develop as a part of the committed love-relationship. Separated from marriage, it becomes destructive rather than life-giving.
People have misused their God-given sexuality since sin entered the world. But it seems in our day we are reaching new lows. On South Park this week, the characters reacted to the internet drying up as it slowed from a river to a trickle. In a parody of Grapes of Wrath, millions of people piled belongings on their cars and headed for California, where rumor had it Silicon Valley had service available. Different people missed different things--email, instant messaging, news, and porn. (For those of you unfamiliar with South Park, it is an often brilliant satire on contemporary culture, but is usually vulgar.) Here is a clip from the official site. Living in camps along the way, Randy tries to feed his internet porn addiction. As he tells someone: once you've been able to see Japanese women vomiting into each other's mouths, you can't go back to Playboy. Some men have set up a tent to provide "virtual internet." He goes in where he is told to sit in front of a fake screen and say outloud his search terms, then say click. After he calls out each of his (disturbing and disgusting) search categories, a hand drawing is lowered into the screen. The "virtual internet" doesn't work for him. But when they get to California the Red Cross has set up a camp and provides small doses of internet by lottery. That night he breaks into the trailer where the computer is locked up, looking for his fix.
more below
From the Christian Science Monitor:
Surveys show that 40 million Americans regularly view Internet pornography, which accounts for $2.5 billion of the $12 billion US porn industry. Some 25 percent of search-engine requests are porn-related; 20 percent of men and 13 percent of women admit accessing porn at work.
Full article.
Internet porn is one of the obvious signs that we have a cultural problem. We have elevated sex into a position of ultimate importance. In preaching terms, we've made an idol of it. And we've done this by separating the ideas of sex and marriage. "Free Love" ultimately delivers neither. Idols destroy their worshipers.
In the Christian view, sex is a good gift from God, a part of his creation. But, sex is intended for marriage, where it can develop as a part of the committed love-relationship. Separated from marriage, it becomes destructive rather than life-giving.
