CIP
The Christian Institute of Philosophy
An Example of Over Reaction
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Editor's Note
I have the utmost respect for Josh McDowell. He was an important part of my Christian formation in the 1970s. You will find in other parts of this site, that I concur with many of his thoughts and I strongly recommend all his books. His most famous book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, had a profound positive effect on my life and many other young Christians in the later part of the 20th century.
However, in this video I respectfully disagree with his approach. I invite you to view the video and read my analysis and then decide for yourself.
Analysis:
"I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is..." Rev. 2:13. No other generation of males in all of human history have had to face the temptation of Pornography on the scale we see today. Most 8 to 10 year old boys have already seen the most hard core pornography ever produced by the human race via their cell phone. We live in a culture that produces porn, then makes it available at the touch of a screen and then gives the screen to a 10 year old and then blames the young boy for watching it.
Josh McDowell states in this video clip that it is like "once an alcoholic always an alcholic". This is true. But, what he is not taking into account is that 95% of all males are given this virtual alcohol very early in life and they are strongly addicted by the time they are teenagers. When it comes to males and pornography - all men are alcoholics. Paradoxically, if a female ask a guy if he watches porn and the guy calmly without blinking says no. That is probably the man she should think about walking away from - because he is lying to her.
CIP proposes that rather than walking away from a man who admits that he watches porn, the Christian female needs to become more psycologically and Spirtually aware of the male responce to porn, and be ready to help her husband to reduce and eliminate pornography from their marriage. And, she will find that she has a role also. Is she willing to give up romance novels, 50 Shades of Gray, and movies with nudity or prurient sexual themes? All of these are a mild form of pornography.
CIP also proposes that Josh is not correct when he dismisses the idea that a male may look at pornography "a little". A major theme of this site is that degree matters. And it matters in terms of consequences. A person may be violating the speed limit, but the consequences of violating that limit by 5 miles per hour or 50 miles per hour matters a great deal. Young Christian men who desparately want to follow the Lord but find themselves drawn to pornography should indeed know that there is a big difference between looking at a picture of a nude female and watching a video of a hard core orgy. Degree matters in terms of negative effects on the mind and in the emotions.
If you are a Christian male who is having a real struggle with pornography remember three things: 1. There is a place in deep Spiritual understanding where you can eliminate porn from your life. 2. Until you find that victory, reduce porn as much as possible. The more you watch, and the more prurient and explicit it is, the more damaging it will be to your psychological and Spiritual life. 3. Always be aware of the law of diminishing returns. This is an economic and psychological law which tells us that as human beings we have a strong tendency to diminish our enjoyment of a stimulus over time and we then try to compensate by increasing the stimulus. Therefore, we need more of the drug, more money, more porn - to get the same high. This battle must be fiercely fought. If you cannot eliminate porn from your life, reduce it as much as possible. And, seek help if you find that you are significantly increasing porn consumption in responce to the Law of Diminishing Returns.
