 Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 1:33 pm
Well, I have two things to comment on: first, I could see why they would call for this action; the leader of the whole congregation is to be above reproach—but they should have tested him for his sexual immorality before allowing him to get the position:
1 Timothy 3:1-13 (NIV)
3 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
8 In the same way, deacons[b]are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11 In the same way, the women[c] are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Timothy 3:4 Or him with proper
b. 1 Timothy 3:8 The word deacons refers here to Christians designated to serve with the overseers/elders of the church in a variety of ways; similarly in verse 12; and in Romans 16:1 and Phil. 1:1.
c. 1 Timothy 3:11 Possibly deacons’ wives or women who are deacons
Watching porn is the opposite of being faithful to one's wife. He is lustfully looking at someone else, wishing to be sexually-satisfied by someone other than the person he is married to. So, that is unacceptable.
However, about firing him from his position? Is that even a thing in scripture? All that comes to mind is rebuking him in front of everyone.
1 Timothy 5:19-20 (NIV)
19 Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. 20 But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.
Problem: they should have tested the guy out, and asked his wife for sexual immorality problems in the marriage, before choosing him as a leader.
The second thing I wanted to comment on: I disagree with the article's concluding statement: that the brain is "a different animal than the Church has ever tried to fix". Is the author of that article suggesting that people, whom Jesus freed from sexual immorality in the ancient past, had no brains back then? brains are new? since when? It is not a new animal. The internet may not have existed in ancient times, but looking at naked people through a window did exist, spying on people having sex did exist (which, by the way, if looking with lust at someone else is the moment we commit adultery, then looking at others lustfully as they have sex is the moment we have an orgy with them in our heart) and making images of nude people, to arouse others, did exist. "Pornography" is not new, and neither is the brain. They do not need something other than Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit in them, to put to death the misdeeds of the body and take all thoughts captive to make them obedient to Christ. And thus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to decide to forcefully remove themselves from all input of sexually immoral material—or material that, even if not inherently lustful, leads one into having lustful thoughts. You don't have to understand neurology to defeat the desires of the flesh. Just obey scripture: confess your sins, ask for the Holy Spirit, submit your thoughts to Christ, and eliminate sinful things from your life. Fast from certain activities and pray, fuel your mind with pure information, do not fuel your mind with filthy/unclean thoughts and attitudes.
As an unsaved person, I did view porn. But after repenting of all my sins and accepting Christ, thus eliminating sources of lustful imagery/thoughts from my life and instead feeding on pure thoughts, I derived no pleasure from viewing other people become sexually intimate with one another. I just felt conviction when those thoughts (via entertainment, conversation, or otherwise) crossed my path, suffocatingly so. Now I either change the thought or change what I am watching / what is physically in front of my eyes (or remove myself from there). Even now, anything that is remotely trying to be sexy or shows a couple getting affectionate beyond hand holding and hugs, makes me feel so awkward (and sometimes the reaction that the hug and hand holding has on the couple is a bit much); I have to turn away or cover the screen, if not quit watching the show altogether if what they just tried to make me ingest through my eyes (and ears) was a "fiery furnace of passion".
This is primarily why I jumped ship to South Korean broadcasting, but even there, they're becoming more and more depraved about what they decide to broadcast. What use to pass as "adult" entertainment is now catered to teens. I've seen stripper poles on a music show aimed at fifteen year olds, and girls in skin tight outfits dancing on said stripper poles, doing legitimate stripper moves, and it was totally acceptable—to the world—because it was the group's "concept". There's a spirit of seduction and flirtation—fornication—all over the place, that's becoming normalized through the entertainment industry (not limited to porn anymore). People are being conditioned to socialize this way. So, it's no wonder why people today don't view porn as bad, especially the younger generations growing up with this entertainment; it's just a few degrees of nudity different, but the lustful spirit / attitude is the same. And apparently, according to the world, as long as you are just "playing pretend", the immoral activity is all of a sudden okay to do, doubly so if it's "just" your job and you do it for the camera. As if playing pretend or doing it for real, for free or for a paycheck, affects one's mind and emotions any different? It doesn't.
So, it's not just porn that fuels a very lustful imagination, but other entertainment as well that people would not classify as "porn", but "normal"; however, that "normal" entertainment is full of sexual innuendo, or portrayals of couples doing intimate things with each other—be it a movie, tv show, a song, or a book. The entertainment industry and the marketing industry are "lustful thought machines" and if people are plugged into them, without filter/discernment alerting them "this is sin; stop watching/listening", it's no wonder why people can't escape lustful thoughts that lead them into sexual immoral activity. They need to unplug. It's not a brain problem. It's a mind/soul problem, and a self-control problem, people not using the Holy Spirit, or not even having the Holy Spirit in them, so they can't yield the fruit of self-control, nor kill the habits of the flesh.
The Holy Spirit doesn't move our hand for us though. But with Him in us, we can tell the sinful desires of our flesh "no". We are the ones, however, that have to remove ourself from the sinful material or ban the offending material from entering our household (and mind).
Titus 2:12 (NIV)
12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
2 Corinthians 7:1 (NIV)
7 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Matthew 18:9 (NIV)
9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
We don't just sit there. It's a war against the thoughts and desires of the flesh. And the last thing we want to do is feed it information to make the flesh lustful again. Whoever said porn is a "learning tool" has the wrong idea about sex/marriage. Marriage should quench the lust, not enrage the lust even more.
1 Corinthians 7:9 (NIV)
9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
All those magazines telling people how to have a marriage full of passion are violating one of the central purposes of marriage in the first place (besides solving loneliness, it's suppose to be an outlet to quench lust so that one is not left in a state of lust; pursuing lust is the total opposite). If one listens to the advice of some of these Cosmo-like magazines, then Scripture, which advises the opposite, is not your bible. The magazine rack is.
I see Satan's scheming in all this: whether taking thoughts captive via the entertainment industry or schools of thought in theology, the goal is the same: make mankind think the consequences aren't real, make them think it is lawful nowadays, make them live their lives by their own laws, what seems right to them, in contradiction to God's.
So, two problems here: (1) many in the church—even leaders—are devoid of the power of the Holy Spirit, and they're looking for other means to solve their problems and (2) many in the church have not renewed their minds, so they do not even have the discernment to see things from God's perspective. They do not see that what the world has labelled "normal", "acceptable" and "lawful", actually violate the commands of our Heavenly Father in spirit and could be fueling their desires to sin in other areas (for example, how things in the entertainment industry not classified as "porn" actually function as porn; and these things are fueling lust in them. Those other sources fueling them to lust are keeping them under the dominion of the lusts of the flesh / lust of the eyes. Instead of fanning the Spirit to flame, they're fanning the flesh / sinful nature to flame. So, surprise surprise, they do fleshly / sinful things because that is what they're feeding their mind / soul to side with).
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