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- Defiling The Marriage
... Uh ... Laptop?
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- Bobby Cohoon
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The new job was thought to be a blessing in disguise.
All the things they wanted in life could now become a reality.
The job started as an eight to five job, with a few nights of
extra time. The pay made up for the few extra hours spent. Then,
as the days wore on, it seemed that the few minutes extra started
being a half hour here and there. That quickly turned into hours
extra each week. Then it happened that is was several extra hours
a day. Finally, he bought a laptop computer so he could do some
of the work at home. She would go to bed at night before he was
finished working, then sometime later he would join her, usually
around eleven o'clock. Eleven soon became twelve, which turned
into one, which gave way to two and three o'clock. Marital relations
suffered to the point of non-existence. The stress and strain
of the new job was taking its toll on the family. One morning
he left his laptop computer home and she turned it on. At first
sight all seemed normal, and then came all the book marked internet
porn. The hours of supposedly working were nothing more than feeding
an Internet porn habit: Surfing through the endless ever-deepening
streams of sin.
In the August 2000 issue of Christianity
Today it was reported that 33% of "clergy" and
36% of the "laity" have visited Internet porn sites.
Of those figures 53% of the clergy and 44% of the laity said they
visited porn sites a few times in the last year. Eighteen percent
of the clergy reported that they visit porn sites between a couple
times in a month to more than once a week.
Pornography is not something that is hard to find.
Hollywood produces 400 movies a year, compared with 700
pornographic movies made each month. A misspelled word in typing
a URL can lead you to all types of ungodly images. I very innocently
typed in a URL of a government office once, unaware that the "dot
com" was "dot gov," I did not surf to
a very innocent web site.
Doctors have said it is a sickness, an addiction.
Be it by the man next door, the paperboy, the teacher or the clergyman,
the Bible says it is sin: "Do you not know that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers, nor homosexuals,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,
shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians. 6:10-11). For
the married man his sexual sin amounts to adultery.
Jesus taught that it was adultery not just for
a person to physically be with someone other than his/her spouse,
but the act of looking with a lustful eye constituted adultery:
"But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman
with a lustful eye has already committed adultery with her in
his heart" (Matthew 5:28). The lust that once was confined
to the darkened corners of shady bookstores or theaters in the
seedy parts of town is now in the open. No longer are the days
of slipping around and sneaking; here are the days of sin being
brought into your homes via every form of media.
What God has called sin has become known as sickness
today for those who fall into its deepest clutches. Marriages
are strained and even break up due to the evil grip of sexually
sin. Normal relations between husband and wife are often withheld
due to artificial relations with spouse and cyber mater. Paul
said in his epistle to the Romans, "Flee sexual immorality"
(Romans 6:18). To combat sexual immorality, Paul went on to
write to the Romans, "BibleVerseNevertheless, because
of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let
each woman have her own husbandBibleVerse" (Romans 7:2).
Yet, today it is that remedy for sexual immorality that often
finds itself hurt by the friendly fire of an immoral spouse.
To husbands and wives Paul wrote "Do not
deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may
give yourselves to fasting and prayer" (Romans 7:5). The
sad situation that exists today is many spouses are being deprived
because of graphic images that exist not in the shady parts of
town, but on the computer screens of the workplace or in the comfort
of their own home. In these instances self-gratification has replaced
normal spousal relations. Paul not only gave a warning, but he
gave a reason for that warning: "so that Satan does not
tempt you because of your lack of self-control" (Romans 7:5b).
The temptation itself is not sin. James wrote
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various
trials" (James 1:2). Brothers and sisters we will be
tempted. Today it seems the temptations are more plentiful than
ever before. James went on to say, "each one is tempted
when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed" (James
1:14). When we allow our self-control to turn from God to
immoral temptations sin is conceived. When an immoral web site
pops up we have two choices: (1.) We can stand on the Word of
God and click the link off, or (2.) We can allow sin to be conceived
and follow the link into the fertility clinic of Hell.
Jesus was tempted in every way just as we are,
yet was found to be sinless (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus stood on the
Word of God. In Matthew chapter 4 Jesus was tempted three times.
Jesus combated each temptation with scripture. He gave us an example
to follow.
We have to go back and again call the things that
are an abomination to God sin. Diabetes is a sickness; pornography
is sin. If we stand on the Word of God we can overcome temptation.
Without the Word of God we become the proud parents of sin. Without
the word of God we stop natural relations with a spouse in favor
of immoral relations between the images and ourselves on our computer
screens. Without the Word of God natural relations between a parent
and child suffer as they are replaced by the relations of the
parent and its new bouncy baby sin. Without the Word of God this
new baby, sin, will be fostered and grown until it engulfs the
life of its parent. It becomes the whole focus of its parent's
world.
People, statistics have shown that pornography
is not limited to those outside the church. Nor is it limited
in the church to just the lay people. The word of God shows something
that the statistics don't show. It shows that we can escape that
life of sexual immorality. First John 1:9 tells us that "If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Through
the power of His Word we can repent of all unrighteousness. No
one can repent for us; we have to do it ourselves. We have all
the tools. If sexual immorality was in fact a sickness, we have
the medical cure: The Word of God. The Word of God is the remedy
for sin.
How will you react when the next "pop up"
passes gets through your pop up stopper? What will you do with
the next explicit email that passes through your spam filter?
Will you follow the link when you accidentally type "dot
com" instead of "dot gov?" It's your
choice. Remember God used the word "Whosoever" (John
3:16). The Word whosoever gives you a choice of which link
you click!
- Bobby Cohoon
- North Carolina, USA
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