Friday night, Allison and I attended a Secret Church simulcast at church. The title was Family, Marriage, Sex, and the Gospel. For those that don't know, Secret Church is a 6 hour, intense Bible study taught by David Platt, pastor at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. This is my third time to attend Secret Church. It is a lot like drinking out of a fire hose, but the thing I love about it is I generally can't stop thinking about it for days. This time was no different.
During the first teaching segment many statistics were discussed. Many, if not most, of the statistics were astounding. I can't tell you the number of times I shook my head, my mouth fell open, or I simply closed my eyes because of what I was hearing. Many of the statistics were directed toward men. Platt also talked a lot about men and how we refuse to grow up and be what God designed us to be. For example:
- 1 out of every 10 men have purchased a prostitute;
- $13.3 billion was spent on pornography in the U.S. in 2006;
- today there are 40 million prostitutes at work;
- 130,000 abortions occur everyday;
- 38% said they were divorced or currently in the process;
- 30% said they had a one time or an ongoing affair;
- 50% of pastors say they have visited a pornography site in the last year;
- 30% have done so in the past month.
I am not sure what, but I have to do something. As I listened to these statistics I couldn't help but think, "Between me and my friends, statistically there are several of us that struggle with this or are in a situation they shouldn't be in." I am currently thinking through how my friends and I can hold each other more accountable.
What would you do to hold friends accountable to guard against these issues?
What would you do to hold friends accountable to guard against these issues?
4 comments:
Jeremy, check out XXXChurch. Google around and you'll fine it. Its an app for iPhone and iPad and you can download it for your computers as well. I have it installed on all my stuff that can access the internet. You put in an email account and if you access questionable stuff it emails your accountability partner. Leah is mine and she gets an email every 2 weeks that tells her what stuff I've browsed on the web. I saw it on CNN because some football players in the NFL were using it and so I got it as well. Works great.
Good for you, Chad. I am so proud to see my friends taking their marriages and family obligations seriously. And thank you, Jeremy, for making our family a priority and for being a godly example to our son.
This was really something I struggled with during my marriage. He was highly addicted to porn and it really does affect your personality and your relationships. I'm a prime example of that. It changes your idea of how women (and men, for that matter) should behave (and how you treat them), and it distorts reality. There's a definite ripple effect and I'm still healing from the damage he did to me, emotionally. I'll spare the details since you're my Cuz (LOL), but suffice it to say...helping the person who struggles will help their entire family.
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