Throwing Stones
Seventeen-year-old Tim was browsing the Internet one night when his eye caught the image of a pop-up advertisement. “Find true love now,” it read. Pictured below was a young woman showing off her mostly-unclothed body.
Tim had looked at pornography before. Without realizing it, he had formed an addictive habit—waiting until his parents went to bed before going straight to the computer. [...]
I wish I could say that [his girlfriend] and others around him forgave him, challenged him, and ushered him toward healing and recovery in a non-judgmental way. I wish I could say that those in his church who knew about his “problem” also became open and honest with their own problems and together sought repentance and wholeness. But this has not been the church’s response.The addiction to pornography (much like homosexuality) is often singled out by the Church, and labeled the principitas of all sin. It’s ugly and grotesque. [...]
Even now, as the stones are being thrown in the Church, young people everywhere are crying out—wanting desperately to be listened to, helped and forgiven. But those who have confessed bear the scars of many stones. And those who have been too scared to confess, but have been “found out,” seem beyond recovery. Their reputation is lost. Their Christian witness is shattered. Their usefulness is discarded and thrown out with the trash. And in the end, the church is shooting its wounded.[...]
In the distance we hear a faint echo of Jesus’ words to the adulterous woman, “You are no longer condemned. Go now and leave your life of sin.”
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Labels: Reflection
