The above reaction was typical of many, when I spoke of once covering up pornography on a billboard in my neighborhood with a large orange blanket. I was accused of wanting to cover up women with "burkas."
On the contrary, there’s nothing at all wrong with looking at attractive women. God made the female form to be attractive to men. However, He did say that looking at a woman with lust, is to commit adultery in the heart (see Matthew 5:27-28). Looking and lusting are two different things.
Covering a woman with a veil doesn’t deal with lust because it’s an issue of the human imagination, and the sinful imagination of man isn’t stopped by a mere veil. It is the heart of man that is evil, not the naked body of a woman. Lust made its entry when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Until that time they were naked, and they had the approving smile of God. When He commanded them to "multiply," He wasn’t talking about math.
I have a question for those of you who would gladly put a national ban on any form of censorship. If a clothing manufacturer embarked on a billboard campaign showing naked men in sexually explicit positions with little boys, would you object, or would you be an advocate their freedom of sexual expression?
If you are an advocate of child pornography, I would appreciate you giving me your name and address. I think that there are people in your neighborhood that should be warned that you live in their area.
I would hope that you would strongly object to a billboard campaign that uses child porn. If that’s the case, then you do believe in some form of censorship, and you do have a moral divide. You believe that certain things are morally wrong. It’s just that your moral divide is very low. God’s is very high.
I was also encouraged to move to places like Amsterdam, where there is sexual freedom, hardly any crime, and where Atheists are rampant. However, back in 2008, Newsweek reported:
"Amsterdam plans to close down its most famous district, citing sleaze, criminal activity and human trafficking . . . [because] too many brothels and sex bars are linked to criminality, the authorities plan to all but erase the Red Light District."1.
The clean-up plan was approved by an overwhelming 43-2 majority.
Still, it takes more than censorship of a Red Light District to deal with lust in the hearts of sinful men. It takes the power of God through the message of the gospel. He can forgive each one of us, and change us so that we want to do that which is pleasing in His sight.
All it takes to be forgiven and cleansed is a little honesty. One atheist reminded me of that fact when he said, "I have never lusted over a woman…I have never lusted," and then added, "I’ll make no bones about my use of pornography."
1. http://www.newsweek.com/id/109373
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The coverup
