Visiting Dichato in the south of Chile I was able to see the reconstruction through which this village underwent after the 2010 earthquake tsunami destroyed it. It was stunning to see how so many years later there were still deep marks from the destruction trail left by that huge wave.
The survivors tell that when the earthquake started the population naturally ran to the mountains, but after hearing in the radio that the risk of tsunami was over and that it was safe to return home they did it. When they went back to their houses the tsunami hit, killing more than 150 people.
In present times there is a more devastating wave, a wave that is overwhelming our society but in a silent mode, the wave of pornography. But what is pornography? Pornography is a set of images that stimulate vulgar sexual thoughts. In the past these images would come in limited fashion through some magazines but in our days it comes openly through the internet.
Pornography is highly addictive; it becomes an insatiable habit that imprisons people to its consumption. Like any other drug, the consumer has difficulty accepting its own addiction and is incapable of seeing how it affects the others, how it interferes in his or her human relations, mainly in the relationship with his or her spouse. Sadly 70% of men and 40% of women who attend church are already consumers of this product.
There is nothing ugly about human sexuality, after all it was God who created it and who recommended it. But pornography puts things out of context, distorting human intimacy, denigrating the love act to an animalistic one.
If the citizens of Dichato would have stayed out of the tsunami reach, their destiny would have been much happier. Likewise our horizon can be much better if we manage to stay away from this nasty wave of pornography.
- What do you think is wrong with pornography?
- How can you avoid pornography?
(Looking for pure thoughts, Philippians 4:8 / Avoiding impure thoughts, Mathew 5:28)
Commissioner Torben Eliason is the Territorial Commander of the Southern Africa Territory