Is the Price Right? 2-10-08
While in an office recently, I overheard a radio program playing in a nearby cubicle. The DJ’s were between sets of music and were filling the time with commentary on items that they obviously felt were newsworthy. One item that seemed to dominate their discussion was a story one of them had read about a woman who was making $14,000 per month selling x-rated video clips of herself on the internet. The attitude of the DJ’s (one male, one female) was “of course I’d do anything for that kind of money.” The object lesson for the audience was, I assumed, that the activity was perfectly acceptable, especially in light of the monetary compensation.
Now, taking this report at face value, it seems to me that there are some very disturbed people out there. According to Family Safe Media (www.familysafemedia.com): “the pornography industry is larger than the revenues of the top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink.” This industry accounts for over $97.06 Billion annual global revenues. The US porn industry revenues reportedly exceed the combined totals of broadcast giants CBS, ABC, and NBC (Ibid.) It would seem to me that there are definitely a lot of people buying these types of things.
Does that make it right? Of course not. There are immutable standards set into place, standards that illuminate for us who we are in relation to who we should be. These standards are not rooted in human history (and thus out of date), but are ingrained in our very creation so that they remain valid for all time. Just because men and women choose to remain blind does not mean that the light does not shine.
The standards set into place tell us that it is absolutely wrong to do certain things; it is absolutely wrong to have a sexual relationship with a child; it is absolutely wrong to steal; it is absolutely wrong to violate the covenant between a husband and a wife. It is also wrong to trade sexuality for money, just as it is wrong to trade money for sexuality. Just because our society is becoming more tolerant of deviant behaviors does not mean that they are fine.
So why do I get worked up about what some radio DJ says? Well, because I know that young people, who are themselves discovering their own sexuality and are having to come to grips with having much more freedom and choice in their lives, are hearing these types of radio programs. I know that there are a lot of Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers that are becoming increasingly confused about what constitutes a sexual encounter. As a result, many are engaging in activities that, as the saying goes, “would make a sailor blush” (no offense to any naval service personnel out there).
As a result of this, the moral fabric of our country is showing signs of decay and unraveling. School shootings, teen pregnancy, sexually-transmitted diseases, and alcohol and drug abuse all demonstrate that there are consequences that come from ignoring the standards of right and wrong. And this lesson is not one that we are learning for the first time.
Three thousand years ago Solomon wrote about this in Proverbs chapter 7, describing a young man being enticed by a prostitute; the warning at the end (verse 27) states plainly: “Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.” The point is that sexual promiscuity masquerading as freedom of expression and harmless experimentation can have disastrous consequences. Our young people can end up selling their souls for pennies on the dollar, our churches can marginalize themselves out of existence, and our nation will kill the moral heart that has enabled us to become truly great: the foundation of our society on Christian values.
But all is not doom and gloom, either. For just as our nation’s moral compass can be knocked off its bearings, it can be put straight again. We have seen a movement among teenagers arise that promotes abstinence and purity; as our young people step out and try to stand up for what is right, it is our responsibility to help empower them to speak up for good values and encourage them to weather the adversity that inevitably follows.
If we help guide them into making the right choices, then the porn industry will eventually fade back to obscurity. If we demand that they see their own worth by demonstrating that we value their worth, maybe they will be less inclined to listen to foolish radio DJs and will instead realize that trading their purity for money will always be a losing deal for them. Just as keeping pure will always build up eternal riches.
-Charles Peterson