BY RAY NOTHSTINE , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
September 13, 2015|10:09 am
image: http://images.christianpost.com/full/87275/richard-land.jpg
(PHOTO: THE CHRISTIAN POST/RAY NOTHSTINE)
Dr. Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary and CP executive editor, speaks at the 2nd Annual Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Summit in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday, September 12, 2015.
ORLANDO – The Church needs to talk more about sex, because the Bible teaches much about the subject, instead of avoiding hard issues like sexual brokeness and pornography addiction, says Dr. Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in North Carolina, on Saturday.
"We have got to get over the reticence to talk about sex and talk about what the Bible teaches about sex," declared Land at the 2nd Annual Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Summit in Orlando, "because the Bible teaches a great deal about sex."
Land called for an accurate assessment of where the Church is today on this issue and denounced Christians and those in ministry for avoiding the issue of sexual brokenness and pornography.
"When someone says, and I've heard preachers and others say this, that this adult content doesn't really bother me," said Land, "here is someone that says I'm wiser than King Solomon, I'm stronger than Samson, and I'm more holy than David. Really? I don't think so. These Giants in the bible were taken down by sexual sin."
He added that a majority of Christian men struggle with pornography and lots of women, too, are in sexual bondage. The news was not much better for the professional clergy, he asserted.
"Somewhere between 54 to 63 percent of clergymen admit on surveys that they have had intermittent problems with pornography," Land highlighted.
"This is an issue of enormous impact. We have to identify and treat it within the church."
He called mobile devices a "secret portal to porn" for many and reminded summit attendees "someone you know is in a battle with pornography." The seminary president, who is also CP executive editor, called pornography "pure un-distilled evil," describing it as a "symptom of us being engulfed in a title wave of moral relativism" and the "sexual revolution."
"Porn is the propaganda and the Madison Avenue ad campaign for a satanic world view which is the polar opposite of what God intended for our sexuality," Land proclaimed. "The devil has figured out that the most powerful weapon in his arsenal of destruction is internet porn."
Land cited Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for their lack of knowledge," and said that the Church has to deal with the issue of sexual brokenness first.
He reminded his audience of the power of being created in the image of God and what that means for human sexuality and God's design for healthy flourishing relationships.
"We have to understand that most of the ethical issues we deal with come down to what and who is a human being? Are we merely the most sophisticated mammals or are we the special creation of mankind?" he declared. "Even though it is twisted by the fall we still have God's fingerprint all over us," he added.
"What Christianity tells us is that everybody is a somebody to God. God never created a nobody," he declared. "You may have been a surprise to your parents, but you are not a surprise to God. God never made any throwaways."
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