jodiemcneill.com

It was only a matter of time before the secular media began to affirm what Christians have been saying for years (if not decades) that pornography is harmful. In her incisive and challenging article in today’s SMH, Adele Horin mounts the case for concern in the ever-rising popularity of Internet porn.

Listing case study after case study, and compounding the evidence with a barrage of statistics, Horin demonstrates the effect of porn on marriage and relationships. At its best, the viewing of explicit material leads men to choose the internet instead of intimacy. At its worst, the attendant secrecy breeds distrust, and marriage failure.

Sexuality is a beautiful gift from God, for enjoyment and procreation in marriage. The sooner people wake up to this fact, the sooner marriages will be stronger, and God will be glorified.

If you are a regular visitor to my site then you will know that it’s been a while since my last post. Things have been particularly full-on with work, especially the launch of the new Year 13 Gospel Gap Year program for 2008. Check out www.year13.youthworks.net to see what’s new!

This long gap between posts has made me realise the tyranny of irregularity. When it’s been a while since the last update, the next update gets harder and harder every day of delay. You feel the need to apologise, and what’s worse, the need to fill in every thing that has happened in the meanwhile.

But the problem gets worse. Once you’ve resolved to fill in the gaps, there is a natural tendency to want to post lots of catch-up articles. Is this good nettiquete? Is it ok to fill up your feed with all the articles you should have written before, or is it better to just let it all go?

Finally, just how often does a person need to post to be regular?

PS - I’ve got to say, it feels good to post again…!

Yes, I’ve finally made it into the big league. Forget the Sydney Morning Herald. Forget 103.2 FM. Forget sydneyanglicans.net. Yes, I’ve finally scored an interview with ‘On The Poddy!’

After the Gen Y conference on Saturday, Dave, Dan and Bron Downes grabbed me, dragged me to a cafe, and with the lure of a strong latte, hit me with scores of penetrating questions.

To have a listen to this great podcast from Dave Miers and the gang from Central Coast Evangelical Church, click here.

And, if you really want to make Dave’s week/month/year/life, subscribe to the podcast from iTunes, and help him achieve his aim in life to score a number one spot in the iTunes charts.

Thanks to the ease of WordPress, I’ve put together a quick website for the youth ministry I lead at Sylvania Anglican. Check it out by visiting www.sylvaniayouth.org and tell me what you think!

The beauty of WordPress is that I can give all the leaders passwords, and they can help me keep the site up to date. I think one of the great advantages to using a CMS (Content Management System) is this ease of entry and editing. I remember in the not-so-old-days that to update a website required major HTML editing, with FTP and all other primitive nasties. Now, those days are behind us.

We’re also planning in time to convert our website to use the upcoming www.cyiada.com platform. Check out that blog to find out what is being planned!

As a youth minister and a parent I continue to be disappointed and distressed at the ease of access to pornography available through the Internet (See SMH article ‘Porn, peer pressure corrupting young: MP.’)

Before the World Wide Web, the only way a teenager could view pornography was to steal a men’s magazine from a newsagency. Today, they view the equivalent of hard-core restricted material from the privacy of their own bedroom computer.

My ISP blocks SPAM and scans emails for viruses, but still does not offer server-based content filtering software. We are told by the vocal minority that this filtering technology is a restriction of our freedom of speech and a form of clandestine censorship. Others tell us that to run such software is resource-heavy, placing strain on the servers leading to reductions in performance.

Yet, if we viewed this pornography problem as the social horror it really is, then we would invest the resources and research needed into implementing such a system that protects our children from this distorted view of sexuality. Adults could choose ‘opt out’ of content-filtering censorship, but it is ludicrous to think that the current practice gives our children unfettered access to pornography by default.

It is our responsibility to protect the children from the corrupting harm of pornography. If we can put a man on the moon in 1969, then we can stop our kids downloading porn in 2007.