As a writer and editor of books, most of my thoughts on Apple’s new iPad were centered on its capabilities as an ebook reader. The industry is abuzz about the coming showdown between Amazon’s Kindle and the iPad. But in the end, the ebook discussion, while important, will not be the deciding factor in the iPad’s rocket ride to success.
What will?
Porn.
A great article (warning: there are some risque pixilated images, but no nudity) in Fast Company hits it on the bulls eye.
Its laser-like focus on cash has given porn an edge in technology development history. And it’s a business that’s always looking for new and novel ways to deliver its product through systems that appeal to its consumers–the one who gets there quickest gets the biggest share of the booty. Pornographic Web sites test drove online payment systems as ways to make quick bucks while everyone else bit their nails and waited years for PayPal. Broadband crushed slow dial-up in part due to users’ hunger for speedy, sexy data…porn. Going back further, porn was thriving at the dawn of cable TV and photography itself. One of the first popular uses of the printing press was to publish pornographic writing and imagery.
Today it’s a multi-billion dollar industry powered by the human psyche and high technology. It’s hard to put a finger on it precisely, but the U.S. porn industry alone is probably worth a long way north of $10 billion per year. Remember the famous adage: “If all the porn was clensed from the Internet, then there’s just be a single Web site in the world. It would say–’bring back all the porn!’” Porn has always been with us, and probably always will in one form or another.
Continuing:
But if there’s one single industry which is agile–aggressively so–and ready to quickly adopt a new technology fast in order to make a quick buck, it’s the adult content industry. You can bet many sites’ll be wrapping video content in iPad-friendly code before too long, and charging visitors handsomely for the privilege (or embedding the sites with ads, and making a profit this way.) Then, because HTML5 video is also compatible with desktop browsing too, Flash might well go the way of Betamax and HDDVD.
As we all know, porn is a huge industry and a huge problem for the church. Not only our young men and women, but also our pastors and leaders are being aced out by addictions to porn. Marriages and families are being torn apart. Churches are being devastated.
The rise of access to porn on devices like the iPad should be of great concern. One, because just as with the iPhone, there will be a significant lag between access to content and porn filtration software development. Two, because access to this content will become that much easier for both people in the church and for pastors.
This furthers the need for the church to provide a holistic healing of the mind and spirit when it comes to porn. While blockers are great, they are merely a stop gap. Our minds, and the minds of the people in our churches must be transformed to the point where we can overcome temptation rather than just manage it.
This will also create a greater need for openness and accountability among brothers and sisters in Christ.
If you’re not praying for the sexual health of your church, I encourage you to do so. We’re in a war and new weapons are being deployed every day.
Watch as mega-church pastor, Ed Young, tells other pastors “U.B.U.” while not being himself–or at least I don’t think he’s a hip-hop artist…On the plus side, I forgot about his private jet scandal for a second.
My friend Dennis Gable has been exploring the dynamic between pain and identity over at his blog. Yesterday was a particularly interesting post, and I joined in on the discussion. Give it a read here and chip in if you have something to add.
One thing you’ll find about Dennis is that he’s not afraid of being raw, and you’ll see that in his posts.
Interestingly, as I was reading Spurgeon’s Morning by Morning, today’s passage was on pain–and I think particularly poignant. Dennis, this is for you buddy:
It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou was saying, “Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith.” Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials? – for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service.
I’d be curious, after reading Dennis’ post and Spurgeon’s thoughts here, how do you view your pain and trials in your life?
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
– From The Book of Common Prayer
For a great overview of the meaning and symbolism of Ash Wednesday, see my friend Bill Streger’s post on his blog.
I grew up in Seattle and spent a good portion of my youth attending shows in the vibrant, local Christian alternative music scene of the early 1990s and following bands like Poor Old Lu and Soulfood 76. One of my favorite bands was Pedro the Lion, which consisted of David Bazan and various revolving musicians.
The first time I saw Pedro the Lion was at a small church show with about fifteen other people. The music was moving, and I was instantly enamored with David’s heart-felt and honest lyrics and the raw emotionalism of his music. It seemed that David was speaking things that those of us who grew up in the evangelical church world were afraid to say out loud. His focus on sin, pain, heartache, and struggles with faith were what we were all experiencing – but he was actually talking about it. It was liberating.
David became a sort of folk hero for us all.
Perhaps this is why I’m so saddened when I think about David and his recent struggle with and abandonment of Christianity. If you haven’t heard about David’s story, you should read this article. It’s moving and heartbreaking to me.
What’s saddest to me is that David’s story isn’t all that different from my own. I’ve had the same struggles of faith as him. Yet, by God’s grace, I’ve come out more assured (at times!) of my faith. David didn’t. And I could just have easily come out of my struggles with the same conclusions as him.
If you haven’t heard his latest album, Curse Your Branches, I highly recommend you listen to it. But be warned. It’s basically a break-up album with God. And it’s very raw. In fact, I’d saw it’s the most pitch-perfect depiction of post-evangelical angst I’ve come across.
Every time I listen to the album, I’m struck by it’s honesty–and if I’m honest with myself, I see reflections of my own psyche in hundreds of different ways. Ironically, listening to David’s album has strengthened my faith by making me wrestle with the same hard questions with which he wrestles. Only I come up with different answers.
Below is one of my favorite songs on the album as performed at a house show recently.
I’m following up on my post earlier this week, Seeing Jesus Like a Child. In that post I talked about how moving it was to read the crucifixion account as told in the Jesus Storybook Bible with my 4-year old son, Liam. Some readers wanted me to share how reading the resurrection went as well.
I’d planned on sharing the way in which Liam rolled around around like a spaz with so much excitement when we got to the part where Jesus appeared alive to his friends, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I got too busy with work. It truly was awesome to see the sheer joy and enthusiasm Liam had when we read the resurrection story. And it’s proof that the gospel story is incredibly compelling.
As cool as that was, something even cooler happened when we read the story of Saul’s conversion. On that night, Liam decided to ask Jesus to come into his heart. I can’t even begin to describe how incredible it was to listen to my little boy give his life to Jesus. It wasn’t dramatic. He didn’t recite the Westminster Confession or have tongues of fire descend on him. He simply said, “God please come into my heart and give me a new heart.” And that was that. But he knows the implications and has been talking about them since.
Now, yesterday was an interesting day. I had a lot of work to do, our baby Dylan didn’t sleep will the night before, and I was seriously grumpy. I wanted to let my wife get some much needed sleep, but I also wanted to get to work. So, I turned on the TV, sat Liam in front of it and got to it. Well, Liam wasn’t going to have any of that. He kept talking my ear off, doing things he knew he shouldn’t have to get my attention, and generally making life a little difficult.
I didn’t handle it very well, told him to go somewhere else, and used the age old “respect your parents” angle. I could tell he was frustrated that I didn’t give him my attention, but I have to confess I didn’t care.
A little later, I heard something that melted my heart. My son was in the living room praying this over and over: “God, please come back into my heart again. God, please come back into my heart again.”
I instantly knew that it was my fault he would pray this. I’d made him feel like a bad boy for wanting to be with me.
Talk about a horrible feeling.
I called Liam over to me. He got a big smile and came running onto my lap.
“Hey buddy,” I said, giving him a big hug. “I heard what you were praying.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I want God to come back into my heart.”
“Guess what? You don’t have to keep praying that,” I told him. “God loves you so much that when he gives you a new heart, it’s new forever. You don’t have to ask God back into your heart because He never left.”
Well, that was some pretty good news indeed for my boy. He smiled, relaxed, and said he was so glad.
And here’s the deal. We all believe this way deep down. We may not pray out loud for God to come back into our hearts over and over again, but we think it. We often feel ashamed of our sin, and doubt the salvation that God has offered us freely through Jesus. And what a shame that the devil lies to us this way. We forget what Paul tells is in Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
My son knows that I love him, even when he does things wrong. He knows that while I may discipline him, I’ll never abandon him or cut him off. And now he’s learning that our heavenly Father, who is a way better daddy than me, feels the same way about us. It’s a simple truth, that once again I was reminded off by God’s grace through a 4-year old boy.
Social media can take over your life if you’re not careful. Personally, I fight a constant battle to keep my social media activities in check and a healthy, balanced part of my life rather than a monster that consumes my free time, energy, and steals from my family.
I found this great little video over at Fast Company on how to master your social media monster:
These are great suggestions, no? I’m curious as to how you’re coping with the barrage. What are some tactics you employ to tame the social media beast?
OK, I really don’t get the way some in the Christian blog world are rallying around (against) the Super Bowl this year. I’ve ran across a number of blogs that have either been focused on over-spiritualizing the Super Bowl event or sports in general over the past week.
I can (sort of) understand where they are coming from in the sense that if idolized the game can take away from God–of course we could do the same thing with Antiques Road Show if we wanted to. After all, we have the capacity to turn everything into an idol. But we don’t do that for Antiques Road Show because it’s not such a powerful cultural event.
But I have to admit I find Ray Ortlund’s post a little mystifying this morning:
The Super Bowl is not just another NFL game. It has become an intensified concentration of vulgarity and ego, with enough athletics in the game and cleverness in the commercials to trick me into watching. It’s simply not what I’m living for.
That was my last Super Bowl.
Mike Pohlman thinks that Pastor Ortlund “may be on to something” with this post. I agree. He’s certainly on to something, but I’m not so sure that it’s something we should be onto.
Listen, I get it if you don’t like the Super Bowl. There’s certainly things about the event that are distasteful. But don’t be a hater for Christ’s sake (pun intended).
This kind of post villianizing the Super Bowl doesn’t seem to accomplish anything other than stir controversy, make Christians yet again look like joy-kills, and pit people who simply enjoy football and don’t mind having a good time watching the Super Bowl against more “spiritual” people who place the Super Bowl as some sort of event that diminishes Christ, and the Christian for watching it. “It’s simply not what I’m living for.”
To me this seems like a better idea: Let’s redeem the Super Bowl. Let’s get our neighbors together to watch the game. Let’s host parties at our house. Let’s expose people to Christian community that stops talking about what they’re not living for and instead starts talking about what they are living for.
Let’s not revert to being people known for what we’re against. We spent decades doing that, and it hasn’t served us or Christ very well.
So, what do you think? Am I over reacting here? Even worse, am I completely wrong?
As a writer and editor of books, most of my thoughts on Apple’s new iPad were centered on its capabilities as an ebook reader. The industry is abuzz about the coming showdown between Amazon’s Kindle and the iPad. But in the end, the ebook discussion, while important, will not be the deciding factor in the iPad’s rocket ride to success.
My friend Dennis Gable has been exploring the dynamic between pain and identity over at his blog. Yesterday was a particularly interesting post, and I joined in on the discussion. Give it a read 
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen
I’m following up on my post earlier this week, 
OK, I really don’t get the way some in the Christian blog world are rallying around (against) the Super Bowl this year. I’ve ran across a number of blogs that have either been focused on over-spiritualizing the Super Bowl event or sports in general over the past week.