By Alyssa Valletta
Deciding whether or not pornography is an issue at Trevecca is not the problem.
“I think the problem is that we don’t talk about it,” said Seth Thompson, Benson Hall RD. “I do feel like it’s an issue–I know it’s an issue on campus.”
The Benson RHA sponsored an event on Internet pornography in TSAC last month. Speaker Brent Barrowcliff, a former pornography addict, encouraged about 30 Trevecca students to be more open and transparent about porn.
Thompson and others on campus are hoping the event will help start more intentional conversations about pornography and help students to not just view it as a personal issue, but as something that can be discussed with other Christians.
Barrowcliff called for accountability between Christians and the Church, and also addressed the importance of openness between Christians and non-Christians.
Barrowcliff began Transparent Ministries, a ministry that focuses on sexual addictions, after three to four years of seeking help and gaining control over his addiction to porn. He still deals with the temptation of his addiction today. He is always ready to share his past, which shocks some people at first, he said.
“I had to address my own issue…I didn’t have it all figured out when I first started talking to others about it,” said Barrowcliff.
According to the Transparent Ministries Web site, sex is the number one thing searched for on the Internet. Nearly $3,000 is spent on pornography every second, and 48 percent of Christian families say that pornography is a major problem in their homes, said XXXChurch.com, a Christian ministry devoted to helping anyone with sexual addictions.
But porn addictions are not limited to men or non-Christians by any means, Barrowcliff said.
Sixty percent of Christian men and 30 percent of Christian women are addicted to pornography, according to the Transparent Ministries site.
The amount of women involved with pornography has been growing rapidly over the past several years, as well. Many of the producers of porn are women now, Barrowcliff said.
“Women are getting wired visually now” because of the amount of time spent on the Internet, Barrowcliff said.
Barrowcliff said the Church should be a place of restoration for all pornography addicts. Christians need to be willing to be a “safe place” for anyone to come to with their deepest, darkest secrets, Barrowcliff said.
“We have to see this as sin and something God can restore [to] us,” he said, “The church needs an army of people saying enough’s enough.”
