Pornography & Overcoming Temptation
1st Sunday of Lent
February 18, 2018
Jesus spent 40 days in the desert and he was tempted by the devil. Like Jesus, we all experience temptation. Why? Why are we tempted? -Because God did not create us as robots or puppets, but rather God gave us the incredible gift of our free will. We have a fundamental option to make: am I going to choose God or something other than God? It is our free will that gives us the capacity to love. Love is a choice – am I going to choose God or something other than God?
God does not tempt us or lead us into temptation, but he can actually use temptation to help us grow in virtue. For instance, the only way I’m going to grow in the virtue of patience is to be given opportunities to practice patience! One of the desert fathers said, “the soul matures only through battles.” Now, I’m not saying we should go out and look for temptation! In fact, we should do our best to flee from temptation and avoid the near occasions of sin. I want to talk a little bit about avoiding temptation and not putting ourselves in harm’s way.
When I was in the Holy Land, we went up on the mount of temptation where Jesus was tempted. While we were up there, Sr. Susan gave a reflection on temptation and shared with us the story of one of the most infamous sinners in the bible: King David. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then saw to it that Bathsheba’s husband was killed so that he could take Bathsheba as his own wife.
Listen to how this story begins in 2 Samuel: “At the time of the year when kings go out on campaign, David sent Joab along with his officers and the army of Israel” (out on campaign) but “David remained in Jerusalem.” (2 Sam 11:1) David was not where he was supposed to be! He was supposed to go out on campaign with his army but instead he stayed back in Jerusalem. We set ourselves up for temptation when we aren’t where we are supposed to be. For instance, I know every time I go to this bar I get into trouble. I’m not in the right place. Or teens, your parents say be in by 11 pm and you decide to stay out all night. You’re not in the right place and then you wonder: Oh, I was tempted to drink or do things I’m not supposed to do.
What happened to David while he was alone in Jerusalem? This is what the bible says, “One evening David rose from his siesta and strolled about on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful. David had inquires made about the woman and was told, “She is Bathsheba . . .” What was David’s second mistake? He was not only in the wrong place, but when he saw Bathsheba, he did not flee from the temptation quickly, rather he had inquires made about her. What’s the second point: flee from temptation quickly! Often temptation begins in the mind, it is there that we have an immediate choice – to nip in the bud or to begin to entertain the temptation. Once we recognize we’re having a bad thought, ask for God’s help and say a prayer!
I want to make another point about avoiding the near occasion of sin. In the story of Adam and Eve, God set Adam in the Garden of Eden and do you know what Adam’s job was? In Genesis Chapter 2 verse 15 God placed Adam in the garden and his job was to cultivate and care for the garden and in Hebrew the word for “care for the garden,” means to guard and protect the garden. Adam’s job was to guard and protect the garden and all that was in it. But Adam failed! He let the serpent in the garden. And once the serpent was in they were tempted.
Fathers, I want to challenge us this morning. We have a duty to protect our families and children from temptation and harm. What are we doing by giving our children unrestricted access to the Internet? We’ve let the serpent into our homes. Have you seen the statistics today? The website Covenant eyes reports that 93% of boys and 63% of girls have seen pornography by the age of 18. The average age of first exposure to pornography is somewhere between 3rd and 5th grade. Culturally, we are failing our kids by giving them Smartphones with unrestricted Internet. We can’t blame the children – as a normal process of human development, children become curious about sex. The question is: Are we protecting them against the evils of pornography by removing the temptation? Brain studies are showing that the brain of a person addicted to pornography looks like the brain of a drug addict.
Out of prudence, we should have some sort of filtering and accountability software on our technology like Covenant Eyes. When you have Covenant Eyes on your technology, it alerts you when any inappropriate website was accessed. Part of avoiding temptation is also to know yourself well. If your smartphone is a source of temptation maybe you should go back to a flip phone.
Here’s the Good News, Jesus was tempted in the desert and he overcame it. With the help of God’s grace, we too can be victorious over temptation. God will never allow us to be tempted beyond the power of his grace to save us.
The disciplines of Lent show us the way to victory! Prayer, fasting, almsgiving. When we are in the seminary, they drilled into us: when a priest leaves the priesthood or gets in trouble it is most often the case that they have abandoned their prayer life. Jesus tells us, “Apart from me you can do nothing!” All of us have to come to this fundamental truth: I cannot conquer sin on my own. I’m powerless over sin. But with Christ in my life all things are possible. In the throws of temptation, we have to surrender to Jesus and ask for his help.
Fasting. What about fasting from some form of media this Lent? One person told me once, “Father, I’ve stopped watching so much TV and I don’t have as many bad thoughts.” Self-denial also strengthens our will. The idea is if I can say no to little things like chocolate or dessert, I will be more apt to say no to temptation. Self-denial helps me grow in self-mastery with the help of God’s grace!
Almsgiving, practicing charity orients us in the direction of love. So much of our sin is getting caught up in ourselves and almsgiving helps us to orient ourselves on others.
Finally, I’ll leave you with this: Paul Harvey said, “Someday I hope to enjoy enough of what the world calls success so that somebody will ask me, “What’s the secret of it?” I will say simply this: “I get up when I fall down.” Get up when you fall down. Go to confession. If we fall into temptation and sin, we shouldn’t get discouraged or despair. We get back up. Perfection doesn’t lie in never falling but in always getting back up and trying again!