At this year's ERLC Leadership Summit on “The Gospel and Human Sexuality,” Heath Lambert will be speaking on the church and pornography in his session “Finally Free: The Gospel and Pornography.” Lambert serves as the Executive Director of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors and as assistant professor of Biblical Counseling at Southern Seminary and Boyce College.
If you're interested in attending the Summit, go here.
Why is pornography an important issue for evangelical churches to consider?
This is an important issue for every evangelical to consider because every evangelical church has to deal with it. Pornography is in the atmosphere today, and is touching every, single congregation. A particular individual might not struggle with it, but they likely live in a house with someone who does, and they certainly go to church with people who do. As Christians we must unite together to confront this scourge.
What is a key aspect of pornography that churches aren’t addressing adequately? Why is that the case?
I don't think churches are addressing this topic at all. Pastors are afraid to talk about it, and church members are nervous to hear about it. When the topic does come up, people lament the problem, but don’t talk about how to help people change. The church needs to be equipped to talk about this problem, and to do so in a way that leads to help and change for those who are struggling.
This conference seeks to apply the gospel to issues related to human sexuality. What are some ways the gospel relates to this?
The gospel is crucial in a couple of ways. First of all, in order to be forgiven of the sin of looking at pornography people need the forgiving grace of Jesus to pay for their sin. Second, people need the transforming grace of Jesus in order to pursue purity in this regard. Finally, I really believe that the greatest threat to the expansion of the gospel in our day is the moral poison of pornography that is smothering the Christian witness of generations of men and women hooked on porn. If we want to see the gospel advance in our day we need gospel medicine to purge us of our pornographic obsession.
If evangelical churches transformed the way they handled the subject of pornagraphy, how would it reshape their congregations?
Churches will become places where people don't have to put up a front, but can talk openly and honestly about the problems people are having with this issue. Finally churches will be filled with the power that comes from a pure proclamation of the gospel. God will never use unholy men and unholy churches to advance his kingdom. If God is raising up a generation of men to advance the gospel in ways never seen before (and oh how I pray he is) then he will raise up a generation of men and women concerned for the purity of the church.
Register for the Summit here.