Christian rapper and pastor Trip Lee said that he understands the youth's struggle with pornography because it is easy to access with the technology-driven environment.
Speaking in a video interview with Desiring God ministry, the Reach Records rapper described pornography as a unique sin and added he would be surprised to meet a young Christian man who has not had to struggle with pornography.
"Pornography has been something that has been on my heart a lot for many years as I have thought about my music and writing. I know how much of an epidemic it is among young men," Lee said in the interview. "It has come to the point where if I talk to a young man about his life, I am not at all surprised to hear that there is a struggle with porn. I would be shocked if I met a young man who hasn't struggled with it at some point, because it is just so easily accessible and damaging to our souls."
"When I talk to young men who are struggling with it, often what you get, if it is a Christian who really wants to honor Jesus, is this deep despair - because it is a unique sin. It is unique to other sexual sins, because you don't have to go anywhere to indulge in it. You don't have to make a long series of bad decisions to fall into it. There is often this kind of despair from men imprisoned by their sin."
The ministry said it surveyed more than 8,000 readers of Desiring God and found pornography is common with younger adults watching it more. The survey found that over 15 percent of Christian men aged over 60 have admitted to watching porn.
The figure was higher amongst men in their 50s with 20 percent of them said they used it, and 30 percent of men in their 30s. Interestingly, the study found that nearly 50 percent of self-professing Christian men, ages 18-29, acknowledged using pornography regularly. The study also found that the use of pornography is also common amongst women, but to a lesser degree, with 10 percent of females, ages 18-29; five percent in their thirties; increasingly less for forties, fifties, and sixty-plus.
Lee said that when dealing with the subject of pornography, the first thing he wants to do is to remind the public of the gracious gospel of Jesus. He explained that a person can look at porn every day for the last 500 days but Jesus will still not run out of grace. "That same cross that you heard about the first time is the same cross that can forgive you now," Lee said.
Lee continued, "The second thing I want to do is press into their hearts the seriousness of sin. I don't want them to think that, just because it is our eyes on a computer screen or because we're engaging in it alone, it is less serious. It is very serious, mainly because of the God you are sinning against. It's also serious because you are sinning against the people you're watching, the way it is going to affect your life and your relationship with Jesus, your future marriage if you are not married yet, and your marriage if you are married - all of those reasons."
Lee said he also wants to encourage those using porn to be open about that sin. He said that the biggest mistake a person makes is by being embarrassed with admitting that he or she is committing a sin. Because of the love of sin, people do not want to expose themselves to other people about that sin.
"Instead of fighting sin, I am going to protect it. I am going to leave it over here in the dark where it can keep surviving and keep growing and go deeper into my heart. If we want to kill sin, we have to expose it. We have to bring other people in and confess sin regularly.
"Those are the main things. I want to remind you of the gospel. I want to remind you how serious that sin is. I want to remind you of the benefit of having other believers in your life to help you fight it."
