Sexual Ethics and the Church

One of the blogs I follow regularly is Breaking Free.   Their byline is “the journey towards purity in a sex-saturated internet.”   The blog is sponsored by Covenant Eyes, Inc.   Covenant Eyes is accountability software.   Basically the way it operates is this.   Two people agree to install Covenant Eyes software on their computers and to become covenant partners.   Each person receives a regular report that lists all the sites the other person visited.   This is a tool to help keep folks accountable for the websites they visit.

This blog post talks about guidelines that the Assemblies of God have put in place to respond to situations when pastors are viewing pornography.

For each of these stages:
1. The Curiosity Stage – The minister is personally searching for pornography because of the veil of mystery or confusion that surrounds it.
2. The Experimental Stage – The minister is looking for pornography to see whether something is stimulating or compelling.
3. The Regular Usage Stage – The minister is using pornography at set times, under certain conditions, or within certain contexts.
4. The Habitual Stage – The minister is regularly using pornography to a point where a habit has been formed.
5. The Addicted Stage – The minister is compulsively using pornography.

Responses are provided:
1. The Curiosity Stage – There is no suspension at this stage, but the minster needs to go through a minimum of 3 months of approved pastoral counseling.
2. The Experimental Stage – There is no suspension at this stage either, but the minister needs to go through a minimum of 6 months of approved professional counseling.
3. The Regular Usage Stage – In this stage, the minister is given a minimum 3-month suspension (contingent upon and concurrent with sustained abstinence), and must go through a minimum of 1 year of rehabilitation with approved professional counseling.
4. The Habitual Stage – In this stage, the minister is given a minimum 6-month suspension, and must go through a minimum of 1 year of rehabilitation with approved professional counseling.
5. The Addicted Stage – In this final stage, the minister is given a minimum 1-year suspension, and must go through a minimum of 2 years of rehabilitation with approved professional counseling.

I am impressed with the seriousness of this approach.   Does your church have guidelines such as this?   Mine (the United Methodist Church) doesn’t.   Even though the wider church takes these issues very seriously, see this website on sexual ethics, that is not always the case.   In fact, our conference is currently planning to cut the part-time Sexual Ethics Coordinator position.