Are Conservatives Overreacting to "Cuties"?

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Here's your host with today's lesson pastor Keith Foskey and welcome back to coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. Today is September the 16th 2020 and if you're following along in our daily Bible reading today, we're going to be reading 1st Peter chapter 3.

And if you'd like to find our daily Bible reading you can go to our website Sgfcjax .org that's Sovereign Grace Family Church of Jacksonville. And if you look under posts, you will find the post for this year's daily Bible reading.

It's the 2020 Bible reading list. We're reading through the New Testament one chapter a day. Only on the weekday so you have the weekends to catch up and if you read with us this year You'll be reading through the entire New Testament.

The Moral Panic Around Cuties and a Hyper-Sexualized Culture

Well today we're going to be talking about something that is in the news. We have made Wednesdays our in the news Wednesday, and we're going to ask this question. Are conservatives? Overreacting to the film cuties are conservatives overreacting to the film Cuties now first if you haven't heard about this I want to give you a little Update as to what the subject is so you're not coming in without any information.

Cuties is a film Which depicts young girls age around 11? Dancing and provocative poses wearing revealing outfits and they're part of what is known as a twerking troop. And I want to say from the outset.

I have not seen this film. I will not see this film. And for some of you that may mean that I cannot comment. Some have said if you haven't seen the film, then you can't comment, but that's just patently Ridiculous.

I don't have to watch faces of death. To know that it has some unseemly content the the posters for cuties alone have enough content to cause alarm. And the information coming out about the film from those who have seen it is enough to warrant a warning.

It was it has even sparked a potential legal issue with senator ted cruz calling for it to be investigated in regard to child pornography. And if you listen to those who are defending it Their defense is in my opinion setting off alarm bells as well.

They are saying essentially that they're that this movie is calling out child exploitation. According to the chicago sun times quote netflix said in a statement that it is a social commentary Against the sexualization of young children.

So they're saying the movie is against the sexualization of young children. The problem is the movie clearly Shows the sexual sexualization of young children. And I think the best response to that has come from the babylon b which is a christian satire website and they put a fictional article out about a movie that Has the dangers of dog murder and it says it's two hours of dogs being murdered and they said this is how we're going to show.

That it's bad by actually showing it and of course, that's heavy satire. It was meant to make a point you can't say that a movie is opposing something while that same movie is Indulging in it and that is the point.

But there's a bigger issue for christians um to consider Than just this single film. The big question that has been on my mind since this has sort of hit the mainstream and people are talking about it and people are debating the Whether or not this film should be allowed to be seen.

Is this this? The big question is is what does this say? About our society on a larger scale and I think that what it reminds us is that we live in a hyper-sexualized society and the boundaries of sexual expression are ever more being crossed.

And they're being pressed further and further and further. As I was preparing for today's Episode I came across an article from life site news now I want to very quickly say This article is disturbing.

So I I'm not quoting it uh verbatim because some parts of it are just Unseemly and I would not want to share it. But this is a this site is intended to be calling this issue out and i'm just gonna i'm gonna edit And redact some things as I talk but i'm gonna i'm gonna quote a few lines and then i'll i'll uh I'll state what's a quote and what's not a quote.

So quote in 2016, for example People watched more than an accumulated 500 ,000 years of pornography on porn hub. Which is roughly 12 porn videos for every man woman and child on planet earth. Now Now that is the end of that quote just think about that for a moment in one year Porn hub, which is one of the largest pornography websites in the world accumulated Had had people watch more than accumulated 500 000 years of pornography now how they figured that out.

I don't know I mean, I don't know It boggles the mind to even consider the How you would add up such a such an amount and for many of us that's so the numbers are so large that it becomes Almost impossible to even consider and because of that some people sort of put it out of their mind.

Oh, that's not real that that's that's it's It is overblown. It's it's an exaggeration, but but think about this Just the idea that that's 12 videos for every man woman and child on the earth. You know, we we're we're getting close to I think 8 billion people on the planet and and so a little bit of math shows you just just the amazing amount of What is being consumed.

And I want to quote A little more from the article it goes on to say never in recorded history Have so many people Had access to hardcore pornography from virtually the time They can grasp a smartphone and never in recorded history have so many people been addicted to such sickening and evil content.

And it goes on earlier this week the anti-porn organization fight the new drug Tweeted the latest stats from porn hub to draw attention to this trend this week's number one top video on the site. Now listen this with over 7 million views depicts a rape scene and uh There's description here.

I don't want to get into but basically it This is the number one video on the site and it's essentially a video of rape. And 7 million people watch that video This week alone for recreation entertainment.

This is how they spent their time. They watched a video of what is essentially a rape. Now I am convinced That what we are going to see in the near future Is because of things like that being more and more Normalized is we're going to see more and more perversion becoming the normal Standard the normal part of people's lives and uh, and we see this in television and movies.

Things have become more brazen more blatant more More willing to press the boundaries of decency the academy recently mentioned and by that I mean the Those who produce the oscars Have recently made some changes that they're going to seek to be more inclusive.

And that means including more More celebration of alternative lifestyles and homosexuality and things like that in in the in the choosing of what movies Are receiving awards and therefore what movies are being promoted by the academy?

And I think that what we're seeing is the normalization of perversion. I mean, why else would there be? Drag queens reading to children in public libraries. It's the normalization of perversion and and what's going to happen.

Is that's going to push the bounds of all areas, especially the areas like pedophilia. I've said this before I think the the p Is going to be the next letter added that you we have the letter people the lgbt.

And and there's they're constantly have the plus the plus on the end means there's more to come you know, it's lgbtq plus and the plus means there's more to come and so what do we have we have the the p for pedophilia or um.

What at one point one person pointed out I think it was m mal Uh minor or map map minor attracted person. That that's the new term that is being Used that's the new term that's being expressed. It's a person is.

They're trying to get away from negative stereotypes pedophilia has negative terms so so now it's minor attracted person if you can imagine That as a as a as a thing that's being normalized when you see signs, by the way.

When you see signs that say love has no age. Uh, just know that that's not about a 65 year old man marrying a 25 year old one. That's that's not what that sign's about that is about children being pursued by adults when it says love has no age uh recently in california, they've begun to lessen the restrictions on what would count as illegal activity with minors and the the latest thing is now Uh a person who up to 10 years, uh from the age of 14.

So theoretically a 23 year old man and a 14 year old girl could be in a sexual relationship and while it may still be illegal he would not be considered a uh would not have to register on the sex offender registry and uh, the the sentencing would be would Have would be less restrictive the the the requirements and the the things that he would undergo.

Would be less so all of these are just examples of what I would say is the normalization of perversion and This is what we're seeing all around us. And so the question that many of us ask how should we respond?

We're christians. You know that this this we're as as believers in christ, what do we do? Well, I I want to say from the outset one of the things When I heard about cuties and I heard about what it was and I looked into it for myself I made a personal decision for my family to cancel my netflix subscription.

I'm, not saying that's a must for every believer. I'm not calling for a individual boycott. It's up to you what you do for your family and and and i'm not sitting here on a on a high horse telling you What you must do but for me It was just a way of saying that I I think this type of content should not be supported by my money.

So i'm not going to do that. And uh, I do think that that's One way to respond i'm not saying it's the only way i'm saying that's one Way that we can respond is how we support and what we support with our money.

But moreover, I think what really needs to be considered is the larger impact that the hyper sexualized culture is having on our children. Because never before in history Has it been As easy it is as it is today for anyone, especially our children to access graphic sexual images and Jesus tells us that lust is a sin and He says it's a sin comparable to adultery and Years ago. I did a sermon on the subject of lust.

And I I've always been amazed that if you go to our sermon audio page and you look at what sermons are the top sermons downloaded. We've been on sermon audio for about 10 years. The number one sermon that i've ever preached is My sermon that I did on lust it was entitled mental pornography.

And where I explain That what lust is when when when jesus refers to this to lust. Lust is the mental image of. It's it's it's the imagination of pornography, it's mental pornography. And it's fantasizing about that that mental image that you've created.

And what we have today Is the the image and the imagination has given way to images. No longer is it an imagination it now it's it's images that are readily available anytime anywhere. And while our forefathers had to deal with The issue of lust lust has always been in the hearts of men only since the advent of the camera and even more recently the ease of video recording has this problem been so expanded and so So dangerous.

I mean it's always been a sin. It's always been dangerous, but we are now to the point where it's almost overwhelming. So as parents we find ourselves in a battle with the world for our children's eyes.

And for our own eyes and for our own minds. Therefore we have more reason than ever before to be well aware of what is coming into our homes. What we are consuming what our children are consuming. And to be very aware that those who are genuinely seeking to harm Our children Are not lurking around schoolyards anymore.

They are on instagram facebook. They are on the social media apps that allow children to go in on their their ipads and their telephones and and talk to people and share pictures with one another and.

A lot of this is happening right under the noses Of the parents who love their children and care for their children and would never leave their doors unlocked at night. But they would leave an unlocked cell phone in their child's room at night.

And so we we have to understand these are realities. And that we live in a romans 1 world that should be clear. What is a romans 1 world? Romans 1 says god gave them over to a debased mind. And what do we see around us?

We see a culture that's been given over to a debased mind now more than ever. We need to be on guard. For our sake and for the sake of our families. We need not to view this issue lightly. I would encourage you not to just simply laugh.

The issue off with the the movie cuties is just another conservative overreaction. I don't think that it is necessarily an overreaction. I think it's a right response to the Major shift in the culture that we have seen.

And the major shift towards perversion in the culture that is happening all around us. We need to be on guard. We need to be vigilant. For our enemy is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and There really isn't an overreaction.

Because most of us aren't reacting enough. Most of us aren't considering this enough and the dangers that it provides For us and for our families. So my encouragement to you today is to pray be aware of what's coming into your home.

And always be on guard for the devil is using all of these things to try to corrupt and to draw people away. So may we Draw instead ever closer to christ. May we love his word more than anything and may we be moved by affection for him.

And love for our families in all that we do and allow in our homes. I hope that this has been an encouragement to you today. I hope that you enjoy our daily program. And if you do enjoy the program, please take an opportunity to like comment and share this video with others.

So that we will be able to reach a wider audience. Again, thank you for listening to coffee with a calvinist. My name is keith foskey and I have been your calvinist. May god bless you.

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