J. R. Woodgates
Tag Archives: child pornography
More courageous Christian organizations should follow the lead of this Florida group.
J. R. Woodgates talks with Jeremy Miller about:
- Christian convicts ministering to unbelieving fellow inmates
- How a prison ministry can go from superficial to supernatural
- Why America’s jails and prisons are so ready for Christian revival
LISTEN NOW TO THE PODCAST (scroll down to Episode 011)
Isn’t looking at porn no worse than having a few drinks in a bar, smoking a legal joint, visiting a strip club, betting on horses or playing a slot machine? Why can’t we just accept it along with such other “little vices?” A new survey on pornography in America suggests why we shouldn’t accept it:
If moral imperatives aren’t enough to restrain you, then Microsoft’s stealthy detection software might curb your enthusiasm (I sure hope so).
Once it detects such photos, it can immediately remove them and report them to law enforcement, then remove the user’s account.
When ranking a list of morally objectionable items, teens and young adults said not recycling was more unacceptable than viewing pornographic images.
Most pastors (57%) and youth pastors (64%) admit they have struggled with porn, either currently or in the past. Overall, 21 percent of youth pastors and 14 percent of pastors admit they currently struggle with using porn.
Is it any wonder that so many clergy and church workers are being arrested for viewing illegal images?
It was two-and-a-half years between the one time I was interviewed by the FBI in late 2002 about my Internet activities at work and when I received notification from my lawyer that I would face a single charge for possession of child pornography. It was another year after that before I actually stood before a federal judge in Washington, DC and pled guilty to that charge.
Unbeknownst to anyone but a few prayer partners, clergy and family, I had spent those three-and-a-half years going through a rigorous process of church discipline, clinical examination and personal restoration. By the time I stood before the judge, I was a different man from the one who had been engaging in such disordered behavior in 2002. Nevertheless, he convicted me of my crime.
In the fall of 2006, just as I began a nine-month stay in a federal low security correctional institution in North Carolina, I divulged my situation in the parish magazine of my large suburban Episcopal church.* I was overwhelmed by the loving response it elicited. Six months later, I followed up that article with an epistle from prison.
Read both articles now to gain a better understanding of my full story…and the discoveries that inspired me to write Daily Light on the Prisoner’s Path:
* In 2009, having left The Episcopal Church, it became a founding parish of the Anglican Church in North America.