As I stated in the September meeting, one of the main goals I hope to accomplish this year is to sustain a vision of God’s restorative justice that the members of IJM SEBTS can easily grasp and follow. One of the tools that we will employ towards this goal will be weekly posts on our blog.
The International Justice Mission is an organization that is dedicated to addressing abuses of power that occur around the world. The main areas of focus are unprosecuted rape, illegal land seizure, sex trafficking, female genital mutilation (clitoral circumcision), bonded slavery, sexual slavery, and others. The focus of IJM is in the international sphere where these injustices occur quite often.
A theme emerges when we look at the areas of concern for IJM; sexual injustice is at the heart what we do internationally. For this post, however, we will focus on our own domestic shortcomings in regards to sexual injustice. Whereas many of the injustices that occur internationally, may be rare events in the United States, we still live in a sex driven society. A recent issue of Prism Magazine from Evangelicals for Social Action took on America’s porno addiction head on.
The Prism articles investigated the problem from various angles and demonstrated how our culture has been invaded by images that are pornographic. The articles included pictures from current magazines, and only one could be described as blatantly sexual (Marissa Miller in Sports Illustrated). All of the others occurred in advertisements from Ladies magazines. One advertisement from high-end brand Dolce and Gibranna had a woman engaged in group sex. Another sales device had a bottle of cologne pressed between two bare breasts, with the obvious connotation that the purchase of this cologne would lead to sexual fulfillment. The story goes on and on.
This is America’s sexual sin. We may not be engaging in sex traffic or bonded slavery but we have taken the image-bearing creature and commoditized it in pursuit of corporate and individual profit. We may think that the sexual sins of others are somehow worse than ours, but we need to take a closer look at what we are doing and promoting. Young models, mostly female, are told that their sexuality must become a commodity if they hope to be successful. Corporations employ this advertising because it works. But it is not a zero sum game, demand not only engenders supply, but supply helps generate the demand. We are a part of the problem instead of being part of the solution.
What should we do in response to this problem? Recently, a group of people in Raleigh actively protested Abercrombie and Fitch because of a picture of young man with his pants undone down to his shaved pubic region and this is a good place to start. We should also do our best not to fall into the advertising trap. Do we buy Axe spay because it smells good, or because of its successful sexual marketing? We have to resist the temptation to go along with the rest of society. Therefore, we can protest and resist. Resistance will hit them where it hurts, in the profit margin, and that is where we should focus. As for the picture at Abercrombie and Fitch, it is still up, but we know that the protestors did not work in vain.
This has just been a short walk through America’s sexual sin and we must keep it in mind as we are focusing on the problems of the rest of the world. I welcome your response and your own thoughts.
Rev. Donnie McDaniel, M.Th
President of SEBTS IJM
Our Vision
To ignite students and equip leaders to join in God's passion for the broken and the oppressed.
Our Mission
IJM Southeastern exists to glorify Jesus Christ by bringing light to the injustices in the world around us and by calling students to action.
International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems. IJM's justice professionals work in their communities in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to secure tangible and sustainable protection of national laws through local court systems.
An IJM Campus Chapter is a group of students concerned about issues of injustice who desire to work together as advocates for the oppressed in a world of suffering. They partner with IJM in 3 ways:
1. Raising their voices on behalf of victims of injustice through prayer and advocacy.
2. Raising awareness on their campus and in their community of the reality of oppression in our world.
3. Raising support to enable IJM to rescue more victims of oppression.
International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems. IJM's justice professionals work in their communities in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to secure tangible and sustainable protection of national laws through local court systems.
An IJM Campus Chapter is a group of students concerned about issues of injustice who desire to work together as advocates for the oppressed in a world of suffering. They partner with IJM in 3 ways:
1. Raising their voices on behalf of victims of injustice through prayer and advocacy.
2. Raising awareness on their campus and in their community of the reality of oppression in our world.
3. Raising support to enable IJM to rescue more victims of oppression.
Our Response
International Justice Mission’s first priority in its anti-trafficking casework is to secure the protection of the law for trafficked women and children forced into commercial sexual activity. IJM investigators spend hundreds of hours gathering and documenting undercover evidence of trafficking and sexual exploitation. Using this evidence, IJM staff members then work with local authorities to remove victims from forced prostitution and ensure that they have access to aftercare services to meet their vital needs. IJM lawyers work to secure the conviction and sentencing of traffickers and other perpetrators in an effort to deter future crimes. Sex trafficking will endure as long as it remains a profitable criminal enterprise. By freeing victims and prosecuting their perpetrators, IJM operations increase the risk and decrease the profitability of trafficking. IJM works to combat sex trafficking in India, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines. In the 10 years since the organization’s founding, IJM investigations have resulted in freedom for hundreds of girls and women held by force in the commercial sex trade.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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3 comments:
Well put, Donnie. You have made some well-thought out points about advertising, especially the one about Axe body spray. That stuff doesn't even smell great in my opinion, but I have still been allured to it nonetheless.
Also, I had no idea about that Abercrombie & Fitch poster; that is really repulsive. I must resist the temptation to be desensitized by this sex-crazed culture. We must care about pursuing holiness, no matter if it's the popular choice, even right here at Seminary.
Donnie, thank you for your hard work and for a great blogpost.
I am an adulterer. I say this because Jesus says this.
"...anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
I hate that I am a product of sex marketing. I will say that again. I HATE that sex has become the most powerful and alluring commodity for sale in our modern market.
What breaks my heart the most is my unintentional desensitization to sex. There are images that I do not even think twice about when I see them in a magazine or on a billboard that are, in fact, pornography.
And yet it stokes the coals of my lustful heart and it calls to the forefront of my cognition the myriad of meat marketing graphics that make me want to gouge out my right eye and cut off my right hand because they cause me to stumble.
Or worse still, I don't even stumble because I have seen it all before and I will see if all again a mile up the road or a page turn away. Pop-up ads pollute my perspective.
And when the time comes for me to be wed to a woman she will be nothing like the false photos I have seen growing up; woman who don’t exist anywhere but in Photoshop. There will be no wonder left for my wife. There will be no delight in discovery unlike what I read in the Song of Solomon. Or at least this is what I fear.
Lord, save me from this sin. Save us from the mass production of careless carnality. Save me from the marketers, but Lord, save me from myself.
Be careful, little eyes, what you see…
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