By Fred Chukwuelobe
I attended Mass a few Sundays ago and I listened as the officiating priest spoke so eloquently about the twin-evils of pornography and masturbation. He spent the greater part of his homily dwelling on the topic, a sexual behavior that has become pervasive in the society.
Many people are exposed to pornography daily and those who ‘cannot hold body’ after watching porn, engage in masturbation to ‘ease off tension.’
The priest made valid points during his homily and pricked the hearts of many who indulge in these two acts, which he noted, had become prevalent of late and in turn defeats God’s purpose for creating sex.
I listened and as usual made my assessments of his homily, especially as to the reasons for the prevalence and the responsibilities available to the church and the family in curtailing the evils.
He continued with the topic in his closing remarks before he gave his final blessings. This got me worried.
I think he dwelt too much on the issue that at a point I felt he over flogged it. He made his point during the homily and to have continued to talk about it afterwards worried me.
Yes, it worried me because I considered it an overkill and I felt that he was drawing too much attention to the issues that our young children may want to find out what he was talking about. Forgive me, but I felt the emphasis was more like publicity than condemnation. He dwelt so much on the issues that I feared that rather than take people off them, especially those who may not have been engaging in them, the manner of his approach may draw people into thinking about them and experimenting them. But the priest had to do his job and it is for those who engage in them to turn away and repent.
However, my worry is not only on the sexual perversion and the consequences to both our spirituality and morality. My worry is that pornography is everywhere you turn to these days. It confronts us daily as much as we try to avoid it, and that leads some to try their legs on masturbation.
How do I mean?
The coming of the internet and its offshoots like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc., has placed sexual literature in the hands of everybody. Everywhere you turn, somebody is fixated on social media, watching whatever fancies him. Do not kid yourselves, you are forced to watch pornography unintentionally, unless you think pornography is only the sexual films out there.
Daily, skit producers are bombarding us with comedy skits many of which contents are sexually explicit. The worse is that as they practice these sexual acts, they shout “Jesus, Jesus. Oh, my God!” They use God’s name in vain.
Our ladies with large bosom now find it lucrative and attractive to display it on such comedy skits. They flaunt their backsides in a manner of “do you like what you see? Do you see the packaging?”
It reminds me of Kris Okotie’s hit single in the 80s titled, “Show me your back side.” Our ladies now show us their backsides with reckless abandon.
Sexual topics sell like hotcakes. Those of us who write on social contents that are meant to draw attention to things that ail our society, to draw back society to the paths of righteousness don’t get as many attention and followership as these content creators who sell sex.
I recall a study done in the UK on the large circulation of the SUN newspapers of London. The newspapers was selling fast and the circulation huge. But nobody was seen holding it. As the study found out, because the newspaper had many sexual contents and naked women on its page three, many people buy it, hide it in their bags, and read it in privacy. This was responsible for the wide circulation, the study found out.
Today, if you write on issues of the economy, politics, morality, you don’t get many reading. But post sexual topics and sit back and watch as thousands watch and ‘enjoy’ doing so. Who are these thousands? The worst culprit being the millennials.
This generation of internet lovers have more access to sexual contents and that largely contribute to sexual immorality prevalent in our society these days. They make a lot of money creating them and sharing them. We aid them by watching and commenting. In the absence of paid employment, do you really blame them? Do you rather they engage in ‘yahoo yahoo?’
Unfortunately, the family has not helped matters either because we are preoccupied with ‘making ends meet’ or we care less. Many parents allow their children, in the name of loving them, to carry smart phones with which they access these sexual contents. Many do not monitor what their children are exposed to. On the streets, we see nakedness in the name of fashion. I once had the temerity of advising a mother whose child came to church scantily dressed. She told me that it was none of my business.
Also, the recent “Fiducia Supplicans,” which the Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, approved for priests to “bless people in same-sex relationships without blessing their union” should also be seen to contribute to sexual immorality in our society. Yes, I say so without equivocation.
Like the priest said during his homily that Sunday, God purposely created the “sexual factory” for procreation and bonding between husband and wife. By the Pope being lenient with the LGBTQ+ community, don’t we think that God’s purpose for procreation has been tampered with? These characters who insist on same-sex relationships and who engage in queer behaviours do not see that God’s created factory as a means to sustain population growth as God commanded man after creation in Genesis 1:28, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Because they have conquered the basic needs of life, these oyibo people are no longer drawn to God as we do in the third world. So, they innovate and explore.
So, as we ruminate over the homily of the priest, let’s pay more attention to the issues that give rise to watching pornography and masturbation that follows.
Let’s return to the family from where the topic can be effectively discussed and our young ones brought up in a manner that will make them see these twin issues as evils that are abhorrent, ungodly and sinful.
I think the family is the first bastion to begin with and then the church can help by serving as the moral compass, which is its primary function.
There’s too much sex out there. Our womenfolk are going naked. They find it fashionable displaying their cleavages and regaling in their sexuality. The men run after them. Our economic challenges expose our girls to run after sugar daddies as side chicks. Many engage in ‘hook-ups,’ and some parents are fed by their children who make money ‘hooking-up.’
The nakedness out there is an inundation. It is nauseating as much as it is offensive to those of us who didn’t witness them growing up.
This is the crux of the matter and it should worry every discerning mind who seeks to thread the path of morality and righteousness.