50 Shades mentality and the decline of Western Civilisation Part II

A few years ago, I made a post called “50 Shades of Grey mentality and the decline of Western Civilisation.  I felt (and indeed, still feel) that it was an utmost appropriate title.  In it, I called for Christians to fast and pray.  Whilst the movie was a financial success (largely based on the popularity of the book, I’m sure), it was a critical failure.  Phrases such as the “Worst movie ever made” were not uncommon to it.  Now, I made the comment about it coming out on 13 February which on that year, happened to be on a Friday.  Generally, in the United States, those of a more superstitious lot believe Friday the 13th to be unlucky, and I made a comment about that.  I also pointed out how the novel made light of abuse and turned said abuse into romance.  Well, the time has come again.  Come 10 February 2017, I am calling on all Christians, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Church of the East or otherwise, to fast and pray.  As Matt Fradd once said “Fasting without prayer…is dieting”.  We must reject ourselves if we want to rid ourselves of this pornographic blight on our culture.  We, as Christians, we know the answer, and we know that in the end, Christ himself, the light of the world, is the answer.  We know, the battle has already been won on the cross.  We know we have been sanctified by his blood. (1 Corinthians 6:11)  But not everyone knows this (John 10:16).  We need to drive the demons out of ourselves and out of our culture.  (Mark 9:29)
The problem, at least in America and Europe, is we are gluttons.  We love food, and we want it fast, especially in America.  In parts of Europe, characters talk about buying condoms on children’s show and there’s not anything wrong with it, according to many of the parents of said children.  In America, some of the public elementary (primary) schools give out condoms, and we’re not supposed to think about it.
What is the root of this?  Gluttony is not always about food.  There is such a thing as sexual gluttony.  I can attest, that when I was sexually active, I as not interested in doing the things that were for procreation, I was more worried about gratification.  I was a glutton for sex, and not natural sex either.  My girlfriend put up with it because I told her that I loved her.  Even if I did love her, that’s not how you show love.  I had a university class where Obamacare was part of the discussion (and to be sure, it has its pros and cons), and a girl there, she was talking about how it was great how she didn’t have to pay for her birth control pills anymore.
How did we get to this point?  How did we get to this spiritual sloth?  I was raised in a family that only occasionally went to church, but I was still taught basic morals.  There were some things I was never taught.  I wasn’t told it was a sin to (and here it gets graphic) to masturbate or watch pornography.  I was never told sex is for procreation (oddly, my 13 and 14 year old sisters DO know this because of how lax my mother was with teaching us morals).  I think there’s a deeper problem.  I think the spiritual sloth is caused by people never wanting to admit we’re wrong.
In America, at least, we want everything in excess.  We want all the cable channels, we want to be able to watch abusive pornography and claim it is covered by free speech, we have to own the most cars, we have the highest paying jobs.  Having “just enough” isn’t enough for us.  When I was a lad, I was very poor, but I was happy.  I have a smart phone, a few computers, a beat-up car, and a myriad of books, some of which I’ll never read.  There is nothing wrong with these things in and of themselves.  But do you really NEED a $600 US smartphone that is just going to be obsolete next year anyway?  Do you really need a $1,000 US Laptop when you have a wife and two kids to feed?
Let’s get back to the matter at hand.  The reason we accept this 50 Shades of Grey mentality has less to do with it being a “romance” and more with it being gluttony.  I still have issues with pornography.  I still have flashbacks about the way I treated my ex girlfriend (and to be fair, neither of us were innocent, but I will go ahead and take most of the blame).  I think it’s high-time we started treated our fellow human beings like people, not like objects.  They (including the pornographers) (Genesis 1:27) are made in the image and likeness of God.  Fast for them, pray for them, especially on 10 February 2017.