An interesting article in Newsweek this week talks about the struggle that many pastors have against pornography.

Some 40 percent of clergy have acknowledged visiting sexually explicit Web sites, according to a 2000 survey conducted by Christianity Today and Leadership magazines. The results surprised some pastors, says Eric Reed, the managing editor of Leadership, a magazine aimed at Protestant clergy. “They said, ‘Wow, I’m surprised the numbers are so low’.”

The article doesn’t look at the issue in great depth but it is a reminder that no matter who we are, we are never too far away from our sinful nature.

Pornography is degrading at every level and has the potential to rob us of so much in our lives.

I’m grateful that I’m part of a small group of guys who can talk openly about the kind of temptations that are around every corner. I guess that many pastors and others in Christian leadership are struggling silently because they’ve failed to make themselves accountable to others. We need to give others the license to ask us the tough questions, not just about porn but about every area of our lives including our walk with Jesus.

There have been a few questions about the portrayal of Satan and the ugly baby in Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ.

This article from Christianity Today is very helpful in getting into Mel’s mind as to why he did things the way he did.

When asked why he portrayed Satan – an androgynous, almost beautiful being played by Rosalinda Celentano – the way he did, Gibson replied: “I believe the Devil is real, but I don’t believe he shows up too often with horns and smoke and a forked tail. The devil is smarter than that. Evil is alluring, attractive. It looks almost normal, almost good – but not quite.

“That’s what I tried to do with the Devil in the film. The actor’s face is symmetric, beautiful in a certain sense, but not completely. For example, we shaved her eyebrows. Then we shot her almost in slow motion so you don’t see her blink -that’s not normal. We dubbed in a man’s voice in Gethsemane even though the actor is a woman … That’s what evil is about, taking something that’s good and twisting it a little bit.”

But what about the ugly baby?

“Again,” said Gibson, “it’s evil distorting what’s good. What is more tender and beautiful than a mother and a child? So the Devil takes that and distorts it just a little bit. Instead of a normal mother and child you have an androgynous figure holding a 40 – year-old ‘baby’ with hair on his back. It is weird, it is shocking, it’s almost too much – just like turning Jesus over to continue scourging him on his chest is shocking and almost too much, which is the exact moment when this appearance of the Devil and the baby takes place.”