Have you ever noticed that although our culture glorifies anonymous sex, casual sex, and sex without commitment we still believe sex is a really big deal. It is primarily on the college campus that people promote the lie that sex is not a big deal, but even on the campus it seems that we cannot escape the truth. Having sex, our sexuality, and not having sex is always a big deal to us. [...]

In 1966 Time Magazine published this cover for all the world to see. The boldness of the lettering set against a black background remarkably parallels the intent of the author of those three little words, Friedrich Nietzsche. I want to explain what he meant by that infamous statement and, more importantly, explain how pluralism has proven him to be correct.

His statement is very easy to understand in broad strokes, so please don’t be turned back from this post because you think Nietzsche to be too smart or inscrutable for you to comprehend. I assure you, in this post, the most arduous task set before either you, as the reader, or myself, as the writer, will be for me to spell his name correctly (or at least consistently). Knowing this man and his philosophy will give you a deeper understanding of the world around you.

So let’s start by getting to know Nietzsche.

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A few days ago, Steve Jobs reminded me why he is so cool.  A man of his stature, who has rigorously defined and interpreted cool over the last 5 years, has now become the brunt of Hollywood gossip mags and moralistic word bombs.  Jobs, the CEO and visionary of Apple, has made it a priority to deny any form of pornography in his App Store.  Because of this, some are claiming that Jobs is imposing his own morals atop his multi-billion dollar company and taking away the ‘freedom’ of American consumers.  

In a series of emails between Jobs and Ryan Tate, a writer for a gossip magazine not worth mentioning, Jobs remained stern in respect to his convictions that not making porn available in his App Store would actually increase revenue among the American people.  The conversation went like this,

“If Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company?,” Tate asked. “Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with ‘revolution?’ Revolutions are about freedom.”

The CEO of Apple replied to say that he values:

‘Freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’ and some traditional PC folks feel their world is slipping away. It is.’

According to Al Mohler, “One of the interesting dimensions of Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple is his habit of answering selected emails personally. It appears that Ryan Tate’s complaint got under Jobs’ skin. It is even more apparent that Jobs’ response irritated Ryan Tate.”   

“I don’t want ‘freedom from porn,’” says Tate. “Porn is just fine! And I think my wife would agree.”

In the most compelling line of this exchange, Steve Jobs dismissed the critic thus:

“You might care more about porn when you have kids.”

Interestingly, Jobs’ out-take on the priority of parents is Dylan-esque in cultural commentary.  Parents should care about what their children are downloading and watching, and most parents do care.  Jobs understands this and knows that Apple will sell more Apps when parents are at ease with what their kids might be downloading.  For Christian parents, knowing that their children are safe from the dangers of porn, at least while in Jobs’ App Store, is something Christian parents can and should be excited about.  

The answer that surged from Jobs concerning a consumer’s freedom to download porn apps from his App Store is savvily summarized by his ever-impeccable statement, “buy a different type of computer.”

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Further articles I have found helpful and interesting:

• Steve Jobs In the Garden Of Good and Evil
• Albert Mohler: Pornography — The Difference Being a Parent Makes

In a culture where sex is flaunted and success and money are the primary means for which people live their lives, it is only plausible that marriage would be placed on the back burner until later on in life.

Opposing worldviews give us more than substantial reason and provide more than a solid foundation for why 2 people disagree.  With multiple languages, ethnicities, cultures, philosophies, and religions alive in the world today, there are multiple frameworks, sometimes countless frameworks, in which people might approach truth issues.  But for Christians the Bible is the source of truth.  The Bible’s claim that its story is ‘the’ story is the foundational approach that Christians should take in all the decisions they make. 

Even about marriage.  Even about sex.  Even about being a husband, father, and leader.  Even about being a wife, mother, and nurturer.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 

• The median age at first intercourse is 16.9 years for boys and 17.4 years for girls.
• Over half of males (55%) and females (54%) ages 15 to 19 report having had oral sex with someone of the opposite sex.  Approximately one in 10 (11%) males and females ages 15 to 19 had engaged in anal sex with someone of the opposite sex; 3% of males ages 15 to 19 have had anal sex with a male.
• The percentage of high school students who report having had four or more sexual partners declined in recent years from 18% in 1995 to 14% in 2005. Males (17%) are more likely than females (12%) to report having had four or more sexual partners.
• Among those ages 20 to 24, males have a higher average number of partners (3.8) than females (2.8). Men in this age group are also more likely (30%) than women (21%) to report having had seven or more sexual partners.
• Approximately nine out of 10 men (89%) and women (92%) ages 22 to 24 have had sexual intercourse. 

• The average age of first marriage has risen by over a year for both men and women since 1990, reaching 26 for women and 27 for men in 2003, suggesting that many young people have sex before they are married.

In letting the statistics above speak for themselves, I am a strong advocate for young men and women dating intentionally for short periods of time and getting married early rather than later in life.

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In all my conversations with men about porn and lust, I have never met anyone unaffected by this sin. I’d like to share a quote I read once; and while it is an extreme, I feel is telling of the day in which we live, “Email is for classwork, Facebook is for stalking, MySpace is for stalking those who aren’t legal, and everything else on the internet is porn.”

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