"Driving Rain" Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: "Driving Rain" Keywords: "exploit” “self-respect" “victims" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Proverbs 28:3* A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops. Reader response In a sentence or two, paraphrase Proverbs 28:3.     Practical help Countless Scriptures, including Proverbs 28:3, attest to God's contempt for oppressors and compassion for their victims. Which puts porn viewers on the horns of an ironic dilemma. And as we will see in a minute, makes them eligible for Good News. First, the dilemma. On the one hand, porn viewers are oppressors: They exploit the flesh of porn actors, no matter the damage to the actors' physical and spiritual wellbeing as they pose for the porn. On the other hand, porn viewers are also victims: The porn industry exploits their weaknesses and cravings, regardless of physical and spiritual consequences to them. Thus, in the world of porn, victims help exploit each other. In the words of Proverbs 28:3, porn viewers and actors alike are "like a driving rain" that erodes each other's peace, confidence and any other crop of self-respect. No wonder many porn viewers feel deserving of scorn and sympathy at the same time. The reciprocating victimizer-victim roles leaves them feeling alternately guilty, raped and stuck. Now for the Good News. It is for people caught in these tough spots, these hopeless jams, that Christ died on the cross. Nothing else can atone for the complicated mix of sins found in porn. Your part? Believe that Christ's death has cleansed you of all sin and shame. (Click here for information on how to become a Christian). Believe that the power that cleansed you will also eventually break your porn habits. Hang in there. If you fall off the wagon and revisit porn sites, admit it. Continue to trust in Christ's power to cleanse you and, in due time, break the porn habit. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 1999, 2004 by eXXit *Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version, © copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.