Christian Rapper Trip Lee on Porn: Shocking If Young Christian Man Doesn't Struggle With Porn
Reach Records rapper and pastor Trip Lee discussed pornography in a recent interview and said that he'd be surprised to meet a young Christian man who hasn't had to struggle with it because of how easy it is to access in today's technology-driven world.
While speaking with the Desiring God ministry, Trip Lee addressed the effects of porn on today's Christian men.
"It's come to the point where if I talk to a young man about his life, whether it's somebody my age or a little bit younger, I'm not at all surprised to hear that there's some kind of struggle with porn. And I would be shocked if I met a young man who hasn't had a struggle with it at some point because it's so easily accessible," said Lee in a video posted on the Desiring God site on June 30.
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The rapper explained that Christians who struggle with pornography but look to honor Jesus are often in "deep despair" over it due to the nature of the sin.
"It's a unique sin. Because at this point you don't have to go anywhere to indulge in it. You don't have to make a long series of bad decisions to fall into it. There's often this kind of despair feeling they're imprisoned by their sin," said Lee.
Lee said the struggle with porn is a constant battle for Christian men since it can be accessed so easily from the smartphone in their pocket. He also offered young men who struggle with this sin some encouraging words.
"One of the first things I want to do is remind them of the gracious Gospel of Jesus. [They] could have looked at porn every day for the last five hundred days and Jesus has not run out of grace. That same cross that you heard about the first time is the same cross than can forgive you now," said Lee.
Lee said he'd also stress the seriousness of that sin to a person struggling with it and how it not only affects them, but offends God and creates a demand for more of this explicit content to be created.
Bringing the sin out into the open is also necessary in order to deal with it efficiently, according to the rapper.
"If we want to kill that sin we have to expose it. We have to bring other people in and confess that sin very regularly," said Lee.
As a pastor and a rapper, Lee frequently speaks about current issues in both the secular and Christian community, and has penned books about living as a believer including The Good Life and Rise: Get Up and Live in God's Great Story.
Back in March, Trip Lee spoke at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission's Leadership Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, and addressed the topic of pop culture, the violent and sexually explicit content sometimes found in rap music, and how it can reinforce negative stereotypes in the black community.
"Pop culture mirrors culture and I think as a rapper, hip-hop in a lot of ways mirrors the things that are happening in urban neighborhoods," said Lee. "This is what rappers say all the time to defend the misogyny, glorifying drug dealing and gangster life in their music. [They say,] I'm just telling stories about what's happening in my neighborhood."
Lee went on to explain that hip-hop music sometimes glorifies promiscuity and criminal activity, and instead of simply talking about it, rappers encourage their listeners to continue in it. This can sometimes reinforce negative stereotypes for the black community, according to Lee.
"If you look at pop culture as the main picture you see of black men, all these kind of threatening pictures and I think those of us who are artists and who are in media have to think carefully about what those pictures are. And so there are realities that are mirrored, but there's also the case that its reinforced and glorified and furthered through the way that people approach their art," said Lee.
