Somewhere along the line, Christianity lost its cry for repentance. Not everywhere, of course, but as our society's morals have become more and more liberal, it has become more and more politically incorrect to tell people they need to repent of their sins.

The U.S. is the center of much of the world’s most powerful mass media, and we as a nation are allowing evil men to fill the airwaves, the movie houses, the news racks and the Internet with obscenity. They are, in essence, attacking innocent people around the world with this evil.

That is one thing that bothers me about the recent terrorist attacks on the U.S. There is that one sobering element of truth in the words the terrorists use to justify their actions. That does not justify the terrorist acts that have been perpetrated. But it makes it more difficult for us to rise up in righteous indignation against them.

It also makes it more difficult to ask God to "crown our good with brotherhood," peace and security.

The idea that obscenity is a victimless crime is absurd. The vast majority of sex criminals who fill our prisons were avid pornography consumers long before they were rapists or murderers. Many have described how pornography gradually took over their every waking moment until it was inadequate to satisfy their consuming lusts.

Obviously not everyone who uses pornography becomes a rapist, but in nations where rigid obscenity laws have been repealed, sex crime statistics have consistently soared.

One Christian filmmaker, Keith Merrill, pointed out recently how much worse things have become over the past decade. He noted that during that period of time, the number of pornographic films produced each year in the U.S. increased from 1,000 to 10,000. Pornographers are now freely filming things that would have landed them in prison just a decade ago.

One pornographer laughed that there was no way the Clinton Administration dared enforce obscenity laws, considering the former President’s own well-publicized weaknesses.

Seven or eight years ago, while I was on the Kennewick (Wash.) City Council, many local citizens united to help close down a topless bar in Downtown Kennewick. We marched back and forth in front of the bar for many weeks before it was finally closed.

We felt we had won a great victory. Little did we realize how our society was about to become saturated with such images over the following few years.

Shortly thereafter we failed to stop White Castle from establishing itself in the Tri-Cities’ main commercial area. Ironically, White Castle may be put out of business soon by the plentiful availability of pornography in our own homes. Cable TV and the Internet make pornography so available, why should anyone even walk around the block to a pornography store?

What did Jesus say, as it relates to pornography? In his greatest sermon in mortality, The Sermon on the Mount, he taught:

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

"And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell" (Matthew 5:27-30).

We excuse our own evil sometimes by seeking security in numbers. We say, "Everyone knows Jesus wasn’t serious when he taught these things. After all, most men and many women would be blind and maim if this code were enforced."

In thus excusing ourselves, however, we fail to understand the point Jesus intended to make.

REPENT! We cannot take these filthy images and ideas with us into the Kingdom of God. We would shrink from God’s presence in spiritual pain.

Jesus was telling us – quite seriously – that it would be better to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand if it would make the difference between heaven and hell. But more to the point, let’s keep our eyes, keep our hands and cut our sins out of our souls.

It will not be easy, if possible, to turn society around morally. Certainly, those who share Christ’s revulsion for such evil should support other like-minded people who run for office.

Certainly, we must do all we can to remove such evil from our own homes … and from our own hearts and minds. But beyond that, Christians must not be afraid to cry repentance. The greatest battles in the universe are fought within the souls of mankind, and there is no way those battles can be won except one person at a time – starting with ourselves.