Pornography
“Recent studies indicate:
- 66%of Internet-using 18 to 34 year old men look at online pornography at least once a month.
- Over 40%of women are involved in online pornography.
- The largest consumers of Internet pornography are 12 to 17 year-olds.
- 12% of all Internet sites, or more than 6 million sites, are dedicated to pornography.
- 5 billion emails per day are pornographic.
- 25%or 68 million of all search engine requests daily are pornography related.”
“The sheer number and weight of these statistics should impact us with a major negative reality being faced by society and individuals today. This is a tidal wave. “
Here we have Satan’s most effective attack on believers today.
So what? There might be a temptation to say that since so many are into porn, why fight it? What problems will result if you watch it? Pornography can’t be that serious, can it?
Here are some of the dangers of porn:
1. A hardened heart because of violation of
Matthew 5:28.
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“The connection between the heart and eyes is close. Look at the connection between eyes and heart in
Job 31:1, 7, 9.
I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I gaze at a virgin?
If my step has turned aside from the way
and my heart has gone after my eyes,
and if any spot has stuck to my hands,
If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
Job has control of his heart because he controls his eyes. “Losing control of your eyes brings severe danger to the heart.””
2. A low view of women. Porn treats people as mere sex toys. Nothing else. That is a violation of love. Christianity loves people; it doesn’t use people.
3. A definite downward spiritual spiral. One sin leads to another which leads to another….etc. Sin cannot be contained. Watching porn will lead to many other sins. Pornography is bad in itself, but the FACT is it opens the door to dreadfully more serious sins – child abuse or rape or other perverted things that will make you shudder. Many people caught in horrible crimes will share that their spiritual slide started with pornography.
4. A troubled marriage. Married people have no right to sex secrets since their bodies belong to their spouse. What huge insult it is to a married person to learn their spouse looks at porn. In many cases porn leads to divorce.
5. Possible strong reaction by the offended spouse. While this is not the norm there are periodic news reports of one spouse harming or even killing the other because of porn.
6. The shame of porn addiction being uncovered and publicized. Imagine the embarrassment to reputation, family and children.
7. Mind pollution. God gave us minds to use for great purposes. Porn is pollution. Why deaden your mind with porn? “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
8. Disqualification from church leadership. Any porn addicted leader must be removed from his position immediately.
1 Timothy 3:2
Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable,
Pornography violates these standards. The porn addict is not above approach, not a one woman man (the literal translation), not self-controlled, not respectable.
9. Misuse of your own body.
Philippians 1:20
as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death
“Our bodies are given to us so that in the way we use them Christ is exalted in our lives.” Porn robs God of glory.
10. A distorted view of sex. Porn gives the idea that sexual pleasure can be entirely divorced from a healthy relationship.
Would you ask Jesus to sit next to you while you watch porn? What does that tell you?
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
Matthew 5:28
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Let’s look at two key words:
“Whoever” That word includes single people, married people, depressed people, divorced people, young people, old people. “Whoever” includes all people.
“Woman” That includes your next door neighbor, it includes women on the Internet, it includes women in magazines, it includes women in advertisements. “Women” means all women.
Proverbs 5:18,19
Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And always be enraptured with her love.
A man’s focus should be only for his wife. When a wife learns her husband is into porn, she is devastated. “Aren’t I good enough for him?”
1 Corinthians 7:4
The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
What if your wife is out of town? No. It is not an option to watch porn behind your wife’s back. A Christian man’s body belongs to his wife all the time.
Job 31:1
I have made a covenant with my eyes;
Why then should I look upon a young woman?
Job is a man of God. Here we have one reason why. He had self-imposed spiritual standards that excluded lustful gazes on women.
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
God is not anti-sex. He invented it. Notice the balance in this verse with the positive use of sex (inside marriage with your spouse) and the negative use of sex (anything else).
The SONG OF SOLOMON. The theme of this book is romantic love between husband and wife. That’s it! Some people are so shocked by the graphic nature of the book that they try to spiritualize it by saying it is talking about Christ’s love for the church. Guess what? Christ is not mentioned in this book. Church is not mentioned in this book. Since husband and wife are mentioned, why not focus on what is there instead of what is not? Listen to what the book is actually saying, namely that the love of husband and wife is a beautiful thing – as designed and intended by God. The couple finds satisfaction and joy and fulfillment in each other. Their focus is on each other. Their focus is ONLY on each other. No intruders (like porn) welcome.
What action steps should you take to fight porn?
1. Become a Christ follower. You are a sinner (like everyone else). Christ died for your sins – all of them. He is your substitute when He died on that cross. When you bow your heart before Him and put your faith and trust in Him to forgive your sins, the Holy Spirit will come into your life to launch you down the “Jesus path” through life.
2. Do not let your struggle with pornography lead to self-hatred, self-loathing. Satan would love that. Don’t go that route. Rather see that – assuming you have received Jesus as your Savior – you are a child of God with a cancer in your life that needs to be eliminated. You are a child of God with a battle to be fought. You are not the first person on planet earth with this issue; you will not be the last. You haven’t cut yourself off from your relationship with God. You are still in His family.
3. Realize that you have an enemy.
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
There is a real devil, he is hungry, and you look mighty tasty. We are talking vicious battle. Keep in mind the longer you’ve been into porn possibly the longer it will take to thoroughly repent of it. Don’t get discouraged.
(Since porn is so common and so dangerous, be aggressive in raising the issue when you are with people of your own sex. Be proactive with your children. Teach them early and often about it)
4. Give pornography the name it deserves. It is more than a mistake or poor judgment or a waste of time. It is sin.
And how do Christians respond to sin in their lives?
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
5. Let’s face it. Sometimes we find some sins really attractive, appealing, and pleasurable. Porn might be in that category for you. In that case ask God to give you a hatred of it. You know that is a prayer He will answer.
6. Use your resources. If you have received Jesus as your Savior you have His Spirit, His Book, His promises, His guidance, prayer, and the intercession of others to go through your porn battle together. These resources are gifts from God for us to use. Use them.
Some verses you might meditate on during your battle:
1 Corinthians 6:11
And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
The Corinthian church had people whose pasts included all sorts of sin. But they had sincerely trusted Christ, grown in the Lord, and had turned from sin – just like you will as you trust Him during your porn battle.
Luke 1:37
Nothing is impossible with God.
And “nothing” includes your struggle with porn.
7. Strong action needed
Matthew 5:29
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
This is not a call for self-mutilation. This is a call for strong decisive action to get anything out of your life that tugs you towards sin.
Burn bad magazines (so no one else can see them).
Put your computer in the kitchen where everyone can see what you are looking at.
Exchange your smart phone for a flip phone if you can’t keep porn from coming to the smart phone. (Yes, some people might laugh at you for having an old fashioned flip phone, but getting porn out of your life should matter more than the teasing of man.)
Got friends who drag you down? Push them away.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits”..
Bottom line: be ruthless in cutting off your avenue to porn. Too much is at stake for you to have a weak response. This is a battle you must win. Drastic action required.
8. Don’t fight your battle alone. “Fellowship” means shared life or common life. Ask God to give you a prayer buddy or big spiritual brother to encourage you, pray for you, hold you accountable. James 5:16
9. Step down from church leadership until pornography is out of your life. Most churches today see pornography as disqualifying a person from leadership. All should.
1 Timothy 3:2 quoted above
(On a regular basis many wise churches will privately ask each leader how he is doing with porn. If it is a problem, the person can quietly step down from leadership, be prayed for, encouraged, and counseled until porn is out of the person’s life. Then leadership can be resumed.)
10. Delay marriage until pornography is not a problem.
Getting married – by itself – will not end a porn problem. Your spouse does not want to and shouldn’t have to share you with porn.
11. The best defense is a good offense. We’ve got to do more than say “no, no, no” to sin. We’ve got to fill that porn time slot in our lives with something wholesome. Otherwise we’ve got a void which some sin will likely fill.
Concluding thoughts:
You were made to glorify God. Isaiah 43:6, 7 Pornography will not help you do that. God didn’t make you so you could indulge in porn.
You are called to love others. Porn is using others.
“A life blessed by God is to be sought more than anything else.” Porn is a blessing robber. Run from it!
“Purity is always right. Impurity is always stupid and self-destructive.” Choose wisely.