***Porn*** (pt 3)

[This post contains explicit descriptions and is not suitable for all audiences]

The Supernatural Perspective 

So, we have looked at the natural perspective but what does the supernatural or Biblical perspective have to say? The Bible has been saying what we just saw—that porn is bad—for over a millennia. But let’s look at a few specifics.

The Bible and Porn (porneia)

Pornography degrades and derogates the good design of sex and can also ruin relationships. We are wired for intimacy but pornography hijacks the brain[i] and leads to malfunction of God’s intended design. So, with that in mind, let’s look at a few Bible verses that speak to the issue of porn.

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral [Greek πόρνος transliterated as pornos] and adulterous” (Heb. 13:4).

“Sexual immorality [Greek πορνεία transliterated as porneia] and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you” (Eph. 5:3).

“Flee from sexual immorality [πορνεία]. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18).

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral [πόρνος]” (1 Cor. 6:9).

See also Ex. 20:17; Prov. 5:15-23; 6:25; Ezek. 23:14-17; Matt. 5:27-30; 15:19; Jn. 8:41; Acts 15:20; 1 Cor. 6:18; 7:2, 9; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 5:3; 1 Thess. 4:3.

It seems if we heed Scripture, we would be saved not only from the seven problems listed above that porn brings but also from other grave consequences of porn. When we understand how porn affects the world around us (objectification, violence, human trafficking, etc.) it should make more sense to us why God takes sexual immorality so seriously. There seems to actually be sexual immorality. What we do, even very privately behind closed doors, matters deeply and has consequences far beyond those closed doors.

God hates porn because people are unbelievably precious. Yet, porn makes them into mere objects. God hates porn because God loves people. God hates porn because it destroys His good and beautiful design for sex. God created sex to be enjoyed in loving relationship. Porn is a petrified and hollow shell of the good that God designed for sex. It is hollow and thus won’t ultimately fulfill.

“The biblical emphasis on moral purity is not a devious plan to eliminate enjoyment from a Christian’s life; rather, it is God’s infinitely wise foundation for our collective and individual well-being and happiness, as well as long-lasting family relationships.”[ii]

God hates porn not because he doesn’t want us to enjoy ourselves. Nope. Actually, he hates porn because He does want us to enjoy ourselves. God wants us to be profoundly joyful. The problem that God has with our desires, as C.S. Lewis said, is that they are too weak. They are too weak and wrongly directed.

Friends, God is good in hating porn. He hates the cancer that destroys. He wants life and joy and pleasure for us.

People Made in God’s Image and Porn

The Bible teaches us that people are unbelievably valuable to God.[iii] In fact, God loves the world so much that He gave His Son Jesus Christ to take the filth and sin of the world upon Himself (Jn. 3:16). God did this so that whoever trusts in Jesus would not die in their sin as they deserve but have abundant and eternal life through Jesus.

The Bible says that all people, though broken and sinful, have worth because God loves them and has made them in His own image. This means that it is not right for people to be objectified and treated like mere objects. Jesus was crushed on the cross for people, they are precious.

Porn says people have worth—for a short time while they are being used to fulfill demands—if they are beautiful. God says people have worth, at all times, no matter what and no matter who they are, what they look like, or what they have done. Porn says give to me and then I’ll discard you. God says I’ll give you myself even when you discard me, and I’ll love you even when you don’t love me.

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[i] See Struthers, Wired for Intimacy.

[ii] https://www.nae.net/theology-of-sex/.

[iii] “The creational appeal for commitment and love in human sexuality can be ignored only by actively turning a deaf ear to it—but that appeal will never be silent. Man’s inhumanity to man always involves a more or less conscious ignoring of his humanity” (Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained, 62-63).