Porn is an Idol
Pornography encourages a person to elevate self. It’s the opposite of being in a healthy relationship. Who would want to be in a relationship where:
- one person gets to focus exclusively on what is attractive defined by me
- what is physically satisfying in a relationship defined by me
- what is happiness defined by me
- what is acceptable defined by me
Pornography is the worship of the false god of sensuality.
Porn is harmful to those we love
In 1 Corinthians 13 the Bible is pretty clear about what love is: patient, kind, not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, does not seek its own. I could go on, but clearly porn does not encourage patience toward someone you love, but immediate and self-gratification. It’s not kind to be lusting after another person reducing them to an object, in fact it is adultery (see Matthew 5:27-28). Acting unbecomingly, your position as a man or woman of God is not exemplified engaging in porn. Does not seek its own, that’s all porn is about- you, you, and you, even at the cost of hurting, humiliating, and destroying a relationship.
Porn misuses the gift of sexual intimacy
Sex is a beautiful gift created by God. Mark 10:18 says, “and the two shall become one flesh.” Notice it doesn’t say three become one flesh. But when you invite porn into marriage you are desecrating what God made to be holy. Sex isn’t just about a physical release or euphoria, it was created as a bond that husband and wife share that no one else will experience outside of the marriage. When it is simplified to a mere physical function, the act of intercourse itself becomes the focus, not the commitment and love relationship expressed by the couple. Porn elevates sex to an unrealistic level that is never satiated. It changes what excites a person, and debases physical intimacy as God intended. Satisfaction should be based upon the spiritual and emotional health of the relationship, not the intensity of a sterile and unproductive hormonal response to stimuli.
Porn destroys our relationship with God
“… but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear (Isaiah 59:1-2). Pornography gets in the way of a believer and his God. Christians filled with the Holy Spirit of God will feel shame after watching porn. This shame will hinder our relationship with God causing us to become more and more isolated and lonely. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, those continuing in pornography are acting no differently as those who don’t know God, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel (body) in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;” As God’s children, we have an escape from the lust that traps and keeps us away from our God and his best for our lives.
Porn nurtures an addiction
Don’t be fooled, pornography is an addiction. It demands more enticing images and is never permanently satisfied, but only delivers greater levels of frustration. Porn becomes the most important thing in an addict’s life, the same as alcohol and drugs. And just like any other addiction, it must be eradicated from our lives, and replaced with something else. For a believer, that means pursuing God, and chasing a relationship with Him as Galatians 5:16 says, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Being led by the Spirit has to be the focus. In Psalms 42:1 we read, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.” This has to be the new source of our dopamine hit.
Porn destroys us
It is the sin spoken about in 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.” Porn harms not just your family, and your relationship with God, but your own flesh.” In 2016, TIME magazine ran a cover story entitled, “Why Young Men Who Grew Up with Internet Porn Are Becoming Advocates for Turning It Off.” The article shared the stories of several twentysomethings suffering from Porn Induced Erectile Dysfunction (PIED). “They all expressed the shock of discovering that porn usage has hampered their ability to have sex with a physical partner. The article reported that before internet porn, only five percent of men under forty had erectile dysfunction. Today, 33 percent of men under forty report some degree of ED,” the article states.
Porn makes us a slave
Porn makes a person a slave to lust. As Jesus said in the book of John, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” But Jesus didn’t stop there, he offered a way out, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” There is hope for the believer who desires to cast aside “every weight, and sin which clings so closely” (see Hebrews 12:1) and walk in newness of life. It might be a matter of reaching out for help and deciding it’s time to be free again.
PT/LT
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