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What the Bible says about Pornography
(From Forerunner Commentary)

The origin of the word "pornography"reveals a great deal about its influence through the ages. It derives from the Greek word pornographos and simply means "the writing of prostitutes." Originally, it described prostitutes and their trade, but later came to refer to writings and pictures intended to arouse sexual desire.

Lewdness is bitter and poisonous but enticing to those who are deceived by lusts (Ephesians 4:18-22). Nudity is a powerful enticement, as the sin of David and Bathsheba shows (II Samuel 11:2-5). Adultery and fornication are born of lust and thrive on desire. The apostle James clearly expresses this process of entrapment:

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fullgrown, brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)

Jesus also reveals that sexual perversions grow out of lust:

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, . . . covetousness, wickedness, . . . licentiousness. . . . All these evil things come from within and defile a man. (Mark 7:21-23)

Pornography draws to the surface the desires simmering within. In a decadent society, those lusts bear the fruit of horrible sexual crimes: adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, rape, child molestation, and incest.

Pornography degrades that which God created in His image (Genesis 1:27). It brings man, created a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5), down to the level of animals (Jude 10). Lewdness is an affront to God; all that pornography glorifies and promotes is in direct and open violation of God's law. These are emphatically stated in Scripture: adultery (Exodus 20:14; Proverbs 6:32), carnal desire (Ephesians 4:17-22; Matthew 5:28), bestiality (Deuteronomy 27:21; Leviticus 18:23), incest (Leviticus 18:6-9; 20:11-14), rape (Deuteronomy 22:25-27), sodomy (Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:26, 27), child molestation (Matthew 18:10).

Martin G. Collins
The Writing of Prostitutes

Related Topics: Homosexuality | Pornography


 

Pornography is an intricate part of false religion which sets up man as the object of worship. The pagan religions of the ancients had their obelisks (phallic symbols), temple prostitutes, and fertility rights. In the end, this is just a form of humanism, the worship of the human body and mind. "Humanism," according to a former president of the American Humanist Association, "is a polite term for atheism." Simply put, humanism is man trying to be God.

Today, humanism, a fixture in our public schools and government, is the fundamental principle of our civilization. It is this idea that changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. . . .

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. . . . And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. (Romans 1:23-24, 28)

Today's pornography—whether photographs, videos, statuary, paintings, erotic literature, or "performance art,"—is nothing more than a modern adaptation of age-old idolatry. It is, plain and simple, the adoration of the human form accompanied by the sinful practices it is bound to generate. Soon the bell will toll in righteous judgment for those who engage in pornography, for Paul writes, "Those who practice such things are worthy of death" (verse 32).

Martin G. Collins
The Writing of Prostitutes

Related Topics: Humanism | Pornography


 

Ecclesiastes 7:26

From his own life, Solomon vividly provides an example of temptation that requires wisdom to face and overcome. He describes a woman whose heart is “snares and nets and whose hands are fetters.” It seems he writes of this woman in Proverbs 7:1-27.

Jesus testifies, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). In this case, the temptress' very heart is snares and nets, which she uses with consummate skill to accomplish her purpose. Notice her flattering secrecy. It is as though she is letting him in on something nobody else has access to. She makes it seem as if she deliberately sought him to the exclusion of all others. She puts her all into the part, an actress playing in a dangerous drama. She continues to use alluring salesmanship, emphasizing enjoyment and safety, since her husband would be away for a long time. This fellow is trapped from the beginning, as it seems he deliberately took the path right past the place where she frequently plied her trade.

What principles are at play in this illustration to provide wisdom in facing temptations beyond the use of a prostitute? The temptress stands as a type of the enticement of any unlawful desire burning in the mind as that desire seeks fulfillment. Notice how many tricks the prostitute employs to play on her customer's desire.

In another situation, that desire might be for drugs. Some are greatly vexed by the desire to smoke, while others have a keen yearning for alcohol. Others crave great quantities of food or certain foods that are not healthy for them. These days, through its easy availability on the Internet, pornography is a strong temptation. Perhaps the possibility of winning is the lure that draws some to gamble. Some desire to skip work or school. Many drivers hanker to drive much faster than the law allows. Sometimes it is a desire to put off a distasteful chore that needs doing.

Whatever the desire, the enticement's purpose is to induce some form of pleasure. It is like a siren's song, increasing the pressure by offering one reason after another why it would not be so bad to fulfill that desire just one more time. All too often, the lusting person becomes progressively more willing to fulfill his desire until he caves in. He can no longer endure the sacrifice of denying himself.

In reality, we argue ourselves into surrendering and fulfilling our desire. Like the young man in Solomon's illustration, we deliberately walk in temptation's direction. Despite the Bible's counsel regarding wisdom's value, when we give in, it has done us little good to that point, if at all.

In an overall sense, Solomon found what we might label “the overwhelming, general sinfulness of mankind.” Worded another way, he found that sinfulness is not rare and not hard to find. In fact, it is everywhere, universal. Conversely, it is righteousness, purity, and wisdom that are hard to find.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Thirteen): Confessions

Isaiah 3:11-12

What does it say about a nation that . . .

  • ​. . . makes an icon of a woman whose only claims to fame are to have posed nude for a magazine, married a nearly nonagenarian billionaire, had a drug problem, and conducted a string of affairs?

  • ​. . . legally murders over a million unborn children each year?

  • ​. . . during a time of war, essentially ignores multiple millions of illegal aliens—statistically shown to increase crime, lower wages, and burden government budgets—yet hounds smokers, drinkers, and eaters of trans-fats?

  • ​. . . spends upwards of $85 billion on gambling each year, more than its citizens spend on the combined sales for amusement parks, spectator sports, movie theater admissions, and video games?

  • ​. . . indulges in pornography to the point that the industry's known revenues, over $12 billion, roughly double those of all three major U.S. television networks?

  • ​. . . goes out of its way to offend and hassle its own citizens rather than profile its enemies?

  • ​. . . evicts God from public schools, public spaces, and essentially all public life yet allows blasphemies to be uttered dozens of times each hour on its public airwaves?

  • ​. . . uses its deployed volunteer army, composed of a broad spectrum of dedicated, patriotic soldiers, as pawns to gain political power?

In aggregate, what these statements of the current situation in the United States reveal is a profoundly sick, confused, and hypocritical society. They expose America as a nation adrift, unmoored to any firm system of beliefs or even of ethics, rocked and buffeted by every new wave of trouble, and at the mercy of cultural winds and currents out of any quarter. In short, it reveals a nation in crisis—in every sense of the term. Yet, too few of us seem to have noticed.

Our fourth estate, whose job it is to inform the nation about what is going on, has succumbed to one of two—or both—failings: 1) The media have changed the emphasis of their reporting from information to entertainment, and/or 2) they have deliberately or unknowingly incorporated partisan biases into their products, becoming organs of political rather than national interests. While it can be argued that from its earliest days, the American media have been partisan, so nothing has changed, today's news outlets have far greater reach and persuasive abilities than did their nineteenth-century counterparts. Whatever the argument, the result is that the typical citizen is unaware of the depth of America's crisis. The news—even the hyped, slick, up-to-the-second product aired 24/7 on multiple stations—has to compete for attention with situation comedies, dramas, movies, video games, and the Internet, and it loses miserably.

America's political representatives fare little better, if better they are. A statesman or -woman who really had the nation's best interests at heart would not be unafraid to take a principled stand against its troubles and to inspire patriots to overcome them. But there are no statesmen or -women, just politicians, desirous of reelection and the accumulation of personal power. We see no truly American leadership from the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, or really anywhere, for that matter. In Washington, grandstanding on Sunday morning news programs or engaging in bitter partisan fights over silly line items or amendments to a bill is what passes for "leadership" these days. And politicians wonder why so few Americans vote?

Christian ministers from coast to coast have virtually rolled over and played dead. Rather than let their voices ring from their pulpits, decrying the rise of so many blatantly anti-Christian cultural trends, they have weakly submitted to their fears of losing their weekly take at the offering basket and busied themselves in the terribly important work of overseeing the installation of big screens and the latest sound equipment for the Christian rock band that plays during the contemporary service. Worse, most of the mainline churches have backpedaled on biblical morality to the point that they are difficult to label as even nominally "Christian." They may proclaim Christ as Lord, but they proclaim little that He believed and preached.

Finally, and tragically, the most important leaders in America have also abrogated their responsibilities: parents. American dads and moms have spoiled the few kids that they have, buying them whatever they want, instilling in them little sense of responsibility or self-discipline, and letting them make too many critical decisions on their own. Instead of being parents, they have desired to be best friends with their children, who have, frankly, walked all over them, aided and abetted by big business and the entertainment industry. Thus, the culture caters to the youth, attempting to fulfill all their fantasies without truly considering whether or not they are beneficial for them or their country. With a bit of backbone, parents could have slowed or even stopped the cultural decline, but it is far too late now.

What does it say about a nation that lacks both the heart and the leadership to stop itself from committing suicide? In short, He says we are headed for a fall.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
What Does It Say?

Matthew 5:27-28

The person condemned by Jesus here deliberately uses his eyes to awaken and stimulate his lust. It is difficult enough to avoid lusting after natural things, but many things in this world are deliberately designed to awaken wrong desires. If certain books, pictures, magazines, movies, places, activities, or people tempt us to lust, we must avoid them, regardless of the cost. Not sinning is that important!

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Tenth Commandment (1998)


 




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