“Pornography” may be difficult to define, and many may not agree on a common definition. When Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart was asked to describe his test for obscenity in 1964, he responded: “I know it when I see it.” In applying this quasi-definition to a motion picture at issue, he concluded that it was not pornographic. This was in 1964. Surely, today’s standards and definitions are even much more liberal.
We will not try to define pornography in this article. Rather, we set forth guidelines which the reader may use to come to conclusions applicable to oneself, based on his or her understanding and conscience. We use the word pornography (another word might be obscenity) with this introductory precaution in mind.
In this present age, pornography is frighteningly easy to access. With the lightning speed of a whim, people can view pornographic images and videos on computers and phones, dramatically reducing barriers to availability that would have otherwise prevented them from doing so. Hand in hand with greater accessibility, media and entertainment increasingly normalize pornography. The proliferation of pornography and derivations of it are designed to exploit the raw sexual urge of people, especially men. The nature of pornographic content may stimulate physical sensations to the extreme, such that it is common for it to become the source of addiction. Truly, pornography might serve as a quintessential example of decadent worldliness which the Bible warns about.
Since Christians are human beings with physical inclinations like anyone else, they are not immune to the seductive allure of pornography. Yet it is such a taboo topic that even bringing it up as a Christian can be embarrassingly shameful! But the duty of a Christian is to become equipped to overcome carnality, so it is important to directly address the topic of how to handle pornography.
Leaving aside the definition of what makes content pornographic, we can focus on its designed effects. Quite simply, it is designed to elicit sexual arousal through voyeuristic fantasy using images of a provocative nature, most commonly with naked people engaged in all kinds of sexual activities, not to mention deviations like the abominable practice of bestiality and other perversions. There is nothing inherently wrong about sex and the instinct of arousal that accompanies it. God made man and woman as sexual beings. But he designed this aspect of our physical nature for married men and women to enjoy in a healthy way. Pornography, through its elicitation of sexual fantasy, is designed to stimulate imagination and ideas in the viewer that are definitively not anchored in what it takes to build a healthy, loving relationship in the way God intended.
To view pornography is to have a relationship with it. But this is not the kind of sexual relationship that God designed. God made man and woman to develop love for one another, become married, and create a family of their own. (We understand, of course, that in this day and age not every couple can create a family with children, for numerous reasons. In other cases, God may not even intend for a person to get married.) God designed marriage to nurture a healthy kind of sexual relationship, which involves developing an intimate relationship between a man and a woman, including on a spiritual level. “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). From this passage, we understand that there is a right way and a wrong way to treat sex.
The model of the right way to treat sex is in a married relationship as God designed, and the wrong ways are the sexually immoral and cheap counterfeits for it. Like fornication and adultery mentioned in the passage above, pornography is a cheap counterfeit. It may set false expectations through its fantastical imagery that could damage a healthy sexual relationship with a partner in marriage. Whereas a healthy marriage relationship involves developing a deep understanding of one another, consuming pornography and engaging in other types of sexual immorality such as fornication, stimulates arousal while skipping over all the hard work that makes a marriage relationship so rewarding. Pornography teaches wrong lessons about what it takes to develop an intimate relationship. To apply those lessons learned through the examples of pornography in real life will only result in failure, disappointment, or worse.
We write about the healthy kind of sexual relationship between a man and woman in our free booklet, “God’s Teachings on Sexual Relationships.”
“While it may be unfashionable, we take the Word of God seriously and unashamedly in spite of the mainly secular society in which we live. We read in Genesis 2:18, 20–23 that God provided a wife, Eve, for Adam. Verse 24 is critical: ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh,’ and this is the biblical example at the dawn of civilization. One man and one woman and no other variation is mentioned nor acceptable, and in Genesis 1:28 they were told to ‘Be fruitful and multiply,’ and that is supposed to happen only when two people of the opposite sex are united in marriage.
“There is one aspect of marriage that seems to be rarely, if ever, discussed.
“In Genesis 2:24 we read: ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ We might ask why the Bible teaches that a man is to leave his parents in order to cleave to his wife? What is meant by this? Does this also mean, by extension, that the wife is to leave her parents as well, in order to cleave to her husband?
“The Bible is very explicit, for important reasons, to enjoin the newly married couple to live separately from their parents. In addition to this instruction in Genesis 2:24, we read later, in Matthew 19:5, that Jesus Christ quotes this very Scripture with approval, to explain and to uphold the sanctity of the marriage relationship.
“Commentaries agree that this command is meant to be taken and obeyed quite literally. A reason for this command is given in the Ryrie Study Bible, as follows, ‘Jesus cites the purpose of God in creation that husband and wife should be one flesh—the oneness of kinship or fellowship with the body as a medium, causing marriage to be the deepest physical and spiritual unity.’”
From this explanation of how God designed marriage, we understand what true intimacy consists of. Pornography, as well as fornication and adultery, corrupt this model set by God.
Another way that pornography can be dangerous is in the stimulation of lust. The images of pornography are designed to arouse a lustful desire, which can be overwhelming in their allure. We understand, of course, that lustful desire can be aroused in many different ways, and it may be different for particular individuals. Consider what the Bible says about playing with a similar type of strong lust and its effects. “For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her shall not be innocent” (Proverbs 6:23-29). This passage is about allowing oneself to become seduced away from a healthy sexual relationship, and instead inviting sexual lust and temptation to take control. What is the result? To become metaphorically burned and seared through the experience! Pornography carries the same danger. Images may sear into the mind of the viewer and burn into his or her consciousness, reinforcing the wrong ideas about what a healthy, godly sexual relationship consists of.
We’re reminded that physical lust is something that Christians are to overcome. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17). Of the many examples of what fulfills the lust of the eyes, pornography is among the most apt. To fall prey to sexual temptation brings one full force into carnal indulgence. Carnal lust is something to overcome as a Christian. As mentioned in the passage above, it is not of God. We know that Satan is the god of this world, and he uses all kinds of wrong sexual influences to tempt us. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 to fight against those influences.
Being convinced of the dangers of pornography, what can one do to escape them? The Bible gives us simple instructions with actions expressed in extreme terms to drive home the point that decisive action is necessary. Christ tells us: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 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. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off 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” (Matthew 5:27-30). This instruction from Jesus Christ is about looking lustfully at a woman desiring to have a sexual relationship with her, but the lesson is something that we can easily apply to the dangers of pornography. Such images may stimulate lust for someone else, even if only in the imagination. In this example, Jesus equates this kind of lust to the sin of adultery. The prescription He offers is to physically separate oneself from the source of sin, figuratively plucking out the eye and cutting off the hand. Jesus does not instruct us to literally mutilate ourselves, but the lesson is clear. We are to decisively act, physically removing ourselves from the stimulus of sin and any sinful environment.
We emphasize this point of taking decisive action to flee sexual immorality in our free booklet, “God’s Teachings on Sexual Relationships.”
“Let us look now at God’s teaching in the Bible on this subject, which is what should concern us the most.
“1 Corinthians 6:18 (in the Authorized Version), we read ‘Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.’
“The New King James Bible renders ‘sexual immorality’ correctly as ‘fornication.’ This word clearly includes sexual activities before and outside the confines of marriage.
“The instruction is to ‘flee fornication and wrong sexual activity,’ but so many ignore or do not even know about this instruction. This is the problem when God’s Word is ignored or not considered relevant today, and where there is antipathy toward doing what God commands us to do, which is for our benefit and is always in our best interests. However, man thinks that he knows better than God and makes up his own rules (or lack of them) to facilitate a ‘just do it’ attitude.
“There was obviously a problem in the Corinthian Church with wrong sexual activity, including fornication (compare 1 Corinthians 6:9; 2 Corinthians 12:21). Here the Bible warns us that fornicators and other sexually immoral individuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, and so it is an activity that must be avoided by those who are called and chosen by God. God defines His standards and what He requires of His people, which is very different than the liberal, promiscuous approach that today’s societies adopt.”
Pornography is a powerful force in this age. Many even become addicted by its strong arousal and ease of access. It can lead to fornication or other sexually immoral behavior. It is dangerous in that it is designed to corrupt the perfect model of a healthy sexual relationship between a married couple, which God intended. Overcoming the danger of pornography’s temptation is possible, however. By calling upon the strength of Christ to resist its allure and flee from its presence, one can avoid falling prey to the damage it does.
Lead Writer: Eric Rank