The release of the movie Fifty Shades of Grey has caused quite a stir.  Porn is now masqueraded as the sexual empowerment of women.  Has the world finally gone crazy?  A recent TIME magazine article reminded readers that while this movie ventures into the realms of bondage, sadomasochism and female degradation, more and more  newspaper headlines concern sexual violence directed towards young women.  “The Hunting Game”, a documentary about campus rape is soon to be released.  There is an ever-growing list of accusations against rich older men who take sexual advantage of women who are subordinates¹.  Just watch the news.

Porn is destroying families

Covenant Eyes reports that the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reports that 56% of divorce cases involve one party having “an obsessive interest in pornographic websites” and according to many studies, prolonged exposure to pornography leads to:

* a diminished trust between intimate couples

* the belief that promiscuity is the natural state

* cynicism about love or the need for affection between sexual partners

* the belief that marriage is sexually confining

* a lack of attraction to family and child-raising

Lust is the problem, not sex

Lust is a massive problem for men and women today, including Christians.  Good, God-given sexual desire is now used to fuel lust and increase the net worth of porn companies. Some years ago it was difficult to get your hands on porn or to attempt to satisfy your lust.  One had to go to a brothel or sneak into an adult book shop, but now there are millions of pornographic images one click away.  We must never forget some basic facts about pornography:

Porn is addictive

Porn promises to satisfy your lust but never does – so you go back for more.  Viewing porn becomes a chemical addiction in your brain, much like being a drug addict.

Porn escalates

The longer you are addicted to porn, the more hardcore images you need to satisfy your addiction – and you are never satisfied.

Porn is desensitising

What you thought was offensive and despicable a few years ago, you now see as normal.

Porn alters behaviour

The inevitable end stage of porn is that you want to imitate what you see. One watches Fifty Shades of Grey and then one wants to give it a try.

Kill porn

I write all this because we constantly need to be reminded of the immense and absolute danger of porn – in all its forms – so that we stay well clear of it, especially as Christian people.  Ephesians 5:3 says,

^“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.”

Yet despite the bondage of lust and porn, we know there is freedom through Christ who enables us to kill sin in our lives.  Christ was killed for sin so that we may kill sin.  If you are unmarried, sexual gratification is not God’s good plan for you at present.  If you are married, your spouse is God’s good gift to you for all sexual gratification.

 

1. TIME, February 16 2015