By David Weaks
Synopsis: Pornography is rotting the hearts and minds of men, women, and children. It is destroying homes and helping to disintegrate society. How much do you know about this cancerous evil?
Pornography used to be thought of as ugly and dirty—something reserved for reprobates who sought to hide their identify under trench-coats. In the twenty-first century, it has been mainstreamed. At one time, people could only view “porn” in seedy movie houses in the bad part of town, or men had to buy dirty magazines from smut shops. Nowadays, pornography is so much a part of modern culture that teens regularly view it on their telephones.
Pornography did not arise from the dark alleys of New York City or Los Angeles in the 1970s. History shows that it has nearly always been around. Ancient cities had brothels, and pornographic imagery was commonplace in sculptures. Pompeii and Herculaneum, destroyed in the AD 70 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, featured “red-light districts” complete with sexual images carved into buildings indicating that sex was for sale there (see: Pornography: The Secret History of Civilization, DVD). Pornographic carvings have been found in ancient Sumerian cities dating as far back as 2,000 BC (Black and Green, 150-152).
Pornography comes from a combination of the words “porneia” (fornication) and “graphe” (what is written). Pornography’s only purpose is to foster fornication through images and written words.
The forms of pornography are seemingly endless, and there are deep, dark recesses of the internet which cater to unbelievably grotesque sexual perversions. Joshua Duggar, TV personality, professed family advocate, and father of seven children, was recently convicted and sentenced to twelve years in prison. One piece of damning evidence found on his computer was a film entitled “Daisy’s Destruction,” which depicts the rape of an eighteen-month-old toddler!
Pornography generates billions of dollars annually for its producers. The industry chews up and spits out young women by the thousands. Females are paid more than males to perform in porn movies. These women are euphemistically called “models” or “actors.” The shelf-life for such models is usually only two or three years before they are burned out and used up. For their “work,” the best paid girls only make a few hundred dollars per job. Producers reap the lion’s share of the lucrative sales.
The porn industry is a giant life-destroying machine. Performers not only receive low pay, they are asked to participate in demeaning and abusive “scenes,” often involving real physical violence. These intense scenes are where the real money (such as it is) is earned, so most girls consent. Girls must also cover all of their own expenses (clothes, travel, makeup, etc). On top of this, there is the ever-present danger of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). It is no surprise that performers burn out quickly. Once turned out of the “industry” in their early 20s, they are usually unemployable in mainstream work, because of the stigma of their porn past. Drugs and suicide hang as a pall over the porn industry.
Think about this: those who perform in pornography are often dying a slow death in public view. I believe it was Dr. Phil who once said: “When you watch a pornographic video, you are watching a young woman’s life being torn apart.” I have to believe this is absolutely the case.
Jesus said that a man must not look at a woman to lust after her (Matt. 5:28). He also said that the lamp of the body is the eye. What a man allows into his mind through his eyes will determine whether his body is full of light or darkness (Matt. 6:22-23). Solomon warned young men to not gaze upon immoral women dressed in the attire of a harlot (Prov. 7:10). Job said that he made a covenant with his eyes to not look upon a young maiden (Job 31:1).
Folks, the only purpose for pornography is to produce lust and fornication. There is nothing remotely redeeming about it. It is not art, nor is it beautiful. Neither is it an industry which supplies a good living to unskilled people. Porn is a brand of filth which sears itself into the minds and hearts of users, and it can be as addictive as any drug. Jesus said, “Don’t look!” We must not. No man can take fire into his bosom and not be burned (Prov. 6:27).
I can attest firsthand to these facts. My first experience with pornography was when I was ten years old. My cousin had confiscated a pile of dirty magazines from his dad’s stash, and hid them in his tree house. I can tell you that those rotten images, viewed so long ago, never go away. They produce a scar which does not heal.
Witness King David’s downfall. David watched a beautiful woman named Bathsheba bathing one Spring evening. He spied her across the way from the roof of his palace. He did not discretely look away, but in his lust, he called her to his bed and committed adultery with her. Later, David had the woman’s husband murdered in order to cover up his sin (2 Sam. 11:1ff). No, Bathsheba wasn’t an ancient porn star, but the effect of seeing her naked body had the same effect on the lust-filled king. The sight of bare flesh excites lusts. This case from biblical history proves that.
Like cancer, it rots the moral fiber of people; it destroys their pure thoughts once it lodges itself in a person’s brain. It is highly addictive, and it ultimately kills the spiritual appetite of people. Finally, it destroys the user’s eternal soul.
Experts say that viewing pornography releases the same chemicals in the brain which produce the “rush” and sense of euphoria that comes from taking drugs. Like all addictive things, users feel compelled to seek stronger and more intense versions of it in order to continue feeling the “high.”
Serial murderer Ted Bundy famously confessed on the eve of his execution that he had been fed on a diet of pornography in his youth. He blamed his crimes on compulsions that sprang from seeing pornography. One of his most chilling lines was this: “There are many more Ted Bundy’s out there.” There is certainly reason to question Bundy’s sincerity considering all of his horrific crimes, but he was still right in his assertion: there are indeed many more “Ted Bundy’s” out there. News items are many which tell of sexual relationships between teachers and their teen students. Rape and murder are as common as ever. Police usually find piles of pornography in the houses and computers of such offenders.
Do you remember the affable pitchman for Subway sandwich shops, Jared Fogle? This seemingly harmless, lovable guy was a child pornography fiend who was arrested when a woman taped a phone conversation in which Fogle tried to bargain with her to purchase her pre-school aged daughter so that he could abuse the child sexually.
There can be no reasonable argument made in defense of pornography. It is neither art nor is it free speech. It is nothing less than the most vile kind of filth. Shockingly, many in the world are at best ambivalent toward porn. At worst, they think of it as merely “naughty.” Let us hear the teachings of God and judge pornography in the light of Sacred Scripture.
James teaches us that sin results from the enticement of desires, which are then fed and gratified contrary to the law of God (Jas. 1:13-15). Peter said Christians must “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11-12). John warned that there are three lusts from which sin springs: (1) the lust of the flesh, (2) the lust of the eyes, (3) and the pride of life (1 John 2:15-16). Christians are supposed to reject sin and not let it reign in their mortal bodies. We are supposed to present our bodies as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:12-14). Pornography stirs up the very thing which God said is the foundation of sin in the life of people.
Christians are supposed to “flee fornication” (1 Cor. 6:18). Fornication was the downfall of the Gentiles whom God gave up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts, to defile their bodies among themselves (Rom. 1:24). They satiated vile passions, exchanging the natural use of the woman for what is against nature and committed what was shameful (Rom. 1:26-27). Pornography portrays strangers indulging in all of these vile passions.
Viewers of pornography reject the Hebrew writer’s instruction to hold marriage and the marriage bed in honor (Heb. 13:4). A consumer of pornography is not actually in bed with the actors, but in his mind, he may as well be! He has surrendered the restraint of his marriage vows and he is well on his way to committing fornication himself. All he needs is the opportunity. Jesus Christ, our Lord, taught that a man who looks at a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matt. 5:27-28). Like all movies, the filthy ones aim to draw viewers into the hedonistic action. How can it be anything but sin for a husband or a wife to seek sexual excitement and gratification through pornography?
Sometimes people defend pornography as a kind of “therapy,” but this is sheer stupidity! Husbands and wives who watch other people engaged in graphic sex will lose interest in one another. It is absolutely foolish, unreasonable, and a damnable lie, for a man to say that watching an eighteen-year-old, perfectly sculpted girl being ravaged sexually makes him more attracted to his older, less-than-perfectly sculpted wife!
God created sexual appetites within us, so they are good (cf. Gen. 1:31). However, He also dictated that these desires can only be satisfied within marriage, with God’s approval (1 Cor. 7:1-5). Solomon told his son to “Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well” (Prov. 5:15). Later Solomon said, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love” (vv. 18-19). The viewing of pornography in any of its forms ruins the simple, satisfying, physical relationship that God designed only for marriage.
People who appear in pornographic movies often publicly say they are there by choice, but this is rarely true. Certainly, no child is there by his choice. Children in porn are most often forced into it by criminal neighbors or family members looking to make fast money. Among adults in pornography, they are often there out of desperation, being lured there by the false promise of fame and fortune.
Thousands of girls move to Hollywood every year, hoping to become movie stars. After many months of failure, scores of these girls are lured into a whole other kind of film industry, one that will rape their souls and bodies with the promise of money and glamour. The voices of many former performers, now broken, drug addicted wisps of their youthful selves, admit it was porn that ruined them. The devil, the father of lies, rejoices in the deception of pornography (John 8:44).
Pornography overwhelmingly focuses on abuse. Some of it is violent, much of it involves the fantasy of older people abusing teens. The abuse is part of the thrill for the people who consume pornography. Please do not be misled. Pornography is not for suburban mothers who want to see a romantic film to spice up their drab lives. Pornography is designed to turn people into reprobate sex fiends. Some films portray rape; in others, virgins are supposedly deflowered; and ever popular are films showing a girl being abused by multiple men at once. Of course, any child in a pornographic film is always being abused.
Homosexuality is a popular theme in porn. Films depict men being “abusers of them-selves with men” (1 Cor. 6:9), and women exchanging their natural use for what is “against nature” (Rom. 1:26-27). Porn’s performers surrender all of their natural defenses and boundaries of self-preservation along with any shred of decency and morality, all to make a quick buck with the faint hope of fame.
Jesus warned about destroying the innocence of children (Matt. 18:6). Please let the following statistics sink in. They are utterly shocking. Recent studies have shown that 90% of boys under eighteen have viewed pornography at least once, while 60% of girls in the same age group have seen pornography at least once. It is also reported that many children as young as 8-11 have viewed pornography on their smart phones. This is an absolutely horrifying statistic when you consider the following fact: 60% of eleven-year-olds own their own smart phone, and 92% of teenagers go online on their smart phones every day. 24% of these teenagers report that they are online “almost constantly.” The study also reports that today’s young people spend an average of nine hours a day consuming media (i.e., watching TV, surfing the internet, social media, etc.). Most of this viewing of online content is happening in the relative safety of the home. 71% of young people keep their online activity hidden from their parents. These statistics mean that American children are some of the most prolific consumers of pornography. (Note: This information is available at The Novus Project.)
Pornography was once a product which sinful people consumed only under the cloak of darkness (cf. 2 Pet. 2:13). Now, a savvy child can view the most depraved material on the cell phone that his parents gave him as a birthday present.
The Bible teaches that Christians must work to keep their hearts and minds pure. Peter said: “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,..” (1 Pet. 2:11). We are to be blameless and harmless children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation (Phil. 2:15). David, the adulterer and murderer, repented by asking God to “create in me a clean heart” (Ps. 51:10). Solomon said a wise man keeps his heart with all diligence (Prov. 4:23-27).
In order to be pure in heart, I must focus my attention (i.e., meditate) on things that are noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praise-worthy (Phil. 4:8). This advice is so simple and self-evidently right. How can anyone expect to have a pure heart if he fills his head with corrupt imagery?
“Making love” is a euphemism for sex, but the only time that two people can genuinely “make love” is when they are married to one another. Every other time it is fornication. Whether it involves teenagers in the back seat of a car, or pornographic “actors” in a filthy movie, there is no love involved in any sex outside of marriage. People who engage in fornication are only interested in their own selfish desires. Jesus said a disciple must love his neighbor as himself (Matt. 19:19). Paul says that I must put others ahead of myself (Phil. 2:4). Pornographers do not care about other people. They are looking to make a quick buck and to gratify their unlawful sexual desires with as many people as possible.
Young girls and women who agree to appear in nude modeling and video forms of pornography do so because someone has lied to them and told them how beautiful and special they are. While it might be true that these women are beautiful and special, those who make porn only see them as a commodity. Men who enter porn are no more valued but serve as sexual props, required to fornicate on cue. Once they can no longer do this, they are discarded as trash.
In the porn industry, even “stars” who command top dollar are paid a mere pittance compared to salaries paid in other industries. It is certainly a form of enslavement. The industry owns the performers, producers make millions but pay a mere few hundred dollars per film to performers. Agents then take huge slices of each performer’s pay, and each performer is left to supply his own health care, clothing, supplies, etc. In desperation, performers have to be in front of the camera as often as possible, just to make ends meet. Performers willingly take nearly any job, even the most hardcore and abusive, exposing themselves constantly to injury, disease, rape, and humiliation. The porn industry claims it follows guidelines and rules requiring regular STD checkups for performers, but no testing is perfect, and diseases still are spread. That men and women keep coming back week after week for more abuse is evidence of the enslavement that porn is.
The Bible says that men and women are indeed important to God. Jesus died for the souls of men and women (John 3:16). Moreover, Solomon extolls the glory of a mother and wife (Prov. 31:10-31). “Her worth is far above rubies” (v. 10). “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. . .” (v. 28). Pornography wrings all of that beauty and praiseworthiness out of the women that it seduces, and leaves them as lifeless shells of themselves, after their usefulness to the “industry” is over. Many former porn actors and actresses spend the remainder of their lives addicted to drugs and alcohol. Many simply resort to suicide. An Australian news magazine reported in 2018 that five porn actors had committed suicide in a three-month span of time (news.com.au). This should be shocking in any setting, but in an industry that preys on men and women, it is sadly commonplace.
Pornography seems to be here to stay. Once upon a time, movies that were “rated-X” were shunned. In today’s world, pornography has become a mainstream and acceptable form of entertainment. People from every strata of society, including preachers, school teachers, business people, etc., are addicted to porn. Google reports that its most popular daily searches are those looking for some kind of porn. One last statistic: Every day, there are over 68 million internet searches for porn related material. Of that number 116,000 are related to child pornography. More sobering than anything else is the statement made by many young people: “Everyone looks at it.”
One Last Thought. . . Parents, do you know what your kids are doing online? Wake up! Find out! You might be shocked to your core to find what your children (raised in a Christian home) have seen already. Society needs a good swift jolt of reality. It is high time that God’s word replaced human philosophy and universal tolerance. Hang “wokeness!” Stop worrying about who is offended by the truth and preach it (2 Tim. 4:2). Condemn the sins that God condemns (1 Pet. 4:11). Inform yourself and stand with the Lord, rejecting filth and perversion.
Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. London, England: The British Museum Press, 1992, 2004. https://archive.org/details/gods-demons-and-symbols-of-ancient-mesopotamia-an-illustrated-dictionary_202208
Pornography: The Secret History of Civilization, DVD. Director: Chris Rodley. Koch Vision, 2006.
“Resource Hub for Parents.” The Novus Project. https://thenovusproject.org/resource-hub/parents.
