What Christians Never Knew About Pornography.
A while back, I was reading some article on the Internet and at its end of was a link to a story along the lines of 20 Porn Stars That Died Untimely Deaths. It looked interesting so I clicked on it and up came 20 young women, none of whom I'd ever heard of. (Any Adult stars I might know of would be from the 1970s-80s when you either went to a theater to watch it or rented a VHS tape.) All were contemporary stars of the last few years in their 20s-30s, and had died of overdoses, murder or suicide.
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That was sad and tragic.
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According to Christianity Today, over 50% of the men who attend services, and some 40% of the women, at least occasionally view Porn. While that sounds high to me (I'd think half that would be more accurate), even if I'm right and not naive, that's a whole lot of people that show this is a serious issue.
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Of pastors, reportedly around 20% admit to ongoing issues with it.
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Ominously, however, around half of the Christians using it claim they are "comfortable" with viewing it.
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This doesn't shock me. And I'll state that, for my part, I never pass judgment or put down anyone who has personal struggles with it. My attitude tends to be that but for the grace of God I could be in the same place, and so for my part I feel sympathy and understanding when someone admits to issues with it.
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Humans are sexual beings with hormones. Gay, Straight, magazines or videos--I don't look down on anyone who has wrestled with this or other sex issues. In fact, make of this what you will, I once got into an argument with God over it.
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"Well, God," I said, "guys are just made that way. They like Porn. They really can't help it. I think you should be more understanding about it…"
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Well…God didn't agree with me. In fact, I was the one who needed to change my attitude, and so, while I have sympathy, I uphold and stand on what He thinks on the matter. It's not okay. He doesn't approve. He doesn't tolerate it. He warns of punishment for it, and while I wouldn't say using it will automatically send a Believer to hell, it will affect one's life and spiritual well being on some level and is something that needs to be repented of.
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More importantly--struggling with sin is one thing, but justifying or accepting sin is another. The people who are "comfortable" with it are in a dangerous place. They're giving place to the devil with that attitude, and you can only give so much place before you can conceivably drift from sin with a small "s" to salvation-risking Sin with a capital "S". At the very least, I would encourage anyone to look at this as something they should at least struggle against. God can work with that.
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He can't work with someone justifying what they're doing.
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He can only judge that…
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It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
--Heb. 10:31.
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There is one last thing I want to note about this that I wager you've never thought about: You may be a Christian, viewing that stuff, and fortunate enough to have your sin about it under the Blood to the extent you'll endure no more punishment than the non-damnational judgment God sends to correct you. But the people in those videos aren't saved. The women I mentioned tragically dead from suicide, murder and overdoses--barring a miraculous acceptance of Christ at the moment of death--died in their sins and now await the Lake of Fire for their sins.
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Go to some of the big Porn sites and you'll note some of those videos have tens of thousands or even millions of views! If some of those performers die without ever accepting Christ and being forgiven for those videos, when they go to Judgment they're going to have their damnation increased for every person who ever viewed their work. Some women will literally have millions of sins added to the penalty for their own sins when they face judgment for making their videos! They won't simply be judged for the illicit sexual acts they were involved with in making a video and end it with that; they'll be punished for everyone who ever watched and enjoyed their video, thereby committing sin for it!
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"Huh?! Why do you say that?!"
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But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
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Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
--Matt 16:6-7.
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Jesus reveals that if someone causes a Believer to sin, that person will be judged for it. He does go on to solemnly warn the Christian against sinning, so he has his part to do in avoiding temptation, but the cause of sinning--the tempter--is going to be sorry for it whether he knows it or not, and whether he (or she) knew the implications of what they were doing, or not!
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"Wouldn't that just be talking about tempting Christians then?"
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No. Right is right and wrong is wrong no matter who does it to whom. This verse in direct context might point out how God is especially offended if someone causes a young Believer to stumble, but that doesn't mean Gentiles are fair game and somehow an agent of sin tempting unbelievers into sin isn't really culpable. Proverbs 5-7 are three whole chapters of warning to resist various women who tempt! Paul is also clear enough in Romans that both a Jew who knows God and a and Gentile who does not are equally condemned for sin and face judgment.
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Ultimately, all men are neighbors, and an unsaved prostitute, for instance, is no less guilty if she entices an unsaved Gentile than if she targets a saved Christian--both are guilty of the same sin, but the prostitute is more guilty as the instigator. Thus, a Porn star whose work entices an unsaved person to view her video will still be condemned for enticing him to sin. Both will face judgment, just as some punk who talks a friend into doing a robbery and shooting a clerk would be condemned. They'd both be equally guilty for the robbery and shooting before God, but the one who drew the other into the act to start with faces additional judgment.
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Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
--1 Tim. 5:24.
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This is where (among some other sinners) the poor, unknowing Adult star is going to be sorry in eternity. That person's sins will follow and actually increase after they die, and the full fruit and scope of those sins won't be known until Judgment Day when they're revealed and judged! Excluding repentance, the only hope of avoiding punishment is if the person was being Trafficked and forced, in which case the Trafficker will reap the full fruit of God's wrath. Otherwise, the person whose act enticed people to sin will face judgment. Of course, a director, cameraman, producer, distributor, financier, and so on, will have some share in judgment as well, but the performers are the main enticement and will be judged appropriately.
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"What about someone in a normal movie who does a nude scene? Or who sunbathes on a nude beach or something?"
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I can't comment on every grey area. But if someone made a movie about Adam and Eve, they'd be naked. If someone did a movie about David and Bathsheba, you'd likely have to film a gorgeous Black woman naked, and possibly portray a rape scene that might show some skin. But there's a difference between art and eroticism. Nudity and sex in a setting designed to arouse, rather than in a setting not intended to arouse, will always be considered sin by God.
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"But if the performers really didn't know what they were doing was so wrong--"
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I get the people doing this have no concept how dangerous what they're doing is. God knows that too. But ignorance of the Law doesn't save you. While some theologians do have a false teaching that if you don't know what you're doing is wrong, somehow God won't hold you accountable for it, I've showed elsewhere that He does. In fact, if that false belief is true, the logical conclusion to it is that Jesus would never have told the Apostles to evangelize the world. He'd have told them to keep silent because in that world view, you're only accountable if you reject the truth. So under that ridiculous logic, we should never preach the Gospel and then everyone will go to heaven because they'll never reject it! Ignorance is thus bliss under that theory, and the salvation rate is 100% if no one ever hears about Christ and is never told about sin, righteousness and the judgment to come!
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But the truth is, all sorts of people are going to hell who never opened a Bible, along with many who did. The one thing ignorance can do is mitigate--lessen--punishment to a degree. But punishment still follows the guilty, and even the lightest punishment in hell is still nothing anyone would look forward to. The only positive thing to say past that is that God, unlike us, knows how to judge righteously yet with as much mercy as the situation calls for. But hell is still hell.
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So the next time you consider watching some video or looking at a magazine, be aware that you're likely going to increase the punishment of some poor woman in eternity for it.
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Is it really worth it to you?
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