Pornography Isn't So Bad, Right?

Maybe some of you have seen the Time Magazine article titled “Study: Porn May Not Be Such a Bad Influence on Sexual Behavior”  The fact that this article is found in the “sex” section of Time On-Line shouldn’t surprise anybody. Satan would love our society to believe that pornography and sexual sins aren’t really all that bad. In fact, he would say they are quite normal and actually help us develop.

Seeing that an article like this is found on the web site of one of the most widely read news magazines of our time leads me to believe that this topic is actually a significant one; so much so that it’s being ‘dumbed down” so it can fall off the radar of most people. The truth is that the title of the Time article is 100% false. The culture that we live in has twisted sex and used it in ways that God had never intended it to be used in. One estimate says that the word “sex” accounts for one quarter of ALL internet searches! But the more staggering statistic comes from a Barna Group survey which found no difference between “born-again” adults and other non-saved adults in viewing adult-only content on the Internet, or who read magazines and watched videos with explicit sexual content.

All it took to have the hook set for me was to have a few friends that had some nudie pictures and they showed them to me. I liked what I saw quite a bit and I wanted to see more. Back then (the mid-80’s) Al Gores invention was starting to become more and more prominent and my parents got an AOL account. I found “on-line friends” that I could get pictures from and thus my addiction to pornography started. I was around 14 years old, if not a little younger. It all seemed quite harmless because I used the rationalization that since they were just pictures on the computer, I wasn’t hurting anybody and it really wasn’t any sort of sin. Without telling my story all over again, as the years progressed looking at pornography went from occasionally looking at some pictures on line or in a magazine to a full blown addiction that I HAD to feed. There were days that it consumed me, where I would spend hours upon hours looking at it throughout the entire day. I was addicted.

God doesn’t take what we look at lightly; He gives us very clear warnings about it. He says through David in Psalm 101 verse 3 “I will not look with approval on anything that is vile”. God continues by saying “I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it”. Verse 4 says “The perverse of heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with that evil”. Wow! Pretty clear. Job says in chapter 31, verse 1 of the book that bears his name “I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman”. 1 Corinthians 6:18 tells us to FLEE from sexual immorality because it is not just a sin, but it’s a sin that’s committed against our own body. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 says that it’s Gods will that we abstain from sexual immorality and that we know how to control our own body in holiness and honor and not in passionate lust. Sorry Time Magazine, but I’m going to take Gods word on this one over yours and the studies you cited. I saw first hand that watching pornography absolutely impacted my sexual life in a very negative way. It turned women into objects in my mind and caused me to want to do things I would have never even known about if I hadn’t watched them on a screen.

Well friends, I want to wrap this first entry up by refuting the study I mentioned at the beginning. I must say to Ms. Katy Steinmetz (the author of the article), you and the authors of the studies you referenced COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG! (I am not an avid fan of using caps when I type, unless I am very adamant about what I am saying) Pornography is a major influence on sexual behavior and is devastating to all who view it.