"Like Any Drug..."

[DZoolander]

I believe that ethics and morality as a general theme, and how Jesus relates to it, is an issue too complex to go into within the context of this post.

Without meaning to go too deeply into the subject, however, what I will say is that I believe Christianity has turned itself into a faith where the primary focus (at the sacrifice of many other Godly principles) is subjugation of the sexual impulse. Rarely will you see stadiums full of people coming together to pledge eternal abstinence from giving their fellow drivers "the bird", eternal abstinence from being a jerk to your spouse, eternal vigilance to be charitable, etc...all of which are equally (if not moreso) mandated for Jesus to "rule your life"...and all of which I'd argue are far greater infractions in God's eyes over how you choose to rub your pink bit in the dark.

So - the whole tone of such a statement is testament to how far away we've turned from what's truly righteous, in my eyes, and is what I object to.

 

[true2theword]

Give it a rest. It's none of your business.

Geesh.

I'm guessing thats a NO! from you

so when you gave your life to Christ, there were some strings attached!

 

[DZoolander]

I'm guessing thats a NO! from you

so when you gave your life to Christ, there were some strings attached!

And given the overall breadth of things that encompasses - it will be fascinating to find out who upholds the most

Until then - keep your opinion to yourself. It's nothing but your opinion.

 

[true2theword]

I believe that ethics and morality as a general theme, and how Jesus relates to it, is an issue too complex to go into within the context of this post.

Without meaning to go too deeply into the subject, however, what I will say is that I believe Christianity has turned itself into a faith where the primary focus (at the sacrifice of many other Godly principles) is subjugation of the sexual impulse. Rarely will you see stadiums full of people coming together to pledge eternal abstinence from giving their fellow drivers "the bird", eternal abstinence from being a jerk to your spouse, eternal vigilance to be charitable, etc...all of which are equally (if not moreso) mandated for Jesus to "rule your life"...and all of which I'd argue are far greater infractions in God's eyes over how you choose to rub your pink bit in the dark.

So - the whole tone of such a statement is testament to how far away we've turned from what's truly righteous, in my eyes, and is what I object to.

1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To those who are called, sanctified[a] by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:
2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Contend for the Faith

3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God[b] and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Old and New Apostates

5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Apostates Depraved and Doomed

12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about[c] by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Apostates Predicted

16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
Maintain Your Life with God

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction;[d] 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire,[e] hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

 

[true2theword]

16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

 

[ChristianGolfer]

Trollolololol lol lol lol lol

 

[ChristianGolfer]

I didn't give my life to Christ.

He gave His Life to me.

 

[Hetta]

#1 - Everything I've read about the porn industry - it just doesn't feel right to associate pleasure with the kinds of things that I understand has happened/does happen to many of those women.

Thank you for saying that. It's something that many men and women don't seem to understand. There is testimony out there on the web - I wouldn't link it because of the content - but it is given by women who were saved from that life, and became Christians (or just women who were saved from the life without becoming Christian - the testimony is the same). People don't seem to understand that this is not "just sex." When these porn movie are made, the women are penetrated time after time after time. They are injured, torn, bruised. They get diseases (as do the men). They sometimes become pregnant. Many of them end up on drugs, or abuse alcohol. It's not a glamorous, easy life of having sex "for fun." Those smiles are faked. This is not Pretty Woman. It's not pleasant reading, but it's essential for anyone who thinks that all of the women are just having fun, earning money on their/her backs. Many of them go into that life after being sexually abused as children, because they don't value themselves or their bodies. In the porn world, they just get entirely lost and used up. It's not fun reading.

#2 - Respect for my spouse. If she doesn't want me to do something, it was my choice to marry her limits and all, so therefore I should abide by that.

Your wife is blessed, Ezoo.

 

[DZoolander]

Yep - troll - lol.

How about this. Open up every aspect of your life to me, let me talk to all of your business acquaintances, your children, your wife, your childhood friends, your buddies, etc...and let me find out about your life as a whole. Then let me find out about what stuff you're truly repentant about vs. what stuff you sweep under the rug.

Then we can have a truly beneficial discussion about righteousness and salvation

 

[true2theword]

I didn't give my life to Christ.

He gave His Life to me.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

 

[McScribe]

I don't believe that the two main things I saw in the OP (that it grows ever more perverted or that it is addictive in and of itself) are true to my experience either. My first real experience with pornography was actually at a Barber shop, because you could go to some barber shops and see Playboy or Penthouse on the table in the waiting area, since only men went there. There were other men's magazines as well of course about cars, hunting, military history and so on. So my experience was that it was normal for men to sit down and flip through a magazine that had pictures of naked ladies in it. In my teens I discovered that the ones that were sought after by the guys the most were the thinner magazines that had more pictures and more anatomy showing. But no one was really obsessed; in my teens the obsession was with having girls. Playboy, Hustler, Penthouse; they were just to stoke the fire, as it were, almost like a catalog.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that with the men I had observed and the other teens I was growing up with, it wasn't really that big of a deal. We didn't see it as being any different from say me reading a magazine about military history because I liked to read about it and and assemble and paint models. I wouldn't come away from just reading about it feeling satisfied; it would inspire me to want to do the assembly and painting, and I would read about techniques and become intrigued to try them. The same applied to how most of us approached pornography; it wasn't a substitute for the real thing.

Part of the difference now of course is that the internet makes it so available; once you'd read that month's Playboy you were done. Now, you could spend all day online searching for images, videos, stories, etc, and not be done when you fell into an exhausted stupor. So yes, there can be an addictive quality to that, and I think some people do fall prey to it, but I don't think that that is the intrinsic problem with it.

 

[DZoolander]

My first exposure to it was purely accidental.

Growing up - we had a river that ran by the house. As kids we'd go run down along the sides of it - and apparently there were people that were using that area for various nonsense. One day when I was about 7-8, I found a porn mag there.

Now - I'm not talking playboy type porn - I'm talking full on explicit porn w/sex/etc.

I had no idea what any of it was, so I took it home to ask mom about it. I remember plopping it down on to the dinner table and opening it up to a pretty graphic page and asking "What's that?"

WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT?

"Down by the wash."

"You are NEVER to go there again." - lol

That was pretty much the extent of it.

When we as kids DID begin to become more aware of things, we had a certain curiosity about what was contained in the magazines. Like I remember walking down to the local convenience store with my buddies - and one of us would stand guard to ensure nobody was looking while the others would peruse through the magazines.

Apart from that - it was pretty much the same experience McScribe describes.

"There it is, let's have a look, okay, we've looked and we're done."

 

[true2theword]

Yep - troll - lol.

How about this. Open up every aspect of your life to me, let me talk to all of your business acquaintances, your children, your wife, your childhood friends, your buddies, etc...and let me find out about your life as a whole. Then let me find out about what stuff you're truly repentant about vs. what stuff you sweep under the rug.

Then we can have a truly beneficial discussion about righteousness and salvation

well I dont watch porn and I dont touch, but I once was a slave to both, there is freedom from both of these things, but it calls for taking control over your thought life, and holding every thought captive to Christ

 

[iambren]

"I quickly discovered something weird about myself. I can't own porn."

ME TOO!! You must have a mind like me and that should scare you very, very much!

I got a kick out of your sleuthing to dispose of that dvd. It's hard to discern out where the line is to be a human being, a sexual being, a man being (visually oriented) and being lecherous. Men are often castigated as these horrible ogres when they look at trash. It's easy to be condemned. But what if we could see ALL sins like envy or pride in all it's ugliness(sins BTW which studies have shown to be higher on the list for women). And it's RARELY mentioned that women often get addicted to porn. And women in the porn industry CHOOSE to be there to make money! So we are all victims here of our own choosing.

But does God look at it the same when a single man looks at a naked picture of a woman in a magazine on occasion versus a man that stares, plots, to be near a pretty wife of one of his friends? The woman, naked is a piece of paper that he'll never meet. No threat. But the pretty wife is burning potential adultery, divorce, murder etc.

 

[McScribe]

So here's a thought of mine--I've talked to people who were raised without any exposure to it at all, and it seems to me that (maybe I'm wrong) for the average woman it is not a common experience either. I wonder if this is part of why there is this confusion about how to deal with it? If part of it is an element of culture shock?

 

[McScribe]

well I dont watch porn and I dont touch, but I once was a slave to both, there is freedom from both of these things, but it calls for taking control over your thought life, and holding every thought captive to Christ

He hasn't been saying that there's nothing wrong with watching or reading pornography; he isn't saying he's interested in it in particular either. In fact he has explicitly said that he thinks it is immoral. He (and I and Iambren) are just talking about our experiences with it.

 

[vincenticus]

well I dont watch porn and I dont touch, but I once was a slave to both, there is freedom from both of these things, but it calls for taking control over your thought life, and holding every thought captive to Christ

Cool story bro.

 

[ChristianGolfer]

My first exposure to it was purely accidental.

Growing up - we had a river that ran by the house. As kids we'd go run down along the sides of it - and apparently there were people that were using that area for various nonsense. One day when I was about 7-8, I found a porn mag there.

Now - I'm not talking playboy type porn - I'm talking full on explicit porn w/sex/etc.

I had no idea what any of it was, so I took it home to ask mom about it. I remember plopping it down on to the dinner table and opening it up to a pretty graphic page and asking "What's that?"

WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT?

"Down by the wash."

"You are NEVER to go there again." - lol

That was pretty much the extent of it.

That's crazily similar to my first experience with porn, too.

I was about 7 or 8.

Down by the river, where we kids used to play, we found a little tiny log cabin someone had built. You had to crawl to enter it and just enough room to sit up inside. In it was a stack of porno mags. I don't really remember what they were. I know it was more than Playboy-esque naked pics. We were all curiously horrified. Glanced through them, went "ewwww" and then decided to throw them all in the river. Told our mom about it and she said "you did the right thing."

We still got to play down by the river, though.

 

[DZoolander]

well I dont watch porn and I dont touch, but I once was a slave to both, there is freedom from both of these things, but it calls for taking control over your thought life, and holding every thought captive to Christ

That's cool and all, but what I'm contending is that there's far more to righteousness than being able to say "I no longer have a go at my personal bits"

 

[Hetta]

And women in the porn industry CHOOSE to be there to make money! So we are all victims here of our own choosing.

There is a high preponderance of women in the porn industry who were sexually abused as children. (Let me just say that not all women who were sexually abused as children go into porn.) Many women were also runaways because of abuse at home. I would say that they are far more victims than a person (male or female) who chooses to pay to watch pornography.

But does God look at it the same when a single man looks at a naked picture of a woman in a magazine on occasion versus a man that stares, plots, to be near a pretty wife of one of his friends? The woman, naked is a piece of paper that he'll never meet. No threat. But the pretty wife is burning potential adultery, divorce, murder etc.

You answer your own question here:

But what if we could see ALL sins like envy or pride in all it's ugliness

They are all sins, and all ugly. I don't see a "scale" of sin in the Bible.