Why is pornography wrong?

[NothingIsImpossible]

Well think of it this way. Find someone you really love, get married. Now lets say they don't have sex with you, not even on the honeymoon. But instead you catch them looking at porn and masturbating to it. Are you hurt by that? Do you feel abandoned? I would. I mean even outside of marriage porn is wrong.

Your looking at a naked person with lust. Thinking of them sexually as if you wanted to have sex with them.

 

[ToBeLoved]

I do think that porn, like any genre, carries the potential to encourage whatever line of thinking it's demonstrating. That's why, again like any genre, it has to be handled responsibly. If the context is characterized with respect for the individuals involved, the result will likely be of far better integrity.

How is there any respect or integrity associated with porn. People sleeping with people for money who they are not married to? I don't see the integrity in that, at all.

 

[ToBeLoved]

Well think of it this way. Find someone you really love, get married. Now lets say they don't have sex with you, not even on the honeymoon. But instead you catch them looking at porn and masturbating to it. Are you hurt by that? Do you feel abandoned? I would. I mean even outside of marriage porn is wrong.

Your looking at a naked person with lust. Thinking of them sexually as if you wanted to have sex with them.

It sure wouldn't make me want to be intimate with them. It is phychological cheating, IMHO.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

I do think that porn, like any genre, carries the potential to encourage whatever line of thinking it's demonstrating. That's why, again like any genre, it has to be handled responsibly. If the context is characterized with respect for the individuals involved, the result will likely be of far better integrity.

For instance, I'm sure the American infatuation with everything from old Westerns to new action movies is at least a little responsible for the American infatuation with gun-rights. Makes the dudes feel like such cowboys to be, you know, packing heat!

Or maybe just not disparage people for watching porn until one has abstained from watching violent movies, given that both can be damaging if not handled correctly. It's rather like someone indulging in alcohol dissing people who smoke weed.

Life is supposed to be sacred too (in fact, sex wouldn't be sacred apart from it), so how can one who is against porn not be against violent imagery in films?

Well, I am a Biblical Pacificist.

Pacificism as Taught in the New Testament is Moral and Good.

I also do not watch worldly movies anymore, too. When I did watch worldly movies like Captain America, and the Avengers, I believed the good guys were simply fighting the bad guys and they were trying to stop evil men. Good triumphed over evil. In the Old Testament, God commanded His people to destroy evil people or enemy nations. While violence is not always the ideal situation, at one time, God allowed it to show that He is a punisher to those who do evil. Now, that such a point was made, there is no need for such violence anymore for His believers under the New Covenant. But the body is just a shell. There is a reality beyond this one. It is not the end. This life is but a stage.

But stop and think for a moment. What if GOD decided not to end the world who were wicked by a global flood? Imagine what kind of world we would be living in today if such evil was allowed to exist. If those evil people were allowed to exist, then the world we would live in today would be like living in a living nightmare of corruption. Also, Jesus will return and violently destroy all the nations of the world that will come up against Him. Will He do this just because He feels like being violent for no good reason? No. Of course not. He is putting an end to evil.

As for porn: You really have not replied to the verses I brought up. You also are not telling me why porn is so moral and good, too. For me, saying porn is good (and or not evil) would be like trying to convince me that chopping off an innocent person's head is not wrong. You are potentially killing people with spreading sexual disease by sleeping around. But you are free to believe whatever you like.


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[YHWH_will_uplift]

What is the rational explanation about why pornography is wrong?

The word etymologically comes from the Greek Pornea which translates to fornication. The Word fornication comes from the Latin fornix meaning brothel.

 

[Colter]

So we should justify/allow porn because we watch violent movies?

No, I was just backing up Chaela's great point about how we segregate nude photos or love making from constant violent subject matter which also manipulates our emotional natures.

 

[Sammy-San]

It could be after God made Adam & Eve clothes.

Interesting post in Desiring God website about clothing.

The Rebellion of Nudity and the Meaning of Clothing | Desiring God

If sin didn't enter the world and we were all naked, what would prevent people from accidentally touching each other improperly or committing abuse?

 

[mcarmichael]

stupid question.

 

[Sammy-San]

stupid question.

Why? The same sex acts were sinful before the fall-whats why God married adam and eve so it wouldn't be fornication.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

If sin didn't enter the world and we were all naked, what would prevent people from accidentally touching each other improperly or committing abuse?

In the world of Adam and Eve before the fall, there was no knowledge of good or evil (except that they should not eat of the wrong tree). Eating of the Forbidden Tree was the only crime that they could commit. I believe God made them in such a way to not really truly have any real understanding of good and evil beyond the command of not eating of the wrong tree. In other words, they did not have the capacity to understand all sins. Sort of like animals. Animals are not going to be at any kind of Judgment because they do not have the capacity to truly be aware of any moral issue exactly. Yes, animals can behave in both a good and bad way, but they cannot grasp the intricate nature of good or evil and have a discussion about it among themselves.


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[SnowyMacie]

No, I was just backing up Chaela's great point about how we segregate nude photos or love making from constant violent subject matter which also manipulates our emotional natures.

People don't believe me when I say nudity and sex scenes in TV shows and movies don't really make me lust or anything, but yet when someone says they're okay with violence, most people don't bat an eye.

 

[mcarmichael]

Why? The same sex acts were sinful before the fall-whats why God married adam and eve so it wouldn't be fornication.

I'm sorry. I was replying to OP's question. I didn't read your question, even.

 

[Rajni]

How is there any respect or integrity associated with porn. People sleeping with people for money who they are not married to? I don't see the integrity in that, at all.

How is there any respect or integrity in watching Jesus get beat up in The Passion of the Christ? How is there any respect or integrity in watching someone burn down a church with people they've trapped inside in The Patriot? How is there any respect or integrity in watching someone blow up a building in ... well ... just about any American film out there it would seem? At least with erotic film the people are portrayed as having affection, if not outright love, for one another. They're just a wee bit closer to "love one another" than not.

People don't believe me when I say nudity and sex scenes in TV shows and movies don't really make me lust or anything, but yet when someone says they're okay with violence, most people don't bat an eye.

Several years ago I was talking with a Christian parent at a GameStop who had no problem with their son playing video games involving shooting people, but expressed reservations about their son playing games involving doing magic. I was baffled, because if a person is going to be influenced by a video game, they're more likely to do harm with a gun then they are a magic wand. It was astounding.

 

[Monk Brendan]

I personally don't believe that watching Lone Survivor, or 13 Hours, or Black Hawk Down, or Saving Private Ryan ever caused me to sin. If you can provide some sort of Biblically based argument to suggest that watching any of those movies was indeed sinful, then honestly I would welcome it.

Not to cause a stir, but how about, "Do unto others..." or "Thou shalt not kill." Remember, the sin starts in the heart, and not in the hands doing the action.

 

[SarahsKnight]

What I never really understood is why there's so much stigma surrounding seeing people getting along really (really, really) well while the viewing of people engaging in violence, murder, torture, war, crucifixion, etc. is (at least relatively) A-okay.

I mean, just sitting through the movie previews before the feature starts is virtually nothing more than a long series of shooting and explosions (American films, yay them ). Shouldn't the latter be stigmatized rather than the former? For example, why aren't there more posts on religious forums expressing guilt over watching violent footage?

Because many Christ-believers will always have their pet sins, pure and simple, and anything involving or alluding to sex happens to be a popular one. Illogical as it is, that's just how it goes.

 

[Human Sacrifice]

Porn was a crutch for my own insufficiency. I am a man.

 

[Sammy-San]

In the world of Adam and Eve before the fall, there was no knowledge of good or evil (except that they should not eat of the wrong tree). Eating of the Forbidden Tree was the only crime that they could commit. I believe God made them in such a way to not really truly have any real understanding of good and evil beyond the command of not eating of the wrong tree. In other words, they did not have the capacity to understand all sins. Sort of like animals. Animals are not going to be at any kind of Judgment because they do not have the capacity to truly be aware of any moral issue exactly. Yes, animals can behave in both a good and bad way, but they cannot grasp the intricate nature of good or evil and have a discussion about it among themselves.


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What would have prevented non spouses from improperly touching if they were innocent?

 

[Sammy-San]

Well think of it this way. Find someone you really love, get married. Now lets say they don't have sex with you, not even on the honeymoon. But instead you catch them looking at porn and masturbating to it. Are you hurt by that? Do you feel abandoned? I would. I mean even outside of marriage porn is wrong.

Your looking at a naked person with lust. Thinking of them sexually as if you wanted to have sex with them.

So pornography and fornication are essentially the same sin?

 

[Bible Highlighter]

What would have prevented non spouses from improperly touching if they were innocent?

Well, such a thing would probably just not happen.
In other words, if you gave somebody a labotomy, they are going to be a drooling individual who is not much aware of anything. Think of Adam and Eve before the fall as having a moral handicap. For there are mentally handicapped people today who are not aware of any right or wrong (And they will not be held accountable for their sin because they are not aware of what sin really is). Certain birds just mate for life on instinct. When a dog humps a man's leg, I doubt it realizes it is doing something wrong. It doesn't think to itself about the immoral implications of what it is doing. Certain animals have an instinct built in. After the fall, I believe all of man's ability into doing right was faultered or broken. It is why we need a new heart with new desires (i.e. to be born again).


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[Sammy-San]

It would probably just not be common for such a thing to happen or it would not happen at all.
In other words, if you gave somebody a labotomy, they are going to be a drooling individual who is not much aware of anything. Think of Adam and Eve before the fall as having a moral handicap. For there are mentally handicapped people today who are not aware of any right or wrong (And they will not be held accountable for their sin because they are not aware of what sin really is). Certain birds just mate for life. When a dog humps a man's leg, I doubt it realizes it is doing something wrong. It doesn't think to itself about the immoral implications of what it is doing. Certain animals have an instinct built in. After the fall, I believe all of man's ability into doing right was faultered or broken. It is why we need a new heart with new desires (i.e. to be born again).


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It's more than not knowing-sin wouldn't exist. People say homosexuality wouldn't if the fall didn't happen.