Definition of Pornography: Orignially a description of prostitues, and their trade, any writings, pictures, books, paintings, etc. intended to sexual desires.
Yet, we find many who are called "saved"born again christians in the CHURCH of the living God, who proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ , and that they love the Lord. And are spreading the gospel to the church, and homes, and to the lost in the world, are involved in pornography.
Both men and women, Preachers do it, Bishops, do it, teachers do it, lay persons do it, prophets do it, deacons do it, ushers do it, choir members do it, many christians everywhere in christian leadership positions, and those who are not but say the love the Lord... which are those who profess and confess Jesus Christ as LORD AND SAVIOR over their lives are doing it... involved secretly in pornography....I often wonder who are they hidding from?... GOD?...:nahnah:
(1) So why is PORNOGRAPHY a SIN in the EYES OF GOD.
(2) What about PORNOGRAPHY that makes it a SIN according to God's Word of Truth.
(3) What effects does PORNOGRAPHY have on the human spirit and soul?
As a warning, my experience here has been that people are very conservative and as of late, only a handful of people even will speak out here on the forums at all. Many times when they do, a few try to dictate what people can or should talk about. A whole post on masturbation was deleted because people were so uncomfortable and it was so taboo that the administrators removed it. I would not be surprised if someone has already turned this one in as well.
For me, anything that effects us as people and children of God should be fair game to talk about.The potential to educate and minister is so great and people on a Christian site where God's presence and anointing should reside, should be able to receive help.Those who are uncomfortable should simply not read it! Okay, with that said.....
In the spirit of transparency, I have in my past dealt with this spirit. What makes it sin is that it is a manifestation of lust. Lust takes many many forms. It's undercover because of the shame attached to it and that is why people don't get help.
While I was involved in it, I didn't even want to do it. I felt nasty afterward. But you feel very compelled and out of control. It is a strong demon and it's main power over a person is the secrecy. Once it is brought out into the light, you realize that it is common to man and deliverance takes only as long as it takes to rebuke it in Jesus' name.
I don't know how long this will be here, but thank you so much for the courage to talk about it.
I wasn't ever a participant but like millions I watched it. One day I just couldn't take it anymore and the need to be free of the compulsion became greater than the shame of telling someone. Because I was saved, I didn't want anyone to know. What would they think of me?
I made an appt with my pastor and after much hemming and hawing, I confessed. He put his hand on my cheek and told me how proud he was of me having the courage to confess. He prayed a prayer of deliverance and said go and sin no more. :applause:
Actually, I believe porn is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. The whole perverse industry exploits women, children, and even men. It casts individuals in an unedifying light, it creates lust, and other more caustic situations.
While not going into much more detail than I already have, I will say that the people who engage in the use and distribution of this vile, unnatural, monstrous, "poison' need our prayers.
While I believe this is a subject that needs to be addressed, (if not here, where?), the scriptures relating to sins of the flesh can fill more space than this post will allow.
I'm sure this post will be deleted pretty quickly, but I lack the intelligence to properly address your question, only to say that
I will do none of my usual clowning around. The exploitation, abuse, and sinful nature of pornography is no matter.
My, my my, babygirl & Edw,, I love you guys! You both are so right in the truth you've spoken. Praise God for you.
I can't understand why anyone would care to complain and murmur about having a thread deleted about SIN?... unless, of course, they themsleves are involved in the very thing they don't feel is appropiate for this site, which THEY SAY is a Christian site. Therefore, shouldn't ALL forms of sin be discussed? If the Bible discusses it, what so holy about tis site that it can't be discussed?... All sin needs to be discussed in the public, just may the salvation for someone reading,.. I would think.
I mean, what sins of the flesh are prohibited in the Bible? NONE! So it behooves me why admin would delete it, and why anyone would complain, unless it was for the reason I so stated. So how can a person get delivered from their SINS, if no one will talk? Or speak out against it? Isn't that our REASONABLE DUTY as believers to speak the word in season (when it fells good, and out of season (when it doesn't feel good and is not appropiate) So, when is it not appropiate to talk or speak out agianst sin? And where is the proper place? Does sin take place when its appropiate and is in the proper place? I don't think so...Things that make you go hmmmmm:zzzz:
After all, sin is shameful and people who find themselves in such sins, are ashamed to discuss their sinful deeds, that's why they HIDE... or think they HIDE, but God lets us know that there is nothing hidden that will not come to the light, one way or another, sooner or late your sins will find you out...
yes, This is a dating site, what a great place to discuss those things that tear us personally and in relationships apart, and what God has to say about them. And what a great place for a woman or a man to check out a possible partner of interest, than on the forum. Words speak a lot about a person's character. Speaking on this forum on a topic, you tend to find out those things you wouldn't find out about a person if you were dating them in a relationship, until its too late. Only to find out that the man or woman is involved in pronography or another form of sin, then its too late.
Pornography is going on in the church from the pulpit to the lower pits LOL, and no one cares to dsicuss it. As you both commented, all kind of fleshy sins and abuse in the chirstian community, and to have a topic deleted is crazy!Sin convicts out hearts and the purpose of conviction should be toward repentance, which is a turning away from it!
I like what James has to say: Let no one say when he/she is temmpted, "I am tempted by God." Becasue God cannot tempt by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But EAC PERSON is tempted when he/she is drawn away BY HIS/HER OWN DESIRES AND IS ENTICED. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it brings for th death.".. This death emotnionally, mentally, physically, financially, and most assuredyl, sipirituall.
Praise God for your deliverance BabyGirl... you've got heaven in a roar!:peace::dancingp::yay:
You guys hit it on the mark The EYES have it ...
I'm Long winded so I'll give others a chance to speak:yay: I'm waiting to SOS to speak... she always has a good word. So I'm calling her out on this topic, I know she has a word:laugh:
friends when you speak on this issue it is how you say it.:peace: We do not have to be descriptive on the issue to discuss it. As I did write about some racey ads awhile back and that post was not deleted.We have discussed people wearing unfit clothing on this site. Once more frineds it is how we say it.Be tackful and leave out offensive statements. I do not have cable in my home, I just buy want I desire to watch.I am picky. It is possible to discuss this issue in a mature manner inside the guide lines given. Things such as how to prevent it and combat it.:boxing: :prayingf: A conservative apporch to the issue is best. maybe we should organize to defeat it.
Well, Dgrimater, you guys raise a very valid, interesting, and well thought out and formed point. Why would they delete this thread? As long as there is no suggestive or offensive language, and the matter is discussed delicately and intelligently,(as thus far it has); there should be no reason why grown, intelligent, Christian adults should not be allowed to discuss this and other rather sensitive subjects. The only reason I raised awareness of the possibility is because it has happened before. On the other side of the coin, threads where contributors were publicly bashed and riiculed were not deleted. Go figure. As a very attentative contributor pointed out in another post, why would you have a drunken smiley face on a Christian web site?
Yes, this extremely sensitive, yet vile subject does need to be addressed openly, and intelligently. Many souls could very well learn form it.
I John chapter 2: verses 15-16 God says this: Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the LOVE of the FATHER is not in him/her. For all that is in the world THE LUST OF THE FLESH, THE LUST OF THEEYES, AND THE PRIDE OF LIFE, are NOT of the Father but is of the world."
Throughout God's word from Genesis to Revelation, God speaks about the eyes (seeing) and the ears (hearing), because what we see and what we hear detemines our behavior, our spirituality, our emotions, mental thoughts, life experiences and life styles as human beings, whether we are blinded to see light or live in darknes or, deaf to the truth or dull in hearing God's word.
I know many call SIN, ADDICTION, becasue we like to make it sound soft and comfortable as an illness that can't be helped. BUT, nowhere in scripture does God refer to SIN as an "ADDICTION", it is referred to , and called what it is, as the PRACTICE OF SIN. And as I've already written James says when SIN has been conceived, it takes hold, and thus, a person become enslaved in it , to it, and consumed by it, and PORNOGRAPHY becomes their master to obey.Romans chpater 6
And we are warned against such practices and being CONSUMED by SIn which lead to destruction and sepration from God. As Paul writes in Galatian that fulfilling the LUST of the FLESH and EYES through all forms of sexual immorality through the PRACTICE of PORNOGRAPGHY, which is sexual immorality is commiting adultery and fornication. And Paul warns that those who PRACTICE such sexual immoral sins WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.Galatian chapter 5.
The Lust of the Eyes Dr. Philip G. Ryken � Window on the World Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia � March 26, 2000
Human beings�especially men�have always struggled with lust, in the sexual sense of the word. Job was the holiest of the ancients, yet even he had to make �a covenant with [his] eyes not to look lustfully at a girl� (Job 31:1). The apostle John warned against �the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes� (1 John 2:16).
In the third century, the theologian Origen was so distressed by his sexual sin that he crushed his testi(beep) between two bricks. Or consider America�s greatest theologian�Jonathan Edwards�who lamented the prevalence of gross sexual immorality in (of all places) Puritan New England. Like any other sin, the lust of the eyes has always been with us. What is new, however, is the unprecedented access we have to sexual images. There are pornographic magazines and videos. There are adult bookstores and strip clubs. There are pornographic programs on cable television and perhaps most alarmingly of all, there are thousands of ways to access pornography over the Internet.
A recent study by psychologists at Stanford and Duquesne Universities reports that some 20 million Americans visit sexual websites each month, of whom perhaps 200,000 are compulsively addicted to cybersex [Associated Press, 3/1/00]. How many of them, do you suppose, are members of a Bible-teaching church? Using pornography is a sin, of course, which is why people view it in secret, and why they feel ashamed when they do. And just because it is a hidden sin, its destructive power is immense.
Lust is never satisfied; it always craves more and more. Thus pornography is always uncontrollable. What at first is only idle curiosity soon becomes a compulsive addiction, and may ultimately lead to more vulgar sins such as prostitution. Along the way, pornography kills joy and inhibits intimacy. Often it hinders a single person from finding a life partner. Frequently it rips a marriage from seam to seam. Always it disturbs a man�s communion with God, robbing his confidence in the power of the gospel to bring spiritual change. It may even destroy his very soul.
Incidentally, the masturbation that often accompanies the viewing of pornographic images is also a sin. I mention this because people sometimes claim that masturbation is not forbidden in the Bible. It is true that masturbation is never explicitly mentioned. Neither is pornography, for that matter, or many other specific kinds of sexual sin. Instead, the Bible is content to address sexual sin in general terms, outlawing any sexual activity outside the union of husband and wife. Remember Paul�s exhortation to the Ephesians: �But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity . . . because these are improper for God�s holy people� (Eph. 5:3). Sex is for sharing. But by turning sexual gratification back upon the self, masturbation is perhaps the most intense form of self-worship imaginable.
Christians who are in bondage to sexual sin often hope to find a �quick fix� for their addiction. There are no quick fixes. If there were, you probably would have discovered one by now. The reason you haven�t is because sexual sin goes down to the very deepest levels of the sinful nature. Even if there are no quick fixes, however, there are some things you can do. The first is to admit that you are in desperate need of spiritual help. Confess your sexual addiction, not only to God, who alone can forgive your sins, but also to a mature Christian. �Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed� (James 5:16). In your fight against lust, you will need some allies. Do not be deceived: You will not be able to conquer this problem on your own, in isolation from other Christians.
More than almost any other kind of sin, sexual immorality thrives on secrecy. But as soon as the secret is out, sexual sin starts to loosen its hold on both the body and the soul. �He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy� (Prov. 28:13). Make a commitment to talk with a Christian brother as soon as possible. The second thing to do is forcibly to limit your access to pornographic images. If you are hoarding any lewd magazines or pictures, go home and throw them away. If you have been watching pornographic movies, get rid of your cable package or stop driving by the adult bookstore. Cancel your credit cards; terminate your Internet account; stay out of the gay bar; ask the hotel to remove your television�do whatever it takes to radically reduce your temptation to sin.
By itself, however, getting rid of pornographic images is not enough. The real problem is not on your computer screen, it is in your heart, which is why trying to �just say no� never works. If it were simply a matter of physical pleasure, sexual sin could be conquered through self-discipline, the exertion of moral effort. But sex is always a spiritual matter, and gaining victory over sexual sin requires a deep and gracious work of God�s Spirit. Understand that giving in to pornography and lust reflects an inability to give and to receive love. It is an attempt to escape from a world that seems unresponsive to our desire for acceptance and significance. The escape is only an illusion; the relief is only temporary, and it always leads to even deeper disappointment and despair. Dr. Harry Schaumburg writes: �Sexual addiction is the by-product of intense unmet needs, coupled with the demand for fulfillment and control of relational pain independently of God. . . .
Sexual addiction isn�t just an issue of sex or even external behavior: it�s a by-product of loneliness, pain, the self-centered demand to be loved and accepted regardless of the consequences, and a loss of vital relationship with God� (False Intimacy, 23). The fact that sexual sin is about something more than just sex has a number of significant implications. It means that conquering sexual addiction will require the fresh application of repentance and forgiveness to the deepest wounds in your heart. It also means that there are many other sins that need to be dealt with�sins like arrogance, bitterness, and self-deception�before you can make significant progress towards holiness. In some cases, it also means coming to terms with the ways that you have been sinned against, especially if you have suffered sexual abuse.
Help is available, not only from your pastors and elders, but also through Harvest USA, a ministry of truth and love to those who wish to be free from pornography and other sexual struggles (215-342-7114). The ultimate antidote to lust is love�real love�the kind of selfless love that Christ demonstrated on the cross. And love is one thing that God has in unlimited supply. He has the love to forgive your darkest sins, the love to satisfy your deepest desires, and the love to replace your lust with joy. �At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. . . . But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us� (Titus 3:3-4).
I hope this doesn't jumble up- lol. Great article! What say you?
First of all I would like to complement the author for bringing this issue out in the open. Also, the few who dare react are very courageous, especially when they share their own experiences with a rather anonymous "public".
I think the problems started when in the 1960ies sex was separated from love. This had a strong consequence for the
traditional pornography, which was until then very isolated and strongly condemned by all society.
Sex separated from love became highly pornographic but it was not profiled like that. It was profiled as freedom. We were taught that if it feels good (to both) than there is no harm in it. First the boundaries of frequency were pushed far over the horizon, afterwards the limits of do�s and don�ts were extended with the "pls also try�s".
We never start off with pornography though. We are slowly drawn towards it through sex separated from love. Films, books, pictures, virtual interactive games, toys.... it is all freely and easily available. And in our safe and comfortable home, one can enjoy all kinds of pleasure...
Sex becomes porn when love is substituted by lust. Lust is never satisfied nor in frequency nor in boundary. The only rule it plays by is MORE.
Porn is a drug. I do not refer to the addictive side of it. I refer to the tranquilizing side of it. Simply put: when we are having problems in facing ourselves as we are, we tend to hide, we look for ways to keep our mind occupied sothat our problem does not pop up and disturbs us. In general we feel that we have to keep moving but sometimes we need more than that. We need to focus on something that really tranquilizes. We can become a workaholic, an alcoholic, a chocoholic and.... we can become a pornoholic :ROFL::ROFL:
Lust is a capital sin. The greed and uncontrollable need for carnal satisfaction becomes addictive. Need for statisfaction is a very strong stimuli. No one has the discipline to overcome it. We give in to it, feel so bad about ourselves, try to put this bad thoughts somewhere deep inside, but for them to stay there, we have to keep our mind tranquilized.... this is the vicious circle one comes in.
We all know from ourselves if we are involved in this or not. The question is, in case we are, when will we admit that help is needed to get rid of it!
That porn is a sin in the eyes of God is clear to everyone. The question is, will you submit to God�s will and stop with it? From what I have seen from people who were addicted and fully caught up in their own lusty sexlife, is that they fully accept that they go to hell for it, but they do not want to stop as it feels so great. Moreover they are convinced that love cannot provide them these pleasures.
They expect to find in love the same pleasures as they have found in porn. Here is the real problem. People must be taught the concept of love. Their perception of sexual pleasure must be lifted up to a much higher level. Those who have managed to come out of it, are fully amazed as sex connected to love, gives them so much deeper and so much more fullfilling satisfaction.
Also the thought that they are loved by God is unbearable to them as they think, they do not deserve that anymore. Moreover they do not have a concept of mutual love. They are fully stuck in their own desires of lust and must learn to ban this, in order to create room for the love of someone else. These are only a few of the incredible challenges to get out of the powerful grip pornography has over people. The highly addictive side of it makes it even more difficult.
If churches and christians are very judgemental towards pornography and simply shout that it is a shameful sinn, then it is impossible for someone to step forward.
The church (of God) is the only place where one can find cure and healing! So the church must have its doors WIDE OPEN for those who finally have the courage to seek that cure and healing.
I truly believe that christians are very keen on not being themselves of their family involved in pornography. But being a christian sometimes goes beyond that. We have to stand up for morals and ethics and most of all, we have to defend those who have been victimized by the powerful and ruthless empire of pornography. Breaking the taboe is, in my opinon the very least we can do.
Also we must be very open to our children about the danger of sex separated from love. Parents and churches must take their responsibility in this as it is not the task of the school nor the government. As long as we think it is a taboe, then we expose our children even more.
Well it has become a very long story. If I would not have been in Brazil I would have served you a coffee...
matter.