Traditionally speaking within church circles, pornography has long been viewed as a problem that men struggle with. But in a culture saturated with sex and pornography, sadly I can think of too many examples where sex is portrayed as anything but what God designed it to be in marriage. Written for the enjoyment of women, 50 Shades of Grey is one such example. Leveraging on the hype of Valentine’s Day, the movie release received much anticipation and skyrocketing popularity. The worrying issue behind engaging with such material is that we do not always recognise it as pornography, and even if so, convince ourselves that it is acceptable for all sorts of reasons.
To first clarify the definition of porn, I would like to borrow Tim Chester’s words[1], “Porn, for our purposes, is anything we use for sexual titillation, gratification or escape – whether it was intended for that purpose or not.”
“But it’s just entertainment!” some might protest.
“I do it to de-stress.” some will admit.
“I’m not hurting anyone, it’s all in my mind anyway.” some add stubbornly.
Precisely with these sorts of reasons, we fail to see the heart of the problem – we persist in donning on our earthly nature, which is a sinful nature.
As Paul reminds the Ephesian church, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4: 22-24)
Instead of dismissing, indulging or trivialising the sin of pornography, would you endeavour to remove every hint of sexual immorality? For the change from old to new could not be any more different.
Pornography: it’s a black and white issue.
[1] Captured by a Better Vision (2010), Tim Chester