By C.K. Lester
Jesus said, “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
This verse isn't just about men who look at women. It also applies to women who look at men lustfully, or men who look at other men, or women who look at other women. To look upon another human being with lust is adultery.
Therefore, according to Jesus, wouldn't viewing pornography be a sin of adultery?
Adultery is sex outside of a marriage commitment. The seventh commandment forbids anyone to engage in adultery.
But why is adultery wrong?
Maybe that's the question we need to answer. And before we can answer that, we need to know the purpose of sex.
Sex is a wonderful gift God gave married couples for three things:
- to give and receive pleasure
- for reproduction, and
- to increase intimacy and strengthen the relational bond
With these in mind, don't you think that pornography totally contradicts God's purposes for sex?
After all ...
- Isn't pornography solely for receiving pleasure? Wouldn't it encourage a drive to serve oneself rather than serve others?
- Have you ever heard pornography giving birth? In fact, all it really does is make God's gift of sex nothing but entertainment and objectifies other humans beings.
- Pornography leads to separation and confusion. God gave us sex to be enjoyed in marriage because it helps strengthen the emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife. Won't creating these strong bonds outside of
marriage, through pornography, lead to heartbreak and pain when the bonds are broken?
Pornography ultimately gives a false image of sex. The acts performed and the actors involved in a pornographic film distort your image or opinion of sex in such a way as to cause problems in your current and future relationships.
God does not want us to suffer, so He commands us to abstain from making these bonds with sex outside of a committed, marriage relationship.
With that in mind, shouldn't a Christian avoid pornography because it is so destructive?
Here's another question to ponder: When does a look of admiration for someone's attractiveness become lust?