WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS: TEN REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GET INVOLVED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST PORNOGRAPHY
By: Dr. Jerry R. Kirk

There are ten important reasons why every Christian must join the fight against pornography:

1. Pornography destroys the image of God in people.

We are made in the image of God with the ultimate purpose of glorifying Him and enjoying Him forever.

Pornography turns people into abusers of others for personal pleasure or profit. Men become addicted to lustful imaginations and then act out those imaginations in animal-like and violent ways. Women become the tragic victims of those fantasies acted out. Children become innocent victims of unimaginable molestation and perversions.

Joseph Cardinal Bernardin states:

“Created in God’s image and likeness, the human person is the clearest reflection of God’s presence among us. Because human life is sacred, we all have a duty to develop the kind of societal environment that protects and fosters its development….”

2. Pornography is addictive.

Pornography subtly winds around its users an ever-tightening chain of bondage to the impulses and potential extravagance of sexual instincts.

The Apostle Paul describes this process as the “…hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Ephesians 4:18-19).

By contrast, Paul affirms the freedom of a pure mind: “…whatever is true… right… pure… lovely…admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

The Bible teaches a life free of harmful addictions. In fact, the Judeo-Christian value system is the very atmosphere where true freedom lives and flourishes.

3. Pornography is anti-Christian.

Pornography openly mocks the most precious truths of our faith: the person of Jesus Christ, the Lord’s Supper and the Crucifixion. It mocks and belittles marital fidelity, morality and commitment
to family life. It seeks to undermine and attack religious leaders.

God abhors all that is immoral, idolatrous, sexually perverted and lustful.

“Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor sexual perverts… will inherit the kingdom of God…. The body is not meant for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (I Corinthians 6:9-13).

The Scriptures exhort us to “Avoid the very appearance of evil,” and “Have nothing to do with the fruitless needs of darkness, but rather expose them”(Ephesians 5:11).

4. Pornography that is judged by the courts as “obscene” is illegal.

The pornography industry, by producing obscenity, has flagrantly and continuously violated federal, state and local laws with apparent immunity from law enforcement, judges and the penal
system.

The pornographers use our interstate commerce systems, the mail systems, the importation systems and the communications systems in direct violation of our national and state laws.

Jesus taught His followers to obey the law. Flaunting the law and its enforcement has no part in the Christian value system – or in any civilized society. A lawless society inevitably disintegrates.

5. Pornography attacks women and children.

Pornography exploits and dehumanizes women as discardable tools for the satisfaction of male lust, and children are abused mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually to satisfy the hedonistic urges of pedophiles. Women and children, when molested and cast aside, are left with indelible scars for the rest of their lives. (In the Good Samaritan parable of Luke 10, Jesus
describes how people walk on the other side of the road leaving a wounded man to fend for himself.)

Christianity ascribes a special place of honor to women and children. Through centuries when neither were looked upon with favor by pagan society, God’s Word gave them dignity and value.

Conscientious followers of Christ dare not turn their backs on such destructive behavior. Child-destroyers are enemies of God!

“It is not the will of my Father in heaven, that one of these little ones perish”(Matthew 18:14).

“Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me”(Matthew 25:40).

6. Pornography leads to idolatry.

Ancient Near-Eastern history documents the decadence of nations that worshiped fertility gods, using human sex organs as their symbols and prostitution as worship.

Today, pornography supplies the symbols, the rituals, the stimulus and the creed for worshiping the human body and its sexual impulses rather than the eternal Spirit of God. We can celebrate
our sexuality, but we must never worship sex.

The central truth of Christianity is belief in one holy God. Jesus said, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only ” (Matthew 4:10).

Christians everywhere must rise up as followers of the one true God and do battle against the idolatrous cult of pornography.

7. Pornography and greed are partners in evil.

Pornography and greed feed upon each other. The pornography industry takes advantage of people for personal gain, regardless of the destructive impact. Both producer and seller reap huge
profits due to exorbitant markups. The coffers of organized crime are filled with tax-free gain from pornography sales.

Greed is displeasing to God and destructive to mankind. God exhorts in His Word that we live by honest labor and that “… the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (I Timothy 6:10).

8. Pornography is anti-sex.

Pornography promotes physical satisfaction without caring love, sex without responsibility, union without obligation for the consequences, and exercise of the mating privilege with no regard
to the immediate personal and physical consequences nor the eternal consequences originally designed by God to accompany it. The tragedy of pornography is that it undermines wholesome and
life-enriching sex and promotes animal coupling.

Columnist James J. Kilpatrick noted that pornography “… drains the human sexual relationship of every element of love. In its place the pornographers put lust.”

The Bible describes sex as a beautiful and purposeful gift of God. The sexual encounter between husband and wife is meant to be a source of mutual delight and the means of sharing in God’s work of creation.

9. Pornography destroys normal human relationships.

Pornography dictates that the satisfaction of one’s own desires is all that matters. It leaves in its wake broken marriages, estranged and molested children, shattered young people and
deteriorating neighborhoods. The producers, promoters and participants couldn’t care less.

Jesus taught that we are our brother’s keeper. In fact, we are accountable to each other:

“… Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness…. Put on then, … compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another…. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together” (Colossians 3:5-14).

10. Pornography threatens Western society as we know it.

Pornography is a most vicious, addictive force. It pulls individuals and entire societies away from all that is good and godly.

As Chief Justice Warren Burger remarked, “… hard-core pornography rots the fabric of society.”

The Judeo-Christian value system provides the moral and spiritual foundation for our free and democratic society. Men and women are socially, economically and politically free only where they have been freed from the addictive forces of evil. When we cease to be good, we will soon cease to be free.

Summary

The fight against pornography is supported by irrefutable biblical and logical arguments.

Pornography subverts millions of tax dollars. It corrupts neighborhoods, destroys marriages and families and plays into the hands of organized crime.

But the most compelling reason the pornography industry must be crushed is because of its defiance of Almighty God.

It is anti-God in its presuppositions and anti-Christian in its practice. It destroys everything that is precious in the sight of God who has made both men and women to experience love and sex as
beautiful, enjoyable and productive gifts within the bonds of marriage. It destroys children who are the fruit of married love and the beneficiaries of a safe, moral society.

Rise up America! It’s time now to join the fight against pornography! It’s a winnable war!

More factual information on the harmful effects of pornography can be obtained by writing the National Coalition Against Pornography (NCAP), 800 Compton Road, Suite 9224, Cincinnati, OH 45231.

(The above material was published by Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO.)

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