7. What’s Wrong With Pornography?
What’s Wrong With Pornography?
Pornography takes human sexuality out of its natural context—intimacy between two human beings—and makes it a product to be bought and sold.
WILLIAM M. STRUTHERS
A few years back I was talking to an old friend on the phone. At one point during the conversation I was discussing the importance of avoiding pornography. He chimed in and said, “What’s wrong with porn, man? I love porn.” Well, he’s not alone. So do millions of other people. That’s why it’s a multi-billion dollar industry. But what is it about pornography that we should pay serious attention to? And be cautious of?
First, porn objectifies women. Or all people for that matter. The options for porn material are limitless. There’s homosexual porn, child porn, and of course adult female porn. We objectify people when we use them for our own self-centered purposes. That’s what porn does. It uses people. It treats them like objects. It objectifies them! Porn is using an image of a human being made in the image of God to gratify one’s lustful desires. And that’s not good.
Second, porn destroys our brain. Seriously. It causes brain damage. Let me explain. With the advancement of neuroscience we now know that our willpower is a function of the prefrontal lobe of the brain. Consistent use of pornography actually reshapes this critical part of the brain, thus weakening one’s moral fortitude. The will is sapped of strength through continuous porn play. It’s often referred to as hypofrontality. This breakdown of the frontal lobe of the brain especially affects addicts. Their addictive desires heighten while their determination to resist is weakened and buckles under sexual pressure. Next time you find yourself tempted to look at pornography just remind yourself that porn destroys the brain.
That should make us all think twice.
Third, porn causes self-deception. I once heard someone say, “The problem with being deceived is you don’t know that you’re deceived.” How true that is, especially when our behaviors turn addictive. The problem with porn is that the more one uses it the more one can’t stop using it. The motto for the porn addict becomes, “Just once more.” In the moment of desire he or she believes they’ll be able to beat it the next time. So, in self-deceit they fulfill themselves in the moment. But the problem is they tell themselves the exact same thing the next time—and the next time, and the next time—until they really make a decision to quit viewing porn once and for all, or destroy their lives in the name of addiction.
Fourth, porn depraves the soul. Porn sucks the life out of its victims, creating within viewers an insatiable appetite that can never be satisfied and constructing an appetite that grows more deviant in what it views in order to scratch their viewing itch. If you’re addicted to porn let me encourage you to get some help. ASAP. And know this: Christ can set you free (John 8:32; Philippians 4:13).
Porn is like a cosmic vacuum cleaner. If you give yourself to it it’ll suck your life away.
Memory Verse
I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman (Job 31:1).
Question to Consider
What are some other dangers of viewing porn and why should it be avoided at all costs?
One-Minute Apologist Video
Bobby Conway, “What’s Wrong With Pornography?”