The Christian Appeal (June 2000)
Issue Theme: “Have You Ever Wondered . . .” Vol. 4

What's the Problem with Pornography?
by Edward Fudge

A GRACEMAIL READER and diligent servant of Christ asks whether pornography is really sinful, since “it involves only the imagination and does not hurt anyone.”

Although many women cannot understand this fact, pornography presents a genuine temptation and regular spiritual struggle for most men (who tend to be visually oriented) from puberty onward. It appeals to one of the most basic human appetites, and it appears almost everywhere one turns today—in magazines, on television, on the Internet, and in the video stores that spring up like mushrooms on practically every block.

Satan is a liar and the father of lies, and pornography is one of his greatest falsehoods. It presents fiction as reality and it promises something it cannot possibly deliver. In its fictional world, full-bosomed women sport tiny waists and hips (something surgically possible but not naturally common), sex has no connection with emotional intimacy, and all females eagerly wait to jump into bed with the nearest male. These are not only fantasies but adolescent fantasies.

Satan lies in suggesting that these illusions hurt no one. When believed, they destroy the only kind of intimacy that is emotionally genuine or physically meaningful. Feeding on such illusions perverts a man’s view of real women, for the lies of the fictional world subtly transfer in his mind to actual people in everyday life. Imaginary women who populate pornography’s delusions create standards with which real women cannot possibly compete. Ignoring this truth, men nevertheless compare the two in their minds. This distorts or aborts efforts by unmarried men to develop genuine relationships, and it often leads married men to resent their faithful and hard-working, normal wives.

The devil lies when he promises that imaginary immorality will not affect real life. Regular fantasizing about illicit sexual behavior grad-  ually programs the mind to anticipate similar activity in the world of reality. In this distorted frame of mind, a man under such influence easily proceeds to initiate improper remarks or conduct toward good women who do not welcome either. Fantasy repeatedly lived out in the thought-world prepares and weakens a man to yield to temptation when he actually encounters a woman willing to engage in immoral sex.

Satan lies in saying that pornography satisfies. The truth is that, like all addictive substances, it increases the appetite without quenching the thirst. It is also progressive, requiring “doses” ever-increasing in quantity, frequency, and intensity.

Jesus’ blood cleanses us from every sin, including lust, and his resurrection power frees us from sin’s power and control. Victory over pornography does not come through self-will or sheer determination, but through surrender of the mind and will to God moment by moment. The man who, at the moment of temptation, truly wishes to follow God’s will more than he wishes to satisfy his evil craving, discovers an ability to resist the temptation by a power clearly not his own. The greatest hazard to success is not one’s inability to say “No” to temptation. It is rather one’s conscious determination at a given moment not to say “Yes” to God’s control.