By T.G. Blankenship at The Gethsemane Blog
Too often Christians (in my experience) stand against things such as porn on a strictly moral basis. That is, they abstain from looking at, purchasing, or involving themselves with porn in any way, and discourage others from the same because porn is immoral. It is sex out of the proper context in which God has deemed it appropriate, upstanding, good, and thus it is inappropriate, immoral, and bad. For these Christians porn is strictly a moral issue and it is only wrong because God deemed it not right. It is improper behavior and taints the individual in a spiritual (or at least invisible) way.
It's true that porn is a moral issue. Sex and its relation to its God-given context is a moral issue to be sure. However, we fool ourselves if our only argument against porn - to both ourselves and the world around us - is merely moral and neglects the injustice involved. Porn is not merely a private issue but a public and social issue. It is an issue of morality and justice (the two should never be separated in the first place).*
When we think about most moral issues it becomes easy to see how they are also issues of justice. People think porn is bad because it degrades women and thus it is immoral, but this is a justice issue because it's an oppression issue while also being a misrepresentation issue. It creates an injustice in the society by way of creating an unloving and inaccurate perception of women. Porn is immoral for several reasons and unjust for several reasons.
One major injustice found in the porn industry is it's strong bond with sex trafficking and child abuse. The Washington State Office of the Attorney General released information on sex trafficking recently. Here are a few statistics:
•12 is the average age of entry into porn and prostitution, but their ages are often mislabeled.
•1 out of 5 pornographic images is of a child.
•The sale of child pornography has become a $3 billion dollar industry.
•Over 100,000 websites offer child pornography.
•55 percent of internet child pornography comes from the U.S.
There are an estimated 100,000 minors (the average age of whom is 13 when brought into the industry) bought and sold for sex in the U.S.A. each year. A large amount of this sex is in the form of pornography. This kind of information makes it impossible to deny that pornography isn't creating a great deal of injustice in our world. Christians must stand against porn not merely because it's sex out of it's God given context and it's "bad" according to morality but because it creates injustices of sex trafficking, slavery, kidnapping, rape, pedophilia, and so on.
The porn industry in the U.S. is a supply and demand industry. There aren't enough women out there who want to get naked and have sex for the sake of profit and entertainment to satisfy the demand that exists and thus the evils listed repeatedly in this article increase each day.
There is a man in my congregation who is involved with a group called The EPIK Project. They create awareness about the injustices involved in our society that are related to sex trafficking. Christians can't stand on the moral issue alone. We must stand for justice in its fullness and say that we are against all evils and that we see many evils in pornography and the industry of pornography that saturates our nation. It would be unjust and immoral to stay to feed the porn industry (which includes looking at it at any point) or to even stay silent about this injustice. EPIK Project is trying to offer a venue for us to no longer be silent. Below is a video (less than 3 minutes) about them.
*Ken Wytsma has dedicated a lot of his life to the teaching of justice and it's proper place in theology. He recently spoke at my congregation with a presentation that discussed the intimate connected between justice and righteousness. It's worth checking out. Here is a link to the sermon and a link to the article.
True
Comments (54)
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Thanks for putting this out there.
Great read!
Porn is not wrong, because of sex trafficking, rape, child abuse, or any other injustice you want to mention. To make the argument that porn is wrongon ethical or moral reasons, opens you up to a discussion on ethics, and moral relativity, where people claim that there is not right or wrong, because different cultures view different things as wrong, so there can't be a determination of what is wrong. What we call sex trafficking, is what some muslim countries call an arranged marriage. Did you know in some countries, and I think Yemen is one of them, a man can marry a 1 year old and take her as his wife, as long as he does not sleep with her, until after she gets her period and becomes a woman? that could be as young as 9 years old. So you can claim that porn is wrong because it is unjust. but someone else will say it is not unjust, it is acceptable in my culture, or the culture of X group.
Porn is wrong, because it is against God's law. Sin in the Bible is defined as the transgression of God's law. We need no other argument than this. Porn is wrong, because it is against God's law, and is therefore sin. To make the case that something is wrong apart from God's law, puts you on the same shaky ethical ground as those you are arguing against.
How would your present your perspective and argument against porn to gay friends of mine, whom, being above the age of consent, willingly volunteered and participated in the production of porn for financial compensation and an exploratory experience?
They are not "Christians" as you may define the term, and as are such, not governed by the morals, norms and standards you continue to want to hold others to who do not share your faith. This heteronormative view of social justice, while compelling and altruistic, does not address their circumstances. "God's Law" as interpreted by men is still merely that, an interpretation. They are as numerous as the leaves on the trees and just as varied in their scope, nature and view.
My friends are healthy, well-adjusted, responsible contributing members to society who pursued another avenue in their careers, were paid for their services rendered and then used those financial gains to further their educational pursuits.
I love them dearly and count them as brothers and friends. What say you to them or to other people who choose this job as an experience or means to better themselves?
daemon
Secondly, I wouldn't presume to diminish the severity of sin, nor to suggest that it is not sufficient reason in and of itself for our turning from such a behavior. Yet I would also encourage everyone to expose the injustices that you've mentioned behind this sinful and detestable industry of damnation called porn.
God's hatred of sin and His redemption upon His people from sin IS reason enough to turn from such abhorrent practices as watching pornography.
Christians must turn from pornography precisely because it is sin and God does not dwell with sin. The world will not turn from pornography, though they might squirm at the most hard-core of expressions, they are still overtly welcoming it in their every-day cultures and lives. But Christians cannot do as much!
A lot of people say that porn is a 'normal' part of life, so I'm glad to see that someone is actually calling it out on all that is wrong. Personally, I think it is one thing of a couple videotapes themselves to watch later, but it's hard to agree those who watch what they 'find' on the internet. Sex trafficking is a real problem, and most people wouldn't voluntarily choose to be a part of the porn industry in the first place.
Plus, early exposure to pornography can affect a child's sexual development. Just talk to some of the pedophiles or sex offenders out there.
I'm no christian but props to you for actually practicing what you preach. I agree with all the points you made and this was very well written.
remember, you're gonna go to hell if you have sex with a girl, but if you masturbate to images of OTHER people having sex then you're on the fast-track to heaven.
Your argument seems to be: Porn is bad because some of it is child porn. This is a pretty illogical argument, as you can see from some similar arguments: Sex is bad because some of it is rape; Art is bad because some of it is graffiti; Work is bad because some of it is child labor.
If you want to make the argument that child porn or sex trafficking is bad, then by all means, do so! I agree 100%! Any endeavor--whether porn, sex, art, or labor--can be misused and/or exploited by wicked people. But we shouldn't therefore conclude that all endeavors are bad; that's ridiculous!
Not all porn is exploitative. As an example, consider "amateur" porn sites that host videos/photos made and uploaded by one (or two or three...) consenting adults, with the intent that their homemade porn will viewed/enjoyed by other adults. No money changes hands; people (both the submitters and the viewers) engage in this transaction freely.
If you want to argue that non-exploitative porn is immoral from a Christian perspective, then you'll need to cite passages from the Bible that prohibit (either explicitly or implicitly) adults from watching other adults get naked and/or have sex with each other. All the statistics in the world about child porn or sex trafficking won't make your arguments against non-exploitative porn credible.
If you want to argue that non-exploitative porn is immoral from a secular perspective, good luck! Our society has already made its judgement, as evidenced by the huge volume of freely-available, happily-shared, harm-free porn on the internet.
tl;dr - Sex trafficking and child porn are not valid arguments against non-exploitative porn (just like rape isn't a good argument against sex).@ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake@xanga - I've seen arranged marriages. I know people in Muslim arranged marriages and how the marriages came to be. They don't look like sex trafficking to me for what I've seen of both. Sex trafficking looks like girls being kidnapped and forced into having sex with strangers for someone else's profit. That's seems entirely different from two people being put into a marriage together by the decision of their families. That marriage relationship doesn't function the same way as a pimp, (kidnapped/trapped) prostitute, and customer/rapist relationship. Sure, both potentially remove choice from certain parties but even in arranged marriages among Muslims there are times when the people being married have a worthwhile say in the matter. At least that's what my Muslims friends have showed me through their lives.
I agree that porn is wrong because it goes against the way of God (I even mention that at the beginning of the article). Absolutely. Injustices are instances in which sin is thriving. Just because I'm speaking of injustice doesn't mean I'm ignoring sin. And just because I don't put this article in the rhetoric of sinfulness doesn't mean I'm leaving sinfulness out of the argument. On the contrary, the two are linked. I'm not trying to take sin out of the equation with this article. I'm attempting to show another angle of the sinfulness present in the porn industry. Injustice is a Biblical theme and it's worth looking at. I think it's valuable to frame things in a way we don't usually frame it so that we can enhance our understanding of our previous framings (not that we ever do away with that previous framing). So you see, I'm not making an argument apart from God's law of love and placing everything on sketchy ethical foundations. The ethics in this material derive from a basis of biblical teaching. Sure, I didn't write the word sin or God's Law in the article but that doesn't mean those issues aren't present.
@jim_the_american@xanga - I see your point. I wasn't clear enough in my argument. I still hold that all porn is unjust but my reasoning for why all porn and not merely non-exploitative porn is not fully present here. As ProudtobeaChristianFruitcake mentioned, sin is the root of the issue and sin is a matter of injustice. If you read the article written by Ken Wytsma which I provided at the bottom this notion of righteousness and justice being tied together becomes more clear and the argument that anything which creates wrong-relationship is an injustice lends itself to what I was doing here. For what I presented though, your criticism is extremely fair.
@TheGreatBout@xanga - Elephant in the room, much?
It does hurt to have your spouse admire and desire naked women on porn DVD covers.
It's almost like cheating. I am fine with the idea of looking at two consenting, heterosexual people have sex, just to know what sex can be like between couples.. but not to imagine having sex with those in the film. That there is hurtful and thereby, I call it a sin in such situations, all too ever common.it demeans The Temple of God....the human body.
Admittedly, I've just skimmed your article, and for that I apologize, but I don't have a lot of time to spend on this.
Perhaps I'll offer just a slight perception twist.
The immorality of porn is reason enough to avoid it. God says no, that's enough for me. I don't need the social injustices aspect to keep me from it. It is to God that I am accountable.
However... perhaps....
The immorality motivates me to avoid it personally, and the injustices motivate to me proactively fight against it? As Christians, we can't fight against every evil in the world. We've each been given gifts, to use for His glory. Let some, those who aren't tempted with it, fight against it in an active manner, and let others fight against world hunger, or child abuse, or alcoholism... etc.
I wouldn't send a recovering alcoholic into a bar to evangelize. I wouldn't send a sex-addict into a porn shop to evangelize. We each have our own areas, and strengths within, ministry.
@BlehhItsTu@xanga - I'd go so far as to say that it's not almost cheating, it IS cheating. Matthew 5, Jesus says that "whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery in his heart." Granted, the point here is that God looks at our inward hearts, not our outward actions, but the case remains, it's adultery before God, so it's also adultery against a spouse if you have one. As for watching porn to see what sex is or can be like between a couple... I don't know. Call me a prude, but I'd rather experiment with my spouse, and she and I can "learn" new things together. When sex is a part of intimacy, as opposed to intimacy being a part of sex, then the moments of exploration that get a little awkward because we're not "pros" at new positions, etc... well those are just as enjoyable themselves. It's about building trust, and experiencing together. Sorry for the long, unsolicited response, just sharing my thoughts...
dolphins have sex for fun, why can't humans have sex for fun? we're all animals, aren't we? it's only natural.
At least you guy's wrote a post this time that makes people think. Kudos for that!
@ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake@xanga - Actually, it's quite possible to make moral arguments without resorting to a Biblical notion of morality or even moral/ethical relativism. There are multiple versions of utilitarian ethics and Kantian ethics, as well as a variety of traditional virtue ethics available to select from, some of them based on divine revelation and some on reason.
@AgainstTheWind1@xanga - I think you have a great point. It is true. I like that there are other people who have great standards regarding avoidance of sins
That's really sad and disturbing. Human trafficking is a huge problem in the US and I'd like to see the government do more about it.
@jim_the_american@xanga - Pornography is immoral from the secular perspective of Natural Law. Sexuality is integral to human nature. And it's specific natural purpose is procreation.
That means everything that flows from our sexuality most be open to procreation.
Pornography of any sort is the debasement of human sexuality because it reduces sexuality to only its pleasure component.
That means that pornography is a vice. And since vice is the opposite of virtue pornography degrades the human being and leads to his undoing.
Only through virtue, the pursuit of excellence, is the human spirit augmented and nurtured. Therefore, pornography must be rejected as a means of pursing happiness and self actualization.
Great blog! I didn't think about the human trafficking side of it, how sad that things like that have to happen! In fact it's not just sad it's diabolical
Child pornography is illegal anyway.. I don't see how you can correlate the two. People watch porn and are against child porn/trafficking all the damn time.
@pretty_inx_plaid@xanga - porn isn't natural. it's 'entertainment' and disrespectful in so many ways in my opinion.
i HATE porn. all of it.
I'm not religious in any way, but I do agree with this.
I am a former Christian who fully embraces porn. I find it hilarious that so many women are threatened by porn, and liken it to cheating. To be threatened by an image...*sigh*