Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
First off: I have opened this discussion thread not for the intention of posting porn-links or NSFW images and video. My intention is that this will house a thoughtful dialogue about the social conception of morality within a rapidly changing liberal culture.
Second: I am somewhat reticent to open this thread that I have been mulling over for some weeks now. The topic is a sensitive one, and in many ways a private matter, and I would ask everyone to bear this in mind before posting. If people are incapable of keeping a level head about this the subject, then I will shut it down.
In Matthew 5:27–30, Jesus is reported to have taught the following:
And then in 6:22–23 we read: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
The interpetation of Jesus’s instructions in modern, North American culture has taken on an absolute form:
http://newlife.com/emb/first-steps/
This has become a pretty familiar refrain in evangelical circles: It is not an exaggeration to claim that the North American Church has been irrevocably impacted by increased availability and access to pornography, and statistics show that Evangelicals consider this a matter of huge concern, often citing pornography as a primary cause of the end of marriages. Sermons dedicated to the evils of internet pornography in the Sunday morning services at our last church in Canada before we moved were among the most frequent over the past five years, and I suspect that this is likely a trend across North America.
In short, the teaching in Evangelicalism is pretty straightforward:
· Premise 1: Jesus taught that all sin was equally grave.
· Premise 2: Incorporeal lust is a sin
· Conclusion: Lust is indistinguishable from actual infidelity.
My interest in this is in how closely the modern, Evangelical ethic reflects the “secular” counterpart in Western society, especially amid our modern tendencies that are increasingly more sexually liberal. Is this nothing more than a religiously motivated problem, or will our increasing sexual liberty prove to be the downfall of our society? Is legal internet pornography (as opposed to child porn or human trafficking and and sexual slavery) a danger to adults? to relationships? Is lust merely a benign fact of biology, or is it indistinguishable with infidelity and adultery? |
Well this bolded part is pretty far off base. I'd like to see some statistics about it. The primary cause for divorce (and overall marital discord) is money or money problems. Second is adultery, but just how much effect pornography has on that, I do not know, but I have never heard about it being a major factor.
Pornography has increased, there's no doubt about that. And I do believe we live in a world where it's a little too saturated with our everyday life. But that's just my opinion.
I think it may be dangerous to developing minds, though I would ask each guy to go back to his day and remember how interested he was about finding or viewing porn, and if he felt it messed him up. Of course guys, no matter what age, are always interested in sneaking a peek at their neighbour, or any attractive woman he could find, if the situations are available. This is nothing new.
I grew up just as the internet was taking shape. BBS's and dial up. Even before web browsers. The first porno I ever saw I would have been 14 and it was on VHS. My buddy got it and we watched it with a third friend of ours when his parents left one weekend. I don't feel like it messed me up at all. As far as the internet, we had to wait long hours for a few nude pics, so it was nothing that really was very exciting for very long. We would just go outside and play basketball or jump on the IRC chat and hope to find some local girls. (It actually happened a few times).
I think the big thing now is that there is SO MUCH OF IT. Even with the little that I saw, the whole sexual idea and experience was still exotic, exciting. I wonder now if teenagers already have seen and know so much that it's becomes cheapened and unexciting. Of little importance. Though this may just be conjecture as I don't have the libido of a 16 year old male anymore, and sex got regular some time ago for me anyway, just as any experience. (Getting drunk, getting high, they all lose their fun after a while.)
While I'm not happy in the direction this issue has gone, I don't think it's nearly the problem that you seem to think it is. Besides religious grounds, why do you feel it is so destructive, and more importantly how is it different than anything humans have done over the ages to get their fix anyway?