Is Pornography Really a Sin? Are Pastors helping protect ALL women?

A prostituted woman walks into your Church on Sunday, will your Pastor’s cheeks redden as he recognizes her from the video he just watched of her? Is pornography really a sin if the percent of Pastors that admit to the weekly viewing of pornography a whopping 50%?

50%

Married Christian men are not much different at 55%.

55%

Believe it or not, International Saints & Abolitionists say the numbers have risen since those polls were last taken.

"Pornography is the very outlet that is used to document the activities of prostitution … as well as advertise for what can be purchased." Click To Tweet

In general, the church as a whole questions how the divorce rate can be so high among Christians that it nearly matches the world. When HALF or more of Pastors and married Christian men are admitting to regular pornography usage, and being that “[p]ornography is the very outlet that is used to document the activities of prostitution … as well as advertise for what can be purchased” {https://SaintsandAbolitionists.com}, it likely starts there.

While not a ‘male-only’ problem, since it is statistically a majority male problem, that is the framework for this article. Yet, please know that this sin is just as egregious no matter your gender.

Breaking it down…

The sin of lust starts in the mind reaching out like octopus tentacles affecting those close to them (spouse, children, parents, siblings, friends, etc.). All too commonly, what is viewed through incognito browsers eventually becomes rote and monotonous, eventually leading to hiring prostituted women to spice back up their imaginations with something new and exciting–except this time, incognito hotel rooms are utilized to hide their sin.

Is pornography really a sin? Not according to this Pastor….

Few pastors dare preach purity from lust as a necessity to live a holy life–dare I make the assumption that for the majority it stems from guilt? In a private meeting with a Christian married man after he confessed his pornography usage to God and his wife, one Pastor ‘advised’ this man that “you don’t need to tell your wife the next time you give in, it has nothing to do with her so you just need to confess it to God.”

He was serious. He actually inferred the sin would absolutely occur again, that his wife should be lied to, that he should keep secrets from her, twisted the Bible to say no one on earth is worthy enough of an apology, that his wife has no business knowing what goes on in his head or opened on his browsers, and that there was no hope he would conquer this.

Typically projection takes center stage when an enabler defends a sin or an abuser: it softens their guilt and they grant themselves a secret license to commit the same sin. Click To Tweet

Typically projection takes center stage when an enabler defends a sin: it softens their own guilt, allows them to bury their own nagging conscience, and/or they grant themselves a secret license to commit the same sin. Sure, let’s encourage a man to dig a deeper hole to hide his secret life in. How asinine!

What a pitiful state our churches are in when Pastors are doling out this garbage to men–what a helpless state marriages are in when the leadership is excusing and nearly encouraging hand-picked sins allowing men to ogle, lust, peer at, and fantasize (and possibly more) about naked women they are not married to.

The Bible does not encourage toleration of sin, it encourages openness, honesty, and genuine repentance–especially with those around you if you sin against them.

To hide a sin that obliterates your wedding vows does affect your wife.

A man can conquer this sin, God can grant anyone a clean heart and with that a clean conscience to maintain purity.

Is pornography really a sin? Don’t Churches need to protect women?

A majority of churches are subliminally teaching women that they are second-class citizens, not worthy of being respected; they are merely a body to ogle after or shame if they aren’t deemed ‘worthy’ to lust after. This is where the church is failing women. A woman is a child of God, adopted as His, and valued. A man who looks at (or imagines) naked women is not valuing the women he views nor his wife he promised to love and protect.

A man who enables that behavior is no better!

An enabler who spreads that as Biblical advice is worse yet!

So I ask, is pornography really a sin?

I plead with you to find out if your church is protecting the women in it. Has your pastoral staff signed and committed to a life of purity? Is pornography a topic preached from the pulpit to protect the victims (those being viewed and the wives being lied to) and call to account the intolerance we ought to have for these heinous sins?

If your church is striving to preach holiness on all levels or could benefit from extra guidance, I highly suggest looking into the ministry of International Saints & Abolitionists. They offer resources to aid churches, schools, individuals, small groups, etc.: they can provide a speaker for your church group/Sunday school class/lead a service with a sermon; provide Pastoral staff the means and opportunity to sign an agreement to live pure, holy lives; and even provide a Bible study or book to break down the basics of this battle for the mind.

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