One of the secret sins of America that has come out of the closet and into the limelight of national attention is pornography. The word pornography comes from two Greek words. One of them is porneia which is used in the Greek New Testament and is translated fornication (sexual immorality, especially between the unmarried). The last part of the word comes from the Greek graphein which means “to write.” So pornography is literature which fosters immorality. Today it includes magazines, books, pictures, tapes, films, and virtual reality shows and games that portray immorality.

The land is flooded with pornography, often on publie display where anyone can pick it up to read. The flood of immorality has risen to incalculable heights with the advent of the Internet. No one knows for sure how much of what is available on the Internet is pornography but estimates have ranged as high as 80 to 89 percent. A couple generations ago people had to go somewhere away from home to find pornography, but now it is easily available in millions of homes around the world.

It has become obvious now to all but a few who are too blind or stubborn to admit it that pornography enflames the imaginations and passions of its devotees. Not only does pornography specialize in nudity but it dwells on violence, especially aimed at women and children. Governments have tried to hold back the tide of child and women abuse to little avail. Especially with the Internet, it is almost impossible to control.

Pornography is habit-forming, as many have testified. It captures the minds and bodies of its readers. Most of us know what it is like to have heard suggestive jokes or obscene words. Somehow these things register on our minds and are difficult to erase. Now multiply that a thousand times or more and you get a little idea of the bondage suffered by readers and viewers of pornography.

Pornography not only ruins the mind but also leads to open violence and immorality. Husbands, enchanted by violence and perversion, have abused their own wives trying to reenact what they have seen. Husbands bound by pornography find it difficult to enjoy normal relations with their wives. Youths who are caught up in pornography often ruin their hopes of a pure, joyful marriage later in life.

We need desperately to flee to God’s Word for help in avoiding this vile pollution. There is hope available from God for those who have been ensnared in pornography’s clutches.

The Bible has much to say about pornography. In the Old Testament we read of Canaanite groves. There images were carved on tree trunks, becoming the scene of immoral “worship” services.

The Bible was written in such a setting and does not mince words in its warnings concerning such immorality. Here are a number of directives from God’s Word which will rescue us from the pollution of pornography. We must recognize the following truths about pornography and God’s road to deliverance from it. . .

Pornography is sinful just as actual acts of immorality are sinful.

Jesus said, “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Those who indulge in lustful looking as well as acting will be judged by God. The first step away from pornography is to confess it as sin.

God will surely judge those engaged in the production, sale, and use of pornography.

Consider how like modern America is the description found in Romans 1:26 ff.

“For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. . . . Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

The only way to victory over pornography is a clean break.

Even gazing lustfully at immodesty in catalogs, magazines, and on the screen feed lust and lead to pornography. The Bible warns us to flee fornication (porneia) and to flee youthful lusts. Rather we are to “follow righteousness” (2 Timothy 2:22).

It is natural to want to know about our sexuality and our feelings, but we wreck our lives if we seek information from the polluted world around us. When you have questions, ask your parents or a trusted spiritual leader.

Remember whose you are and dedicate your mind and body to Him.

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own ? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19; 20).

Fill your mind with good so as to leave no room for evil.

“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

—RLE