John Owen wrote: “Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head” (Overcoming Sin and Temptation, 53).
Anyone faced with temptations that enter through the “eye-gate” should consider this post on the Covenant Eyes blog, pointing out the connection between sex trafficking and pornography. Bottom line: pornography feeds the demand for the enslavement and abuse of little girls and young women. Recognize the evil of sin and hate wickedness.
Along these lines, Dr. Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Seminary, recounts his ride down prostitution row, highlighting the way such places cry out for the gospel.
May the Lord make us loathe sin, hate it with a righteous hatred, and may he place a burning burden in our bosoms to take the liberating gospel to the nations.
I’m glad you found the blog post helpful. I recently spoke at a local college ethics class about pornography. It was interesting speaking about pornography to a predominantly non-Christian audience. While they saw very little value in the talking about “sexual ethics” they did see the need to discuss the injustice that pornography causes on a social level – such as feeding the demand for sex trafficking, or the sad lives of the people in the adult industry itself. I found it interesting that even from the world’s perspective, the evils of porn can be clearly seen.
The fact is the women on the screen are somebody’s daughter. At the heart of lust is the absence of Christlike love. My prayer is that the church will be convicted again to walk in love as Christ loved us, and thus take off every hint of immorality and impurity (Ephesians 5:1-3).
This is so true. This, in the eternal scheme of things is what James is talking about in James 1:14-15. Giving into the lust starts a snowball effect if we are not careful.
Also, one of my colleagues at our church was a jail chaplain and saw the effects of what you are talking about. I would say that in his experience at least 90-95% of the time those who have been in jail for child porn or other types of sexual sin with children started along the lines of “typical pornography” and that lead to deeper and deeper types.