I found the perspective of Fr. Seraphim Rose intriguing, that pornography is Satan’s iconography [to be clear much of what the Eastern Orthodox Church teaches contradicts Scripture and thus is error. I am not endorsing what The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches nor everything Fr Seraphim has said; just this one thought I find useful to illustrate a point]. This concept made me think of the Apostle Paul’s words, “Run away from sexual immorality [in any form, whether thought or behavior, whether visual or written]. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the one who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18). Here the apostle makes a distinction that sexual sin does have a damaging effect on the person beyond the other sins. We are inclined to think sexually transmitted diseases, which he may very well have meant too but I believe its more than that, we have to remember the following is this one, “Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own.” (1 Corinthians 6:19). So you see our bodies are the temples and sanctuaries of God’s Spirit, then when we sexually sin we pollute that sanctuary, and come against that temple; we get demons and expose ourselves to wickedness.
There is estimated 60-98% of men do pornography. Women are at 30-90% who do pornography. 93% of Pastors and 94% of Youth Ministers report pornography is a problem in the Church, with only 7% of churches proving any programs to help people come out of it. You might make the common excuses of “well I can’t get married cuz of economics, haven’t found the right one, and academics so God surly will let me do porn in the in-term,” uh no.. Jesus says its adultery, “But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matthew 5:28-30). That means removing looking at it and putting your hand towards doing the sin, cut off the sites, dump the pics from your photo album, and let your eyes be pure!
It is hard nowadays, we are inundated with so much sensual stuff in the media, on all our tech that its hard to get away from it. But remember though the mediums in which the temptations come is newer, the struggle is not new. Remember that the Israelites had to carve giant breasts on statues and penises, and depict sexual things in Egypt, basically they were forced in slavery to make Egyptian pornography. So we need to know that this common struggle all saints have faced through the ages, and that The Lord will provide you a way out, “No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken orenticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word—He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Amen.
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