Originally posted by: Amplifier
Pornography destroys a marriage's sex life through lust. Though it may bring a short-term pleasure, it harms your marriage by supplanting love-inspired affection with lustful gratification. It?s only a matter of time before things deteriorate. Lust naturally craves more and more, so you'll find yourself looking for more exciting outlets when your spouse is unable to keep up.
The enemy wants us to believe that we cannot survive and enjoy life without a diet of sin. The truth is that sinful living produces spiritual and ultimately physical death. True life begins with living according to God?s Spirit, and making no provision for sin?s fulfillment (Romans 13:14 , John 6:63). We CAN live without sin!
the problem with this is that it assumes too much. it assumes there is an enemy other than our own mind, in saying that it negates our own responsibility for our own actions. so these things are assumed as fact yet unproven to this day, I will however concede to the facts that what is unknown about death is far greater than what is known. But one day we all will face it.
a blanket statement like that (Pornography destroys a marriage's sex life through lust) assumes that all people will just indulge in lustful acts until they are basically an empty shell of what used to be a person.
Not everyone is so out of control of their own faculties and desires. this would only be teaching us that we have no control over our ownselves and we need to defend agaisnt satan. so when we fail we have satan to blame, but take him out of the picture and who is to blame?
When we obey God with our sex life, we will experience peace and are best able to reap the fruits of a healthy marriage (current or future). Sex is not a right given to every person, but rather, it is a gift from God to every person who marries. For those who have not married, the challenge is to trust God and wait on Him for His provision for life, marriage and sex.
Satan specializes in condemnation and despair. Once he entices us to sin, he condemns us for sinning, telling us we'll never be free. He tells us we'll never be able to please God. Jesus died so that we have peace with God. God is not angry with us for sinning, and he longs for us to accept Jesus' sacrifice and live in the reality of the new life he prepared for us. Jesus bore all of God's wrath due to us for our sin (Isaiah 53:4-12; Isaiah 54:10). God will not reject us when we approach him for help.
the desires we have are completely natural and embedded deeply within us, to fight against your yourself and what you are is like denial of what you really are, you are an animal like other animals, while you have the cognitive ability to think and solve problems you still have the same needs as any animal. like if you deny a dog water for an extended period of time he would do just about anything to get to water, and he may also drink urine. people have done it in extreme situations to survive. this is no different than any physical need we carry.
when you try to deny that those needs are a part of who and what you are you may find yourself drinking from that urine cup. just like how many catholic priests become so twisted some are the worst perverts around. while not to negate that there are many more who do not molest little boys you got to see that there is a connection of some type there.
God doesn't make mistakes. He created us good, but we are corrupted from birth by the sinful nature we inherit from Adam (Romans 5:12). We can become enslaved to sin when we obey sin's desires (Romans 6:16). When enslaved, it's easy to blame our bondage on God. When we do this, it seems to free us from the responsibility for our sin. But, God is not to blame - we are! Steps to gaining freedom begin with taking responsibility for our sin by confessing it to God.
Forbidden sex enslaves us to lust. For a time, our forays into the forbidden may deliver pleasure, but soon we'll want more risk, more exposure, more thrill, etc., and we'll go deeper into depravity. Our own actions can bring a type of curse upon ourselves, such that we are unable to enjoy the good things God has given us. Romans 1:20-32 describes what can happen when we follow the path of depravity. Those who wait on God for their sexual needs will enjoy lasting pleasure and contentment (Psalm 36:7-9; John 4:14). God's provision meets our needs (Philippians 4:19).
God gave us some very specific guidance on what kind of sex is acceptable. God restricts sex to marriage between one man and one woman (Mark 10:6-9, Genesis 2:24). Any sexual activity outside of this context is sin, which has consequences that in some cases have lifelong effects (see consequences). God also gave us specific guidance on nakedness, telling us not to reveal our sexual organs to any person other than our spouse (Habakkuk 2:14-16, Isaiah 57:8, Ezekiel 23:18). Pornography exploits nakedness, and it makes God furious! (Ezekiel 23:18).
hope this helps
edit: I'm a preacher, sorry if my post seems too esoteric.
this is just so far from reality its hard to even respond to. The bible is not the word of God, did he write it with his own hands? no he didnt, people did. it is a book written by people just like you and me who were inspired by God, as to write what they interpreted as truth.
while the bible is certainly a book that has great wisdom in it and could only serve to help a person with their daily struggles in life it is not a magic book. christians would do much better to look at it as a guide by their ancestors, while it says over and over that the truth should be the path that they follow.
1 Timothy 3:15 (New American Standard Bible)
15but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in (A)the household of God, which is the (B)church of (C)the living God, the (D)pillar and support of the truth
Psalm 25:5 (New American Standard Bible)
5Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You I wait all the day.
Psalm 15:2 (New American Standard Bible)
2He who (A)walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And (B)speaks truth in his heart.
so when you see a woman who is attractive in church they teach you to turn away from the truth. she is desired by men and that is the truth. but you musnt lust after her or look at her in that way.
if you look hard enough you may see more than just the lustful desire we have, (to own such a beautiful woman), but you may also see the fullness of her being in that she is a powerful force in wisdom and in beauty. and there are many like her. so deny the truth and keep trying to peek at her thru the corner of your eyes and in your deepest dirty thoughts you see her. but she will be there and that will not be denied.
so would it not be better to embrace that beauty and truth than to hide from it like a cowering little child afraid of a monster?
The only reason that porn is such a desire is because we have infact been denied for a very long time of what is rightfully ours. we have been forced to comply to rules of behavior and to be taught that if we touch our own bodies or look at women we will be thrown into a fire of hell which we will burn eternally.
deny what is natural and you deny the truth, In the bible it states how God made this earth and everything on it. so by denying what he made you to desire would be to deny God himself. thats why Christians have to seperate men and women so much, because the men have no control over their own desires, much like the thirsty dog.
if you ever been in a church that has a swimming facility you wont see the men and women swimming together. why not? i can walk in a room full of women in swimsuits and see them for what they are, beautiful people, ladies, my sisters. im not gonna go crazy and hump all over them. yet this is how we are treated, so it was almost inevitable that its what we did conform to.
There has to be a balance in a humans life, everything around us teaches us this, not too much water, not deprived of it, a healthy balance is the best possible answer we could ever have for ourselves and our future existance on this earth. not in an afterlife. your children wont have that same luxury to sit and contemplate what will be in their afterlife, they will be too busy trying to undo what has been left for them.
their inheritance is this earth, which you can say that we inherited from our ancestors, or are we loaning it from our children? instead of worrying about porn and feeling like you actually have the ability to preach anything in truth you must first look at reality and who you are personally. in what ways do you deny the truth in your life? justifying your clean and holy lifestyle isnt preaching, speaking an answer to a problem is preaching. Porn isnt the problem, its why we feel we need it so badly thats the problem.
so to condem people because their hearts are unfulfilled cannot be speaking truth.