Is Porn Use good for Christians?

[NS4Liberty]

The Ted Bundy thing is a non-argument. At least 50% of men view pornography, but 50% of men are not serial killers. Telling men and teenage boys they are going to be like Ted Bundy if they view porn is unhelpful at best. If Ted Bundy claimed wearing pants made him a serial killer, would we tell people who wear pants they will end up like Ted Bundy? No, it was just his excuse for the way he was.
As far as intelligence or maturity of men who view porn, Solomon is the wisest man to walk the earth, other than Jesus, and women were his downfall. Until the internet, Solomon, Ghengis Khan and Hugh Hefner were probably the only men in history able to see over a thousand naked women and that was in a lifetime. A 12 year old boy can see that many in a month on his smart phone. Meditate on that for a moment. It has nothing to do with intelligence or maturity. Men are designed to desire what porn gives them in concentrated unnatural form. Like I said earlier, porn and refined sugar are very similar in that they take healthy desires and hijack them.

The key for me was to separate the healthy desire from the unhealthy and sinful fulfillment of that desire. Lumping it all together was a recipe for failure.

 

[LDremoved]

The Ted Bundy thing is a non-argument. At least 50% of men view pornography, but 50% of men are not serial killers. Telling men and teenage boys they are going to be like Ted Bundy if they view porn is unhelpful at best. If Ted Bundy claimed wearing pants made him a serial killer, would we tell people who wear pants they will end up like Ted Bundy? No, it was just his excuse for the way he was.
As far as intelligence or maturity of men who view porn, Solomon is the wisest man to walk the earth, other than Jesus, and women were his downfall. Until the internet, Solomon, Ghengis Khan and Hugh Hefner were probably the only men in history able to see over a thousand naked women and that was in a lifetime. A 12 year old boy can see that many in a month on his smart phone. Meditate on that for a moment. It has nothing to do with intelligence or maturity. Men are designed to desire what porn gives them in concentrated unnatural form. Like I said earlier, porn and refined sugar are very similar in that they take healthy desires and hijack them.

The key for me was to separate the healthy desire from the unhealthy and sinful fulfillment of that desire. Lumping it all together was a recipe for failure.

The Ted Bundy thing is a non-argument. At least 50% of men view pornography, but 50% of men are not serial killers. Telling men and teenage boys they are going to be like Ted Bundy if they view porn is unhelpful at best. If Ted Bundy claimed wearing pants made him a serial killer, would we tell people who wear pants they will end up like Ted Bundy? No, it was just his excuse for the way he was.

Ted Bundy also claimed that every single man he was on death row with had a fascination with violent porn, in my opinion it wasn't the porn that made them do it, their brains were already geared towards violence and an addiction to violent porn only furthered those interest. It's interesting that he mentions what he saw on cable TV in his 40s as something he would have stayed up all night watching in his childhood because of the violence and sex in it, this shows how progressively worse things have gotten.

Also Ted didn't use it as an "excuse" he literally stated that it played a role in who is he today, I wouldn't consider that blaming porn specifically but more as a warning against using it excessively.

As far as intelligence or maturity of men who view porn, Solomon is the wisest man to walk the earth, other than Jesus, and women were his downfall. Until the internet, Solomon, Ghengis Khan and Hugh Hefner were probably the only men in history able to see over a thousand naked women and that was in a lifetime. A 12 year old boy can see that many in a month on his smart phone. Meditate on that for a moment. It has nothing to do with intelligence or maturity. Men are designed to desire what porn gives them in concentrated unnatural form. Like I said earlier, porn and refined sugar are very similar in that they take healthy desires and hijack them.

The key for me was to separate the healthy desire from the unhealthy and sinful fulfillment of that desire. Lumping it all together was a recipe for failure.

I think a few are missing my IQ and maturity reference, it was in reference to being entertained by such over the top, fake acting just for the sake of nudity. I feel the same thing about reality TV and the music teenagers listen to. I feel as though my brain is slowly dying when watching or listening to certain things. I was saying that personally i'd be more worried about why someone is so easily entertained by such garbage than if it was porn or not.

 

[Edward]

I find it interesting that Ted blamed even the porn of the 70s for its role in him being the way he wa

Did you even watch the video before replying?

 

[Edward]

Did anybody watch the video before replying????????????????

I only ask because of what the comments are saying.

 

[LDremoved]

Did anybody watch the video before replying????????????????

I only ask because of what the comments are saying.

Not before my initial comment which is why I referenced "watching it when I got home" and going by "my memory of Ted Bundy alone." I did watch it last night though. Not sure how what I said about Ted blaming porn for having a negative role in his life implies that I didn't watch the video though? I'm pretty sure that's what he's always said.

Anyway I found the video interesting, thanks for the link.

 

[The Revolting Man]

Did anybody watch the video before replying????????????????

I only ask because of what the comments are saying.

I’ve seen it before. I’m not convinced of Bundt’s sincerity.

 

[LDremoved]

I’ve seen it before. I’m not convinced of Bundt’s sincerity.

I had my reservations as well, at times he sounds rehearsed. He was being ministered to at the time and it almost sounded like he was repeating what he was taught. I've often wondered what his motivation for lying would be though? This interview was right before he was executed and prior to this he already helped detectives catch the Green River killer by telling them that serial killers such as himself often return to the site where they left the bodies to do things I won't mention and he confessed to as many murders as he could remember. At that point saving face was pretty much out the window however saving face and denying was something Ted Bundy was known to do...

 

[The Revolting Man]

I had my reservations as well, at times he sounds rehearsed. He was being ministered to at the time and it almost sounded like he was repeating what he was taught. I've often wondered what his motivation for lying would be though? This interview was right before he was executed and prior to this he already helped detectives catch the Green River killer by telling them that serial killers such as himself often return to the site where they left the bodies to do things I won't mention and he confessed to as many murders as he could remember. At that point saving face was pretty much out the window however saving face and denying was something Ted Bundy was known to do...

There was speculation he was trying to manipulate Dobson into helping him get his sentence commuted in to life in prison. Dobson vehemently denied it but then he would.

 

[LDremoved]

There was speculation he was trying to manipulate Dobson into helping him get his sentence commuted in to life in prison. Dobson vehemently denied it but then he would.

Yeah I do remember that now, could definitely be a possibility.

 

[FollowingHim]

@LovesDogs, there are two aspects of this that we need to be careful not to conflate.

Certainly the production of pornography is bad. It exploits women, and enormous abuse occurs through it. I am sure there are examples of porn that is completely consensual and everyone feels quite happy with it, but overall the industry is destructive to the women involved. I highly doubt anyone here would strongly disagree with that statement.

That's not the aspect most of us have been discussing.

The other aspect is the men who are consuming pornography.

But you’re missing the point of this conversation and the incredibly destructive effects both sides of this discussion have on the men who are fighting their baser natures in order to aspire to a higher standard.

And there, again, there are two extreme possible arguments:

• Porn is perfectly acceptable.
• Porn is always absolutely evil and could even lead you to be a serial killer, so if you buy that magazine I'll have to divorce you for my safety.

I believe @The Revolting Man is pointing out that BOTH of these arguments can be very destructive on men. Obviously saying it's perfectly fine is destructive, as it encourages men to do more of it. But also saying it is the worst thing in the world is destructive also, because it causes women to overreact and tear apart their own families over this failing of their husbands.

We have to have a more compassionate, middle-ground approach, in order to deal with this problem constructively rather than destructively. As I said 5 years ago in an earlier comment:

The primary secular issue I first noted with pornography in my comment above is that it is clearly "harmful", by which I was referring to the amount of damage it causes in marriages. However, a large part of that damage is not caused by pornography in and of itself, but by the emotional reaction of a wife to her husband's use of pornography (or vice versa). The pornography combined with the wife's disapproval of pornography causes enormous tension and marriage failure. This can be prevented by removing the porn - but it also must be admitted that the tension could be equally prevented by removing the wife's objection to the porn... So even marital failure cannot in itself be evidence that porn is harmful.

The Bible doesn't speak explicitly against pornography - but when you get into the details of any particular case, it often involves lusting after a married woman (ie a woman whom we should consider to be married, whether or not she considers herself to be), which is forbidden. This means in practice it may often be sinful, yet only in an indirect way, as it is not explicitly prohibited.

And I think most of us must admit that we gladly look at a statue of a nude woman on a fountain in a local park and don't think anything of it, don't even stop the kids from looking, because we don't even register it as being a problem at all. It's just a statue. The same goes for famous old artwork. The line between art and "porn" is blurry, and that too should give us pause for thought.

I'm not promoting porn use, for many reasons. But I would certainly encourage people to relax about it enough so that it doesn't destroy their marriage if it does occur.

 

[LDremoved]

@LovesDogs, there are two aspects of this that we need to be careful not to conflate.

Certainly the production of pornography is bad. It exploits women, and enormous abuse occurs through it. I am sure there are examples of porn that is completely consensual and everyone feels quite happy with it, but overall the industry is destructive to the women involved. I highly doubt anyone here would strongly disagree with that statement.

That's not the aspect most of us have been discussing.

The other aspect is the men who are consuming pornography.

And there, again, there are two extreme possible arguments:

• Porn is perfectly acceptable.
• Porn is always absolutely evil and could even lead you to be a serial killer, so if you buy that magazine I'll have to divorce you for my safety.

I believe @The Revolting Man is pointing out that BOTH of these arguments can be very destructive on men. Obviously saying it's perfectly fine is destructive, as it encourages men to do more of it. But also saying it is the worst thing in the world is destructive also, because it causes women to overreact and tear apart their own families over this failing of their husbands.

We have to have a more compassionate, middle-ground approach, in order to deal with this problem constructively rather than destructively. As I said 5 years ago in an earlier comment:

I wasn't aware that I had to read everyone's comments and discuss what they wanted to discuss only. The question was is porn good for Christians, since both men and women can be Christian what is the harm in talking about the effects that is has on everyone involved, including the porn stars. I pointed out the negative effect on both women and men in my initial comment, however some on this forum tend to only focus on what I say about women and categorize it as feminism.

The link for the article doesn't even work therefore I have no context to the question other than the question itself. I'm aware of what Revoltingman is saying and if he or anyone else wants to discuss that topic relating to the subject then by all means do so, I found it interesting and I agree with what he is saying, I just wanted to share a different perspective.

 

[primrose]

But also saying it is the worst thing in the world is destructive also, because it causes women to overreact and tear apart their own families over this failing of their husbands.

We have to have a more compassionate, middle-ground approach, in order to deal with this problem constructively rather than destructively.

From the overall posts I didn’t gather a stance stating it was the worst nor that its view equates to a husband failing. In fact, I recall the context of excessive use being made known.

I hope y'all realize that I'm speaking mostly about using it excessively,

which falls in line with your post from 5 years ago regarding being aware of the emotional tensions that might arise. Certainly when anyone in a marriage engages in excessive use of some sort, would lead to further conversation between the couple to overcome.

 

[Edward]

I’ve seen it before. I’m not convinced of Bundt’s sincerity.

I get it only Yah will know whether he was truly repentant or not and like you I have my doubts.

Also I would like to point out that I have listened to the entire interview this was just a snippet and there was a question that Dobson asked him, that question was do you think you deserve to die now that you know Jesus and Bundy said I'll be honest with you I don't want to die he says but I need to die so that the people will be at rest knowing that the man who caused all their pain will be gone I don't want to die but I need to die so that those families will have closure. Now yes he can fool me and everyone else but in my honest opinion I truly believe that a true repentant person can only say what he said. I could be wrong but Yahweh is greater than us and who are we to say that Ted Bunty cannot have a true repentant heart we will never know until we go home to be with our savior.

I've often wondered what his motivation for lying would be though?

I have to admit you're one talented person if you know for a fact he was lying.

 

[LDremoved]

have to admit you're one talented person if you know for a fact he was lying.

Didn't say that, I said I don't understand what his motivation would be for lying which makes me lean towards him telling the truth. Of course no will know for certain, I just find it fun to discuss multiple opinions, the mystery is fascinating at times.

 

[Edward]

Didn't say that, I said I don't understand what his motivation would be for lying which makes me lean towards him telling the truth. Of course no will know for certain, I just find it fun to discuss multiple opinions, the mystery is fascinating at times.

My bad it's late I'm ready for bed 3:00 a.m. comes early.

 

[LDremoved]

My bad it's late I'm ready for bed 3:00 a.m. comes early.

It's ok, happens to me all the time on here. I wake up the next day and have to edit lol

 

[The Revolting Man]

I get it only Yah will know whether he was truly repentant or not and like you I have my doubts.

Also I would like to point out that I have listened to the entire interview this was just a snippet and there was a question that Dobson asked him, that question was do you think you deserve to die now that you know Jesus and Bundy said I'll be honest with you I don't want to die he says but I need to die so that the people will be at rest knowing that the man who caused all their pain will be gone I don't want to die but I need to die so that those families will have closure. Now yes he can fool me and everyone else but in my honest opinion I truly believe that a true repentant person can only say what he said. I could be wrong but Yahweh is greater than us and who are we to say that Ted Bunty cannot have a true repentant heart we will never know until we go home to be with our savior.



I have to admit you're one talented person if you know for a fact he was lying.

I’ve heard that part too but forgot about it. That is compelling.

 

[Maddog]

Tangent to this topic: prostitution preceded pornography. Reference Gen 38 and Judah coaxing a "prostitute" for her services and yet there wasnt any Godly condemnation in the context.

 

[MeganC]

Tangent to this topic: prostitution preceded pornography. Reference Gen 38 and Judah coaxing a "prostitute" for her services and yet there wasnt any Godly condemnation in the context.

Perhaps prostitution was simply a predecessor form of pornography. One that would be seen in person before a transaction would take place.

 

[Maddog]

So i ask the queation straight up: why is there no condemnation of Judah participating with a prostitute? I dont think it was a first nor a last.