Progressive theology and pornography violate biblical boundaries
Be careful where you allow your mind to wander. If it gets lost, you might never get it back.
God has established boundary lines for our protection, and when we violate these boundaries, we bring harm to ourselves and others.
Progressive theology balks at the idea of biblical absolutes. And this propensity toward relativism prompts progressives to deliberately tamper with the boundary lines on these key biblical doctrines:
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- The supreme authority and truthfulness of Scripture
- Salvation only through repentance and faith in Jesus
- Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross for sinners
- The bodily resurrection of Christ
- The virgin birth of Christ
- The reality of Heaven and Hell
- God’s design for gender and sexuality
These biblical boundary lines were established by God and are therefore immovable. If you disregard any of these theological absolutes, you start to slide down a slippery slope. As the dominoes begin to fall, your confidence in the Word of God becomes increasingly weaker.
You might be interested in two of my recent CP op-eds: “Can Changing Your Mind Change Your True Gender?” And, “Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction and Free Will."
Pornography, like progressive theology, is a counterfeit. These wicked bedfellows each create their own highly addictive fantasy world. Progressive theology is make-believe biblical revisionism, and pornography enslaves those who reject God’s boundary lines regarding their thought life and viewing habits.
Wisdom calls out: “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways” (Proverbs 23:26). Job declared, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman” (Job 31:1).
Internet pornography is the most readily accessible form of sexual stimulus ever invented. With one click, a bevy of erotic and arousing images instantly display themselves for man’s eyes and mind to feast upon. But it comes at an enormous cost.
Porn fuels anger and aggression, while dismantling marriages and turning hearts away from Christ. God designed sex for mutual satisfaction in marriage between a man and a woman. Lurid sexual fantasies, on the other hand, greatly diminish one’s ability to experience sexual fulfillment in marriage.
One former porn addict wrote, “I thought because I was more of an occasional user of porn that I didn’t have a problem. Boy was I wrong!” Sexual desire runs amok if your mind is allowed to wander into the danger zone.
Gary Wilson wrote a book titled, “Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction.” He writes, “You have to be OK with the idea that you will never watch porn ever again in your life. If this idea gives you anxiety or makes you cringe, then you don’t have the ‘Porn is NOT an Option’ mindset yet.”
Jesus said, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness” (Luke 11:34).
If you fill your heart and mind with sexual lust, it is only a matter of time before you will likely engage in sexual sin with your body as well. Scripture declares, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18).
Since sexual sin is the only sin against your own body, the consequences tend to be severe. Scripture provides this warning: “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?” (Proverbs 6:27).
A recent headline announced that a tech billionaire “kept a spreadsheet of 5,000 women he had slept with.” It reminds me of two iconic songs: “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” (The Rolling Stones), and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (U2). Money and sexual immorality never satisfy the soul.
Jesus Christ forgives sins and sets captives free from sexual lust. Heath Lambert said, “Until God is your chief concern — until sinning against Him is what makes your heart break — you will never turn the corner.” He also said, “Jesus’ grace to change you is stronger than pornography’s power to destroy you. Jesus’ grace is stronger than your own desires to watch sex.”
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11,12).
You were created in God’s image as body, soul, and spirit (1 These. 5:23). The Bible is the owner’s manual that explains how your body and soul can operate properly and function smoothly. Viewing porn will scramble your brain, abuse your mind and harden your heart. You could compare it to pouring Coca-Cola into the gas tank of your car.
Filling your mind with Scripture, on the other hand, is essential if you want to be set free from porn addiction. Christians are called and empowered to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).
The toxic fantasies associated with porn are a powerful undercurrent in a mighty river. Meditating on God’s Word, while saying “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions, is the only way to avoid drowning in sexual lust. Check out my 2015 CP op-ed, “How Porn Prevents Christians from Being Filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Progressive theology incites people to doubt God’s Word, which leads to doubts about God’s promise of everlasting life through faith in Christ (John 3:16). Likewise, pornography leads people further and further from the Lord as it defiles the heart and fuels an ever-increasing addiction to sexual lust.
God has established boundary lines for our protection. Those who choose to violate these boundaries do so to their own peril.
Dan Delzell is the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska.
