It’s Not a Victimless Sin

Part 2 of 2 
Ezekiel 3:20-21

The sin of pornography is doubly damning for a professing believer. What about the sex worker’s soul? What about the image of God imprinted upon each human in Creation? Rather than warning and caring for the exploited sex workers, far too many professing Christians use them, like consumable and disposable waste, to feed their own sinful fantasies and pleasure. No Christian love or care is extended. The image of God upon the created is ignored by the lustful leer of the one who consumes another.

I was praying with a friend who had struggled with many issues throughout his life. One of the issues was pornography. I remember telling him very directly that his compulsive sinful flights to pornography, lust, and masturbation to manage his sexual urges imprisoned sex workers and advanced a twenty-first century slavery. He looked at me with shock.

“I never thought of it that way,” he responded.

“It’s about time you did,” was my response.

In an internet age where private consumption of pornography is hidden between a phone, a wifi router, and a soft glow, honest repentance and departure from lustful participation in pornography is scarce. Jesus’ words span twenty centuries with a bold relevance for today.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:27-30 NKJV).

Job surely had grappled with temptations of lust. The ancient saint boldly proclaimed his testimony and personal commitment.

“I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman? For what is the allotment of God from above, and the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Is it not destruction for the wicked, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? Does He not see my ways, and count all my steps? If I have walked with falsehood, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity” (Job 31:1-6 NKJV).

I first met Melissa when she was sixteen. She was serving a banquet at the Christian high school from which Beth and I graduated. Two years later, she enrolled in Bible college. She served as my student secretary, sang in college singing groups, earned A’s in class, and attended small group in our home. We rejoiced with Melissa’s successes and included her as a part of our family.

But Melissa had unresolved issues. A family history of sexual abuse, and manipulation complicated her romantic life, leading to sexual sin and dismissal from Bible college. She eventually “hooked up” with Tim and bore two children to him. Tim was an ex-Marine. When money was tight, he demanded that Melissa work as an erotic dancer in local clubs. Her income, he insisted, was needed to make ends meet. In order to work up the nerve to perform such an indignity, she got drunk. The alcohol numbed her emotions enough for her to cope with the shame of it all.

I warned Melissa. I tried to help her find a path of hope.

When Melissa and Tim broke it off, he took the kids. He had money. She had nothing, except fading beauty and growing shame. In 2011, a small article in a Michigan newspaper featured her death from drug overdose.

And you say that your pornography habit hurts no one.

Right.

Lexi “Olivia” Nova. Shyla Stylez. August Ames. Porn actresses. Consumable. Victims of a culture gone mad with watching sex on the internet.

Now, I warn you, professing Christian friend. The Bible teaches that fornicators go to Hell. If you are to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you must repent in faith, become His true and faithful disciple, and walk with Him in the victory He provides through the merits of His atoning blood on the cross of Calvary.

“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul” (Ezekiel 3:20-21 NKJV).

Lexi, Olivia, August, Melissa.

It’s not a victimless sin.

In the words of Jesus, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11c NKJV).