NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Pornography is a ravenous cancer destroying modern society. It is Satan’s corruption of God’s design for us as sexual beings. It is one of the most wicked and powerful weapons in Satan’s arsenal as he seeks to encourage an ever-increasing sexual lust that enslaves and consumes its victims.
In the last quarter-century, America has been literally engulfed in a polluted tidal wave of hard-core pornography. This shameless industry has set its tentacles deep into our national psyche and economy; the 1999 revenues of pornographic websites alone are estimated at nearly $1.2 billion. Some 25 million Americans visit cyber-sex sites between one to 10 hours a week, according to a recent MSNBC study. Sex is the number one searched-for topic on the Internet and experts estimate that 60 percent of all website visits are sexual in nature.
A study revealed that pornography is at least an $8 billion a year industry in the United States. A February 1997 article in U.S. News & World Report, for example, stated that the pornography industry draws more money “than Hollywood’s domestic box office receipts” and more “than all the revenues generated by rock and country music recordings.”
Despite assertions to the contrary, pornography is not a victimless crime or simply harmless entertainment. The painful trail left by pornography is reflected in increased incidents of child molestation, rape and sexual violence, transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, and societal values and attitudes that condone and even encourage dissemination of soft-core pornography.
Studies consistently reveal that the largest consumers of pornography are males 24 years old and younger. The proliferation and acceptance of pornography as normative is leading an entire generation of young men to adopt distorted values about their sexuality and their views of women.
We must not be naive about the impact and presence of pornography. It is in your church, on your street and maybe in your home. And as dangerous as pornography is itself, it is a gateway to even more grievous sexual immorality.
Looking lustfully at a person offends the Lord; it is beyond temptation. Jesus warned us of the subtle dangers of pornography in Matthew 5:28: “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Our sexuality is to be constrained by and conducted within the confines of a marriage relationship that honors God. Anything else is an affront to God and a short step to the destruction of your family and your marriage.
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Land is president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
