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I hate porn because it takes the soul satisfying experience of sex with a covenantally-committed spouse and turns it into a twisted soul shrinking experience of self-sex.


I hate porn because it turns sons and daughters of God into slaves of sex.


I hate porn because it turns potential missionaries into impotent Christians.


I hate porn because it destroys marriage, many before they even begin.

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Fleeing vs. Giving In to Temptation

TO FLEE OR GIVE IN TO TEMPTATION?  THAT IS THE QUESTION.

Pornography.  Masturbation.  How does it fit in to a believer's life?


Can we view porn sporadically and still consider ourselves a walking Christian?  What about masturbation?  Can we regularly or at least weekly engage in this and remain pure before God?

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Is Viewing Pornography Okay?

What was your favorite movie growing up?  What was your favorite sit com?  Who was your favorite actor/actress or singer?  Did you memorize the lyrics to the songs you liked or phrases from the show that you would joke around saying with your friends at school?  Do you remember buying all the albums of your favorite singer and being excited when they were on TV or in a magazine article?


As I thought about pornography recently, I realized many people have a "favorite" porn star.  They have seen many of their videos and are excited when they film another video (maybe with another porn star you are attracted to).


Have you ever stopped to consider how far we have come in our hearts, minds, and actions by even having a "favorite" porn star...someone who we are aroused by as we see them being intimate with another porn star?  Have you ever pondered how twisted it is really that we "follow" these porn stars and look forward to the new scenes they will film or the next surprising and raunchy photo shoot or video they will make?

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Retreating Into a Fantasy World

If you're anything like me, you know how easy it is to escape into a fantasy world; one that brings instant comfort, relief, and pleasure.  It could be through the means of pornography, masturbation, or fantasizing.

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Running To Porn...Again?

Our thoughts matter.  Our physical health and mental well-being matter.  Our friend choices matter.  Our entertainment choices matter.  How we spend our time matters.  ...and guarding our hearts matters.


If we cannot overcome an addiction, the obvious step is to get rid of anything that paves the way for running back to what we are in bondage to.  It means being ruthless with our sins of choice and choosing, day by day, hour by hour, to fight them, to the death.


Viewing pornography is selfishness at its highest.  It is using other people for our own selfish gain, pleasure, fantasy, and gratification.  It blinds us to the fact that we are watching other people engage in sexual acts and yet don't realize how odd and quite honestly, how pathetic this is.

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9 Steps to Putting That Sin to Death

It’s a battle we all must fight.  It’s a battle we all must fight from this moment until the moment we die.  It’s a battle fraught with discouragement and setbacks, yet a battle we all can and must win.  It’s the battle against sin.


All throughout the New Testament we are told to put our sin to death.  For example, in Colossians 3 Paul says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”  How do you do that?  How do you stop a sin, and how do you stop an especially stubborn and deep-rooted sin?  Is there any hope?  I want to track with John Owen here (via his great work Overcoming Sin and Temptation) and give a list of 9 things you need to do to overcome sin.  Consider that sin that is prevalent in your life and then consider each of these 9 steps.

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7 Marks of a Deeply Deadly Sin

Not all sin is the same.  While every sin places you under the wrath of God, and while any sin is sufficient to create an eternal chasm between God and man, not every sin is identical.  In chapter 9 of his work Overcoming Sin and Temptation, John Owen wants you to think about that besetting sin in your life to consider if it is an “ordinary” sin, or if it is one that is particularly deadly and that, therefore, requires something more than the usual pattern of putting sin to death.  The deadliness of a sin is not related so much to the category of that sin, but to how deeply-rooted it is in your life, and to how you have responded to God as he has revealed it to you.


Here are seven marks of a deeply deadly sin.

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