Be careful little eyes what you see:- porn series Part II.

A lot of good movies have been made in recent times, but little can compare to what you watched growing up. There’s a sweet nostalgia to childhood movies. Disney movies are particularly popular despite most having the same ending. Villain defeated, true love’s kiss then riding off into the sunset as birds sing you out. Quite funny when you think about it. Like all 6year olds I would blush and giggle at Cinderella’s kiss. The innocence of childhood.

Unfortunately, it fades away. Gradually the childhood view goes out and we put on a new set of lenses. Almost like a right of passage in recent times. Remember the first time you saw a sex scene on TV? Likely it was way before you learnt about reproduction in high school biology. Suddenly Cinderella’s kiss doesn’t seem so blush worthy anymore. A couple more movies down the line and the jarring is now familiar. Track your own experience with me. Do you notice the dulling to sin that has taken place over the years?

Our movie rating system matches up to this. GE, PG-13, 16,18, R-rated. The older you get the more you are exposed to for it is assumed you have the discretion to judge what is right and wrong. To a large extent this is helpful, after all children shouldn’t be exposed to what a 16year old is watching, but I would argue a 16year old shouldn’t watch what a 16year old is exposed to either. It is an understatement to say today’s media is oversexualized. However, this isn’t entirely the industry’s fault. They only sell what we want to buy. If it’s a sex scene every 3 episodes that is the series they will make. We are so bombarded with sensuality every day from the billboard downtown to the latest Netflix series. Isn’t it likely this has blinded us to it?

My own system of discretion has been blurred. I have purposely not looked up the SLV (Sensuality Language Violence) rating of a series or two just cause I really wanted to watch it. Ignorance is bliss after all. Maybe the problem is I’m using the world’s system to judge good and evil. According to it once I’m 18 I’ve qualified to hear, read and watch just about anything. If it doesn’t hurt anyone then it’s okay. Never mind the person you are hurting is yourself and for the believer, God. To the non-Christian, I can only go so far as to say sensual entertainment is bad for your heart. We discussed some reasons why in Part I of this series. Belief in Jesus is ultimately more important than what you watch. Once you are in Christ then all of life comes under the microscope of his teachings. Thus, to the believer, much more cation is to be added.

Many people watch porn, and the statistics of Kenyan users alone is staggering. However, there is a substantial percentage that doesn’t watch it. Still subtle forms of porn are so common in mainstream entertainment you’ve likely encountered it. Little by little our conscience has been so eroded we no longer see it. We no longer cover our eyes to the couple undressing each other because at least they still have their bra and underwear on. Yeah sure the couple is grinding in bed but the sheets cover everything so it’s okay to watch. Besides, the nudity is so brief you’ll hardly even see it. After all it really won’t affect me. I can filter what my eyes take into my heart. Remember friends, we have control over our choices but not their consequences.

What we call sin is a much lower bar than what Jesus defines it as.

Matthew 5:27-28

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

To Jesus ‘do not commit adultery’ doesn’t get near enough to the actual problem. You end up committing adultery through a slow simmering of heart issues. Jesus is getting upstream to that behavior which he locates in the core of the heart. The sin that no one else can see, the one that seemingly affects no one. Watching sensual entertainment fuels sexual desire that naturally feeds into the adultery of the heart. It fosters lustful thoughts in us even if we refuse to acknowledge it. We aren’t made of stone, sexual scenes do turn us on. It feels odd to state this but our culture has made sex on TV so common place that it is no longer obvious. Sexual desire can be a wellspring but it can just as easily turn into a blackhole when twisted. Like a fire it is good when contained in the fireplace of marriage but stroke its flames outside of it and it can down a whole house. Jesus raises the bar on sexual purity not because sex is a bad thing but rather because sexual desire has the potential to be a powerful life-giving source. He knows lust isn’t a private matter hence he goes after the heart. I heard one preacher say that looking at someone lustfully whether in person or on screen is using them to gain pleasure from their body parts. It communicates how other people exist to play a part in your story of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. It is inherently selfish. Not to mention how sexual sin deeply wounds you as a person. Sin is still sin even if no one else can see it. Therefore, Jesus swims upstream to the heart because lust degrades both your own and the other person’s humanity, everything love doesn’t do.

All this leads us back to Jesus. His standard is so high that only he can reach it. Only a perfect God can remake the human heart, and he does. While we are on this side of heaven, we will still lust but that shouldn’t stop us from fighting it. Martin Luther puts it this way: “We must not make the bolstering of Jesus’ teaching too taught here as if anyone who is merely tempted to look on another with lust is eternally dammed. I cannot keep a bird from flying over my head, but I can certainly keep it from making a nest in my hair.” Our appetites grow by indulgence. The more we watch the more we permit. The 16-year-old can easily watch 50 shades of gray because they didn’t mind what they watched at 12. We must open our eyes, see what we watch for what it really is and then cut it off. This isn’t done to condemn ourselves but to have an honest realization that things aren’t fine just the way they are. Ignorance isn’t bliss. Yes, what Christ commands is a tall order, but we must awaken our senses to it as Christians. It is not safe to keep blindly walking the path to the cliff’s edge. That edge isn’t pornography rather an apathy that declares, ‘I will be judge. No need for God in this. I alone will decide if what I watch is good or evil.’ Sound familiar?

Genesis 3:4-5.

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Adam and Eve would not only know good and evil but also decide on their own version of good and evil. Lest we think this is a good thing let’s read the first thing they did with this newfound knowledge…

Genesis 3: 7

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

They hid their sexuality from each other. The naked vulnerability of man and wife God called good they saw as shameful. Centuries have passed and we still play the same game. Twisting ideas of good and evil as we go. Wars arising endlessly when our ideas of good clashes with the other party's.

Self-autonomy is the greatest blinder to God. The idea that I am my own Lord and Savior. It is the reason we don’t like the word ‘sin’ for it implies we are under someone else, answerable to their definition of good and evil. Sin thrives when we act as our own God. If we are truly believers of Christ, we must humbly lay down our own crowns and submit to what the holy God calls good and evil.

The reckoning is painful no doubt, but necessary. Filter what you watch through the lens of God’s word. Better to be awake to the quicksand of the world than to blissfully sink deeper into it. Thanks be to God we aren’t asked to get ourselves out of it. Change starts by looking around at your sin and raising the white flag surrendering to the salvation of Christ. Perhaps you are already at this point; aware of the sin around you but not knowing how to get out of it. It feels like a cycle of trying to do good but repeatedly falling short. Chin up dear friend, there is hope in Christ. Next post we will discuss the struggle and the freedom from the cycle of sin, in this case lust. We are not alone.

Titus 2:11-14

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 evil age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.