Secondhand Porn

We are commanded to let our minds dwell on, among other good things, "whatever is pure" (Phil 4:7). We are warned "Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you," to "not become partakers with them" and that "it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret" (Eph 5:3-12). We are to be "be wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matt 10:16). So, we followers of Christ, serious about this relationship, work hard at that. We get ourselves connected to fellow Christians who can hold us accountable. We put software on our computers that block "those kinds of sites". Maybe we even throw out the computer in order to tear out the right eye that causes you to sin (Matt 5:29). We're working this to the best of our ability.

And then ... you drive to work. Or turn on the Family Channel. Or flip through a magazine in the dentist's office. Or open your eyes just about anywhere but a dark room. And what do you find? Secondhand porn. It's everywhere. It's on the billboards and in the advertisements. It's on TV and on just about any given screen available. Where it used to be a shame to have such things shown, now you can find it displayed larger than life just by walking by a Victoria Secret store in the mall. Indeed, there once was a concept known as "underwear", but a lot of women don't seem to understand that "underwear" would be worn ... you know ... under clothes, not in plain sight. Hey, you can't hardly go to church anymore without some young lady thinking that "modesty and self-control" (1 Tim 2:9) means "display what I got". It appears as if it is not actually possible to avoid secondhand porn.

Job made "a covenant with my eyes" (Job 31:3). I wonder how that would have worked out today. I don't know. I don't know what his culture did with the problem. Ours is not doing well. We'll ban smoking in order to save people from secondhand smoke, but we embrace the destruction that is pornography and freely display it for everyone else to suffer. This is not a small problem for any genuine follower of Christ. If we are to take sexual purity as seriously as Scripture does (Matt 15:19, Acts 15:29; Rom 13:13; 1 Cor 5:11; 1 Cor 6:13, 18; 1 Cor 10:8; 2 Cor 12:21; Gal 5:19; Eph 5:3; Col 3:5; 1 Thess 4:3 ... well, you get the idea), then this is going to have to be serious business. It will require that "covenant with my eyes." It will require "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:17). It will require letting our minds dwell on whatever is pure and the rest (Phil 4:7). It will require vigilance, a determined attitude, a head full of things of God, and a heart for God that won't allow either arrogance or apathy, but a constant dependence on God.

But, then, isn't that always the case?