From the March 5 sermon “The Porn Path,” preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll:
Porn hurts God. Porn hurts men, women, and children. Porn hurts marriages. There is no such thing as free porn. Crissy (iamatreasure.com), a former pastor’s daughter who grew up to be a porn star and has since returned to a vibrant relationship with Jesus, shares her story and realities of the porn industry. Those of you on the porn path: Jesus died so you can kill your sin before it kills you.
Recommended resource: Porn-Again Christian.
God created sex and the passions and pleasures associated with it for marriage. Because the way God has wired the body and hardwired the brain is that whatever path we go down for the pleasure we receive, we become literally bonded to it, connected to that person or thing.
Now, can you see where this would be a magnificent gift for marriage? If you remain pure, and you’re with your spouse, and you love them emotionally, you’re committed to them covenantally, you agree with them theologically, you invest in them verbally, and you enjoy them physically, you are habituating yourself, you are conditioning yourself to be bonded to them, to be into them, to be connected to them, to desire them, to be satisfied with them, to long for them. And in marriage, that’s wonderful. [. . .]
The way God has made us, if we obey him, we build this very deep, significant, emotional, mental, spiritual, biochemical connection with our spouse; but if we sin, we then bond ourselves with, connect ourselves to someone or something else. This is where pornography becomes addictive. This is where people become consumed with fetishes.
So God created the body, and he created the passions and pleasures of the body for marriage. God was very gracious and very wise to give us such a great gift, so that we might be one. That’s what the Bible says. And when we sin, we do great destruction to our own body, to the hardwiring of our own brain, and to our ability to really enjoy our spouse, and to be faithfully devoted to them.
Some of you say, “Idolatry? I don’t even understand what he’s talking about.” The Ten Commandments begin with these two commandments. First of all, there’s one God; and, secondly, you’re to worship that God alone, and worship of anyone or anything other than the God of the Bible is idolatry.
And here’s the truth: we’re all worshipers. We are passionately giving ourselves away to someone, to something, to a cause, to a person, to an experience, to a pleasure, to a pursuit, to a passion. We give ourselves away. We give our money, our time, our energy. It’s what we talk about. It’s how our identity is formed. It’s what we commit ourselves to. We’re all worshipers, Christians, atheists, those who are members of other religions, all are worshipers. The only question is who or what are you worshiping?
[. . .] And make no mistake: Every time you see an image, lust in your heart, go surfing on the Internet, you’re worshiping. You’re not worshiping the Creator; you’re worshiping the created, and it’s idolatry. And the issue goes deeper than just sexual orientation or preference. It goes down to the root issue of idolatry.
You can’t simultaneously worship Jesus Christ, the Creator God, and be into porn. You can’t. You can’t worship the Creator, while worshiping the created. It’s one or the other. So, for some of you, your problem is not just behavioral. It’s not that you just need to change the way you act. You need to alter the God you worship.
Sometimes, when we’re sinners, when we think of what we want, we find a way to rationalize, justify, and excuse our behavior. Start thinking it from the perspective of someone you know, someone you love—brother, sister, friend, son, daughter—and ask, “Is that what I would want for them? Is that how I would counsel them? No.” Then take that counsel for yourself.
Porn hurts the viewer or the viewers. It’s just like cocaine or heroin. The whole point is to get you addicted, so that you can give your money to someone else. That’s it. It’s all about the money. It’s always about the money. It’s only about the money. The entire industry exists to make you an addict and to take as much money from you as possible, to get you to buy things, to get you to click on websites, to get advertisers to write large checks. Don’t be fooled. [. . .]
Make no mistake. When they say, “Oh, it’s two consenting adults, and, you know, the gal’s happy. Look, she’s smiling, and she wants to do it. And who are we to judge?” No. Oftentimes, those women were molested as children or sexually assaulted by a boyfriend. They oftentimes self-medicate with drugs or alcohol before they go in for a filming. Oftentimes, they’re suicidal. They try and take their own life. They go into deep, dark seasons of depression. They have blackouts where sometimes they can’t remember whole days of their life, as they’re psychologically trying to endure the trauma. It hurts people.
Kill your sin before it kills you and who and what you love. Paul says here that Jesus Christ died for our sins, so we could put our sin to death; because Jesus died for sin, we could put sin to death.
Put it to death, because Jesus died for it. And I would say fight and keep fighting. And if you struggle or fail or fall, get up and fight again. This is a lifelong battle for some, but it doesn’t have to be a lifelong series of failed battles. And some of you will say, “It’s too late, I did it again, I’m already halfway there. I may as well see it through.” No, repent at any point. Repent at every point. Turn around, go back, start over, come clean, get help, talk to God, talk to Christian leaders. Talk to good friends, be honest, get the help you need. It’s never too late.
