Wim is jealous of the youth…
Reactions to my article on porn addiction
A smile
My article on porn addiction, which I recently put out on both Facebook and my website, really stirred up quite a few reactions. For instance, I got a comment from a lady who said that it’s not just boys, but increasingly girls too, who are struggling with porn addiction. A good friend of ours added that the problem mainly affects adult men, which really highlights how widespread this issue is. There was even a preacher who once dedicated a rap to it and worked the theme into one of his sermons. So, you see, it’s really a living topic!
I also got a comment from someone who thought I was jealous of young people. This person suggested I might want to watch porn myself, but that I’m not allowed to. I have to admit, I did laugh when I read that – I can certainly appreciate a remark like that – but of course, I made it clear that I prefer to keep my thoughts pure.
A Biblical answer
Last Sunday morning, during the church service, a Bible passage was read. After hearing the elder speak the text, I thought: ‘Let me just read on a bit, see what else is there.’ And to my great surprise, I found a super relevant answer to this whole issue of porn addiction and our human desires right there.
The Bible passage I’m talking about is in Ecclesiastes 9:7 and 8. The text talks about ‘keeping your garments always white,’ which essentially means staying pure and clean. And ‘anointing your head with oil’ symbolizes the full presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. If you truly embrace these principles and live by them, it will protect your heart from addictions and other unhealthy desires. The text beautifully concludes with the message that you may “enjoy life with the wife whom God has given you.” So, the Bible really offers a clear guideline here.
The temptation
Lust and desires can really tempt people to prioritize their own pleasure and gratification over their life with God. This isn’t just about porn, by the way; think about money, power, or other addictions. If you mainly fill your life chasing these desires, there’s little room left to follow God’s word. This principle therefore underscores why self-control is so crucial and why we need to focus on that spiritual battle.
Principles
While the Bible doesn’t explicitly talk about “porn addiction” in the modern sense – that phenomenon simply didn’t exist in that way back then – it does contain clear principles and warnings that are directly relevant to the harmful consequences of pornography and the addiction that can result from it.
The Bible condemns sexual immorality (porneia in Greek, a term that, by the way, covers a wide range of sexual impurity) and impurity. Pornography clearly falls under this, as it goes directly against God’s intentions for sexuality (think Ephesians 5:3; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
The Bible consistently emphasizes the personal harm that sexual sins, including pornography, inflict. The Apostle Paul reminds us that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. If you give yourself over to pornography, you desecrate that temple and, with it, the Spirit of God who lives in believers. Furthermore, Jesus also says something very clear in Matthew 5:28: “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Pornography is specifically aimed at arousing sexual desire outside the context of marriage and leads to lust, which God considers sin. The Bible also links sexual desires to greed and idolatry (Colossians 3:5). By clinging to pornography, you elevate your own desire into a kind of idol in your life, instead of honoring God. For married individuals, it’s even worse, because pornography can significantly undermine the marriage. Trust, intimacy, and love can be severely damaged. It can even go so far that the partner is seen as merely an object of lust, and true, healthy intimacy is avoided.
The Preacher
The Bible passage I read last Sunday morning in church turned out to be a crystal-clear answer for me to all those reactions I received about porn addiction among young people:
“Let your garments always be white, and let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your fleeting life that He has given you under the sun, all your fleeting days.” (Ecclesiastes 9:7-8).
A timeless message that remains super relevant.
@wimvanputten