Posted on 07/30/2011 7:13:52 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
It is hard to ignore how many highly visible men in recent years (indeed, months) have behaved in sexually self-destructive ways. Some powerful men have long been sexually voracious; unlike today, though, they were far more discreet and generally used much better judgment in order to cover their tracks.
Of course, the heightened technological ability nowadays to expose private behavior is part of the reason for this change. But that is precisely the point: so many of the men caught up in sex-tinged scandals of late have exposed themselves – sometimes literally – through their own willing embrace of text messages, Twitter, and other indiscreet media.
What is driving this weirdly disinhibited decision-making? Could the widespread availability and consumption of pornography in recent years actually be rewiring the male brain, affecting men’s judgment about sex and causing them to have more difficulty controlling their impulses?
There is an increasing body of scientific evidence to support this idea. Six years ago, I wrote an essay called “The Porn Myth,” which pointed out that therapists and sexual counselors were anecdotally connecting the rise in pornography consumption among young men with an increase in impotence and premature ejaculation among the same population. These were healthy young men who had no organic or psychological pathology that would disrupt normal sexual function.
(Excerpt) Read more at globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com ...
Burn the desk!
Make it illegal? But then we’d have the War On Porn (WOP) and that might offend the Italians!
True and not true. While Jesus walked the earth, we were still under the Old Covenant. I believe He explained the insidious nature of sin, and our inability to avoid it in our human condition, to ensure we would understand that without His upcoming intervention, we were all doomed.
When we are told that, "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." it is taken to mean that, even after we are saved by His Blood and our acknowledgment/acceptance of Him as our Savior, we will suffer the same trials Paul's so eloquently stated when he lamented that he was constantly doing that which he would not do and not doing that which he would do. In other words, even being saved, and having direct contact with the risen Lord, he was unable to keep from sinful acts and maintain full obedience to the Will of God. he was blessed because he recognized and agonized over this shortcoming.
Being saved doesn't mean we never commit sinful acts, it means we have been forgiven for them and are much more aware of our unworthiness - we are worthy only because He has made us so, despite our failings.
Prophesy told us that God would set a New Covenant where He would forgive our wickedness and recognize our sins no more. If you take everything Jesus told us (while under the Old Covenant) and try to apply it to even those who have accepted Him, then there would still be nobody with Heaven in their future.
About the only unforgivable sin is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit and there is a lot of questions about whether someone who has accepted Christ is capable of committing that one particular sin.
Sorry, Perdogg. I know Wolf is not one of our main sources of information...just found the premise interesting that a liberal like her suddenly sees what many conservatives have been saying for a long time.
Also, I find it funny that a post with the word “porn” in the title gets so much attention. Hm. :-D
The example of David is the point: even back in ancient times watching/looking can lead to "a lifetime of extra problems."
Had David quickly turned away and gone back to his own wife/wives...
“Being saved doesn’t mean we never commit sinful acts,”
This is true; I don’t mean to imply otherwise.
It does mean, however, that we don’t continue in sin. The entire book of 1st John, quite short, addresses this over and over. If we say we are in Christ, and sin unrepentantly, we are liars.
Some on this thread seem to be saying the viewing pornography is not a sin. They are seriously wrong. Anyone doing so should stop, and if they “fall,” should repent, not pretend that it is ok with God.
“But He spent so much of His time with tax collectors and prostitutes...”
Of course, he came to call sinners to repentance.
I don’t think that means it’s ok to continue in thievery and whoremongering; rather that no matter what your sinful habits you can turn to Christ.
Naomi Wolfe?
That bitch?
I would sooner hear a screed against porn from Larry Flynt.
and yes I am crazy...as a redheaded bedbug
If you read my post, you’ll see I didn’t say that.
I’m sorry, I appreciate you think that with the best of intent, but I disagree.
I disagree that Luke 10:27/Matthew 22:37/Mark 12:30 is a “summary”. In fact Jesus himself calls it the “first and great”, not anything like “summary”. He says the law and the prophets hangs on it, and the second “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. That doesn’t mean it’s the superclass of all other laws.
I want to be honest and true to the literal Bible, and I see that you do too; I don’t want to be arguing with you. But I think you are assuming something that isn’t there.
The act of adultery is the disgusting act of breaking a marriage covenant by sex with another outside of that covenant. And Jesus is saying if you even thought about that, you are guilty of it. That makes sense. But for him to be saying that if a young single man initially looked at a young single woman with lust, which he later tempered into something more reasonable, that young man is guilty of adultery, I just don’t think that fits the sens of what Jesus is saying. I think that’s man, putting his own fears and loathings into his interpretation.
???...did you look at all of the numbers? Especially rape...all way up. It would be hard to control all of it, but we could make it illegal to do porn movies and magazines, etc.
I didn’t say you said that, I said do you really think that the term adultery wasn’t covering fornication too?
The Ten Commandments are shorthand for Leviticus. Adultery was a blanket term that was understood to also cover sexual sins of married or unmarried people. Just like “honor thy father and mother” didn’t go into all the detail that that phrase entails.
And if you want shorter shorthand, Jesus’ compaction of the 10 Commandments into the 2: Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, mind and soul (the first four): and Love Your Neighbor as Yourself (the last 6).
I covered much of that in post #110.
“The Ten Commandments are shorthand for Leviticus.”
Where are you getting that from?
“But for him to be saying that if a young single man initially looked at a young single woman with lust, which he later tempered into something more reasonable, that young man is guilty of adultery, I just don’t think that fits the sens of what Jesus is saying. I think that’s man, putting his own fears and loathings into his interpretation.”
Ok. How do you interpret what Jesus said in Mathew 5?
icing on the cake.
It is a cake that cannot be tasted without icing.
The Bible. They are one sentence summaries of major sections of Leviticus, which goes into far, far more detail about each of the ten commandments.
As Moses wrote the first five books, wrote Leviticus, and also took the tablets down from Sinai after God had etched them, if you compare what’s discussed in Leviticus you will see it the 10 Commandments are a concise summary of everything discussed in detail, in Levticus. It isn’t a surprise. It shouldn’t be.
My point is modern Christians seem to talk about being Christlike but they spend all their time with each other...
Which part in particular? Jesus said a great deal there!
(and nothing specifically regarding what we were discussing, so I’m interested to know why you ask)
“Which part in particular? Jesus said a great deal there!”
The part about looking at a woman to lust after her being adultery committed in the heart.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.