There is no dignity when the human dimension is eliminated from the person. In short, the problem with pornography is not that it shows too much of the person, but that it shows far too little. Pope John Paul II
But the first violation of the renewed conscience is the first step if a journey into habitual sin.
The Pornification of Everything
porn, and the consumption of porn, is systematically normalized today.
Problematic Reactions to these Cultural Changes
- Repression
- Thinks: Moral Standards + Willpower = Holiness
- Truth: Moral Standards + willpower = Failure, guilt, and shame
The evangelical idol of marriage failed its promises for far too many.
What a tragedy that God is seen as the great spoiler of sexuality, not its inventor
- Unrestrained Indulgence
- Nothing to be sorry for
- Sexual revolution
How did we get here?
thinks: Desire + consent = freedom
truth: Desire + consent = disillusionment and deformation
We may not be repressing sex, but we don’t seem more satisfied either.
- Deformed view of Women
It complicates the church’s ability to disciple men and build healthy and safe environments for women.
- Deformed sexual appetites
Porn sites are the window to the modern soul; they’re glimpses into the twisted minds of a faceless society Chuck Klosterman, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
- A Deformed commitment
- cohabitation does not mean marriage, and increases likelihood of divorce
- look at UCI notes lol
- A deformed sense of self
Men admiring themselves in a sexual illusion — this is the legacy of the sexual revolution.
Our age has turned sex into a soteriology, a doctrine of salvation. Ronald Rolheiser, Wrestling with God
Sexual Formation and the way of Jesus
The way of Jesus is not about repression or indulgence; it’s about the redirection and transformation of our desires.
Ask:
- Who am I becoming by what I doing?
- Who am I becoming by what I am doing with my sexuality?
Regarding sanctification, read Thessalonians 4:3-8
Reordering our Desires
God is trying to reorder our desires toward himself
Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God G. K. Chesterson, The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterson
Read Isaiah 55:1-2
For the believer, sex is not about how much you get, but how much you give.
From a Shadow to a Sign
We must rediscover that our quest for sex is ultimately not a quest for pleasure; it’s a quest for union.
Takeaways
Sex, pornography, and lust in general are at best normalized and at worst idolized by our modern culture. Without us realizing it, the sin of lust changes how we think and who we are. God shows us the depth of our desires — that our desire for sex is really a greater desire for intimacy. We are designed for intimacy with God, and from that all other desires should flow.