I’ve learned to do at least a cursory search on a topic before forwarding some “alarmist” (e.g., sign-this-petition, we-must-act-now) email from Grassfire, the ACLJ (not the ACLU! :)) or some other conservative political organization, because more than once the side of the story presented is incomplete or misleading. I’ve called them on this a couple of times, but I don’t know if my feedback has any effect. But it just takes a few minutes to pull up multiple articles on a given issue to determine if all the facts are being presented and what the opposition’s stance actually is, even if I don’t agree with it. Sometimes I forward, sometimes not; but even if so I don’t broadcast to everyone I know, and even close friends and family I encourage to do their own research.

I have lost track of all the times people have shared things on the internet immediately that are absolutely false and they do no checking. That really damages our credibility. So the resurrection of Jesus that the salvation of men depends on and can’t be proven or disproven with just a google search should be believed, but this claim that can be disproven within five minutes we will share immediately and expect you to believe us on the resurrection. Even as a political conservative, I see many news stories shared that would support my cause, but are just plain false. Really irritating.

Paul,

You’ll see I left out the specific study you mentioned, because I need more information on it and the subject was controversial enough to turn this comment thread once again in a different direction than anything I originally wrote about. I’m sure you’ll understand.

I agree we need good science. Unfortunately, researchers often find exactly what they’re looking for, and if you dig, you’ll find bias in the way the study was done. But I sincerely believe that if something’s true, it’s just true. I don’t like the false dichotomy between Christianity and science. I do try to double-check data I cite, explain results the best I can, and use my biblical world-view to filter through what I see.

Maybe we agree more than we disagree here: That we have a responsibility in how we use studies we come across. And ultimately, as Christians, we are best convicted by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

J – I’m fine with giving reasons. I find that a perfectly acceptable adjunct to saying it’s sin. I also think we can explain why it’s wrong without needing a study to back us up.
My concern is much of what is given as “proof ” that porn is destructive is garbage science. Or worse, some of it seems to have just been made up. I don’t think backing our positon with such things helps us. More than a few commonly cited studies have been shown to be wrong. What does that do for our credibility?
…
I suppose my real frustration, is the confirmation bias I see when Christians repeat certain things without checking to see if what they are saying is true. It makes us look stupid and gives the world an excuse to ignore God.
Of course, it could be I’ve run into too many “Christians” who are working hard to give God a blackeye this week and I should never have posted…. Okay, it’s very likely that’s my problem.

I thought also of Proverbs 25:2 and Deuteronomy 29:29.

We especially need these answers for our young people who can think our views on sex are just arbitrary and we only believe them because the Bible says so. I think it was Archie Bunker who said faith is believing things you only believe because the Bible says so. That’s their notion of faith today.

As I thought more about this, the reality is one of the reasons for my premarital promiscuous past is that other Christians told me stuff like “It’s wrong, so don’t do it,” without further reasoning. But I wanted to know WHY. If someone had expounded on all the reasons why God had created sex to be exclusively in marriage, that would have helped me a great deal.

So yes, I think it’s reasonable to ask why we shouldn’t watch porn, with all the reasons that come from that. Of course, God’s word is the final say, but He isn’t against us questioning Him and asking for reasoning (see Isaiah 1:18).

I think I want to temper both of your responses, yours and Paul’s. I don’t agree with Paul on his position, but I think J’s doesn’t go far enough. We do need to study more about why it is wrong and if it is wrong, it will indeed have harmful effects. I hear what you are saying J on “God says it is wrong” and I agree, but we should strive to know why. When we reach people in the pews who have questions today in an increasingly secular culture, we need to know more the reason behind the command. Its kind of like young children needing to get past X is wrong because Mom said so. What are Mom’s reasons for saying so? Then you can better understand the wisdom of God.

We need to know then some matters. What is sex is one of them, but also, what kind of beings are human beings? Are we just replicating machines producing more machines, or are each of us valuable beings in our own right and not deserving to be used? This isn’t some modern idea of understanding the reasons. The medievals also did this kind of thing. In medieval theology, practically everything was examined and questioned.

Definitely, porn is wrong, but we can understand the wisdom of God better when we see why He said it was wrong.

Oh, and there was a university study showing that men were more willing to pressure for sex after viewing porn. I wish, wish, wish I could find that link. I remember it well, but I’m coming up empty on Google at the moment.

I think it matters a great deal, Paul. Because while “it’s wrong” certainly is the conclusion we can draw, and one would hope that’s motivating enough, I believe that God has reasons why he makes some things off-limits. He isn’t randomly throwing things into different columns labeled Right and Wrong. Rather, as pastor James MacDonald has well-stated, “When God says don’t, He means don’t hurt yourself.”

There are many reasons why porn is a bad idea, including — and most importantly — God’s command against it. While I haven’t seen any studies about a connection of porn and rape, I’ve heard from many wives who have been pressured into sexual acts they didn’t want to do because “he saw it in porn.” To me, that shows a lack of empathy for your sexual partner.

If we think that a series of 30-second commercials can influence us into buying products, why wouldn’t we believe that porn affects how men view women and sex? I’ve seen good studies on this myself, albeit I’ve also seen some pro-porn studies. What I’ve seen is that viewing porn together can increase sexual activity short-term, but the long-term effects are dire. Yet I think we’re still gathering evidence, and if it’s true that porn is bad, it will be shown to be bad by science as well.