The Great Tragedy of Pornography 
bill black

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her." Max Lucado   

Pornography is all around us. It is prevalent in our society. Any man who has come of age since the 50's has been affected by pornography. It affects all men, even men of faith. We live in a world where it is nearly inescapable.  It is only a mouse click away, lined on store magazine shelves, broadcast freely on cable and over the air TV, even displayed on advertising billboards. There is no question about it, pornography has instilled itself into the mainstream fabric of our modern society and has affected us all to one degree or another.  

"Pornography users aren't to be rebuked for desiring too much, but for desiring too little." C.S. Lewis, (paraphrased) 

God created an amazing world for us to live in. A world of danger, intrigue, adventure, and discovery. A world that is wild, untamed, beautiful, breathtaking, exciting and challenging. A world of war and peace, a world of pain and comfort, a world of love and hate, a world of romance and allure. God started with nothing, like a great painter God started with a blank canvas. Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. God created our world one step at a time, making day and night, land and sea, the heavens and firmament, the stars and universe, each step along the way making the world more beautiful, more glorious, more exciting, and more challenging than the previous day in creation. Yet it was at the very height, the peak, the culmination of God’s creation that Woman was created. The creation was now complete, finished at this point. God created nothing after creating Woman. 

You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created."You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. Ezekiel 28:13-15 

"You had me from Hello" is country singer Kenny Chesney's hit song that speaks of a man who's heart is instantly captivated at first contact with the beautiful woman before him. We can only imagine how great it was when Adam first set his eyes on Eve. Wow! what a moment in creation, what a moment in history that must have been. In his eyes before him is the culmination of creation. God had really out done Himself. It was the perfect marriage. Adam, Eve and God together in loving harmony, perfect unity, surrounded by the wondrous beauty of the Garden. It was a perfect dwelling place, a perfect home, a perfect marriage. God did an amazing thing in creating Eve. God placed in her all of the Creator's beauty, desirability, splendor, magnificence, exquisiteness, loveliness, attraction, fascination, sensuality, glamour, charm, and so on it goes. I am sure descriptive words in any language could not adequately  portray the greatness of Eve in the creation. God had placed in her three great desires of the heart. First, a desire to be beautiful. Cosmetic sales in the U.S. alone is a multi-billion dollar industry. Just take a look in your home and see all the products she has purchased to make herself beautiful.  It is the desire of her heart to be beautiful and she delights in knowing you see the beauty in her. Also deeply rooted in her heart is the longing to be desired. She wants to know that your heart has desires for her. It is because she is so desirable and attractive to you, there is no mountain is too high to climb, no ocean too deep to cross, no raging river too great to traverse, no burden too great to bear, no adversary too great to fight. Thirdly, she wants to know she is so desired by you and your love is so great for her that you are willing to fight for her no matter what the cost. Just because of her you are willing to put it all on the line, willing to fight until your last breath, willing to give it all.


We see these same three things in the heart of God the creator. God asks of each of us: do you find me beautiful? Do you desire me? Are you willing to fight for me? One of the greatest examples of this is when Jesus after being crucified and raised from the dead goes to Peter whom denied even knowing Christ. Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?" See how John describes this great moment in history. He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep. John 21:17. Jesus resurrected Peter's heart. He restored back to Peter in the midst of his deepest despair the heart of a warrior. He let Peter know everything with him was all right. He gave Peter the challenge of his life, the pursuit of adventure that is deeply entrenched in the heart of every man. It was then that Peter went to the greatest journey of his life and Peter would fight until his last breath for the redeemer, the Christ. Jesus did exactly what he had told Peter he would do. "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Mt 16:18 In man's heart we can see the warrior God, the adventurous God, the God who is willing to put it all on the line for us. In woman's heart we see the beauty of God, the God to be desired, the God to be longed for, the God we need to fight for. 

Genesis 3:12  The man said, "The woman you put here with me— she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." 

One can only imagine the tragic and complete sense of loss Adam felt when Eve, the most beautiful part of the creation, the one who would fulfill him as a man, the culmination of creation itself, would be deceived by the evil one and partake of the fruit forbidden by God. Adam knew that something now was terribly wrong. The woman who had captured his heart, the one he had loved in perfect unison with God was now lost before him. How heart wrenching, tragic and painful the realization that his life would now have to go on without her in it. I believe for Adam it was too much heartbreak for him to bear. The very thought of living a life without her in it was beyond anything that he could fathom. She had completed him as a man and captured his heart. Forced by his desire for Eve he made the tragic decision that he could not live without her and he would take of the forbidden fruit himself. Like Romeo and Juliet it is a story of great tragedy but also a story of great love. Adam was forced to make a choice, a choice that I am sure he never contemplated having to make. He chose Eve, a decision that would break mankind. But it would be decision that would set into motion an act of love so great, so pure, so complete that anything man had known before it would pale in comparison. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" John 3:16 

Cowboy take me away fly this girl as high as you can into the wild blue Set me free oh I pray closer to Heaven above and closer to you..(Dixie Chicks)

The two great tragedies of pornography are the destruction which occurs in the heart of man and the devaluation and demoralization of what God had always intended the woman to be. It robs you of the passionate romantic man that God wants you to be, what the Creator always intended for you to be. Like a thief in the night it assaults and steals right from your heart your very nature as a warrior, a man who is willing to fight. You are defeated in pornography because there is no longer a beauty worth fighting for. Pornography replaces the real with the artificial. It requires nothing of you, no risk, no investment, no fight, and sadly and illusively offers nothing in return but a defeated heart. It makes you a weakened man. As men of God we need to see pornography for exactly what it is an attack and assault on our masculinity and manhood. 

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4  

As Iron men for Christ and true warriors of the Kingdom it is paramount that we become living examples to our children and youth of the greatness of God in our lives. So they would long to seek Him in all their ways.

“in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”  Provers 3:6 

 Love's a virtue for heroes!--as white as the snow on high hills, And immortal as every great soul is that struggles, endures, and fulfils. (Elizabeth Barrett Brown)

 

 

 


 


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