Porn is Nothing New
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title:
Porn is Nothing New -------------------------------- Date: 2/23/2000
Keywords:
"defiled" "disgust" "lust" "pictures"
"prostitution"
Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand
strong in the face of sexual temptation.
Note: this is the third in
a three-part series of studies in Ezekiel 23. If you're just now coming in, you might want
to start with the February 21 study to get the background.
Passage: Ezekiel 23:11-18*
11. "Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and
prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.
12. She too lusted after the Assyrians -- governors and commanders,
warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men.
13. I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same
way.
14. "But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw
men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red,
15. with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their
heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.
16. As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent
messengers to them in Chaldea.
17. Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in
their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them
in disgust.
18. When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her
nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her
sister."
Questions
1. What is the sin of pornography called in verse
14?
2. Is pornography something recent or something
ancient?
3. Although this prophecy is an allegory for Judah's rejection of
God as their spiritual and political leader, can we also learn from it something about our
own forms of "prostitution"?
4. When illicit sex is finished, such as when you turn off your
computer after a porn session, what is the feeling you have toward the people whose
pictures you've been gawking (verse 17)?
5. What is the final result of illicit relationships (verse 18)?
Practical help
Let's cut through all the seminary talk about how this scripture is
just an allegorical depiction of Judah's turning from God, and get straight to the point.
If Judah's sin is disgusting because it can be compared to prostitution, how much more
disgusting is actual prostitution? That's the category in which we should think of any
illicit sex, whether it's buying sex from a prostitute, simulating sex in our minds with
pictures to help, or uniting our bodies with anyone or anything other than a spouse in a
committed relationship.
Although this is an allegory, it was likely inspired by real events, particularly verses
14-16. The use of pictures of attractive people to generate lustful feelings goes back a
long way. Although it's not certain from this passage that sexual lust is the topic here,
the point is clear: God is not pleased with any diversion that causes us to lose sight of
him.
God was disgusted with Judah's turning away from him, not so much because their
relationships with other nations were perverted (which they were), but because they
spoiled and circumvented the perfect relationship that he had established with his people.
They were intended to get everything they needed from him in his own good time; and when
they couldn't stand the wait, they turned elsewhere. It's the same with us and sex. We're
designed to get every sexual need supplied through God, who provides marriage for that
purpose. When we can't stand the wait, we turn to lust motivated acts like fornication or
adultery, pornography, sex clubs, fantasy, masturbation, and all manner of things designed
to relieve or blunt the pain. It's all a form of prostitution, and we shouldn't try to
gloss it over, but we should be on our faces before God confessing and repenting our lack
of dependence on him.
eXXit homepage
Index of three-minute studies
Copyright 2000 by eXXit
*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.