Scripture — and Porn A Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Scripture — and Porn Keyword: "Bible" "Scripture” Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. The current studies explore the following premise: "If we want to behave Christianly, we've got to believe Christianly." Will the premise help us stand strong in the face of sexual temptation? Passages* 2 Timothy 3:16-17 16. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17. that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Questions 1. According to 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17, what does Scripture promise to do for those who pay attention to it?   2. According to Hebrews 4:12, what is the "word of God" able to do?   Practical help I was reading a brochure put out by a well-known Christian denomination recently that advertised its belief about the Bible in roughly these terms, "The Bible is helpful to guide us in our decisions and to inform us about God, but should not be thought of as being, in any sense, 'inspired by God.'" For this group, the Bible's 66 books are important moral guides, but nothing unique. No more "God's Word" than the Koran, no more "inspired" than Shakespeare. However, that is not the way the Bible has been viewed by Christians through most of the last twenty centuries. Today, as we evaluate the quality and quantity of ancient manuscripts of the Bible, the coherence of its teachings (especially given the numerous authors who wrote in various places over a 1,600-year time span), its accurate claims, and its historical reliability, we conclude that the Bible is God's infallible, inerrant, inspired Word. Because of what we believe the Bible is, we conclude that it is also authoritative. Without a conviction, though, that the Bible is given by inspiration from God, on what basis could we hold that it is authoritative? None! When you or I, who may struggle with a temptation to view Internet porn, bring our belief about what kind of a book the Bible is to our struggle, we find just how powerful God's Word really is. It's authority, which is God's authority, is brought to bear on our problem, and we are convicted as to the wrong of porn, and strengthened to withstand the temptation to view it. The Bible is God's life-changing Word. Stand on it as you seek to resist the temptation to experiment with porn! eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2003 by eXXit *Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. ----