Love Your Neighbor Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Love Your Neighbor------------------------------ Date: 10/8/2001 Keywords: "harm" "love" "neighbor" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Romans 13:10* Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Questions 1. Do you generally obey the speed limit when driving?   2. Are there reasons for limits (or laws) concerning sexual expression or fulfillment?   Practical help Speed limit: 70 mph. Go 70, and you're fulfilling what's expected. Go 80, and you're trading off the risk of a ticket (and a fine, possible license suspension, increased insurance premium, etc.) for 10 or 20 extra minutes at your destination. For many folks, the risk of a ticket is always worth it, but not for the apparent reason. It's not a matter of time, but a matter of feeling above the law. "I can 'safely' go 80 even though others can't. That speed limit just isn't for me." Sometimes it's easy to apply the same reasoning to porn. "This stuff may be risky for others, but I can safely view it. No harm done." In today's passage, the apostle Paul exhorts you to look beyond the mirror. Harm has a bigger scope than you. When you're partaking of Internet porn you're deciding on some new neighbors. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) who hosts the porn site is now your neighbor. The producer of the porn content is now your neighbor. The actors (if real) or the animators (if virtual) are now your neighbors. Are the actors performing pornographic acts because they believe you have a right to see them doing things reserved for loving intimacy, or are they doing it because they want easy money and you're willing to pay? Are the producers producing because they're on a mission to morally liberate the online community or do they want easy money, and the market (thanks to you and me) is just too profitable to ignore? Are ISPs hosting porn sites because they're championing the right to free speech and expression or do they want easy money, and the biggest return on investment comes from new Web sites of the pornographic variety? You lust for sexual pleasure; they lust for financial gain. When you succumb, they succumb. Harm is done. It's time to love you neighbor. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2001 by eXXit *Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version, © Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.