You may not know it (I didn’t), but pornography has silently become the new cancer of society. And those who attend church are not exempt.

A few facts:

• 68% of church-going men and 22% of women regularly view pornography. [1]
• 35% Christian men and 17% of Christian women have committed adultery. These percentages are the same as those not claiming to be Christians. [2]

That means that if you are a married Christian woman, there is a 1 in 3 chance that your spouse has had an affair and a 70% chance that he watches porn on a regular basis. Christian men are not spared this trauma either as 1 in 6 of their wives have had an affair and 1 in 5 watch porn.

What in the world is going on?

Porn Rocks Our Economy

In 2006, worldwide porn revenues topped $97 billion (yes, with a b), more than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix, and EarthLink combined. Ten billion dollars were from the US alone. That was 10 years ago [1]. Just think what the numbers are today.

In 2008, AT&T, Comcast, and DIRECTV (owned by General Motors), utilizing their various adult cable channels, profited from 80% of the porn sales. [3] Again, this was almost a decade ago.

Bottom line, porn is big business and it’s not going away any time soon. 

Porn Rocks Society

Between 1998 and 2005, the number of sex scenes on television nearly doubled. [2]

For emerging adults (20 years old), 67% of males and 49% of females agreed that viewing porn is “an acceptable way to express one’s sexuality.” [3]

Sex Trafficking is fueled by the porn industry [4] as is child pornography. The sad thing is that viewers believe that the actors they watch on porn movies are eager and willing participants. In truth, as many as 49% of the women are actually being raped, beaten, and groped while cameras roll.

Porn Rocks Relationships

Eighty-seven percent of men and women said that their partner’s online cheating (by porn or other means on the internet) had a negative effect on their relationship while 35% said it caused an end to the relationship.

Porn actually reduces the gray matter of the brain numbing the user to real pleasure and making motivation and decision-making difficult [5]. Porn-induced erectile dysfunction has sky-rocketed with 60% of viewers having difficulty reaching arousal.

While under the seductive influence of pornography—where sin reigns and is the master of our mortal bodies—“the ultimate welfare of others is superseded by our pursuit of self-satisfaction and self-absorption” [6], utterly shutting out God and others.

Is Porn Adultery?

Ask the critics (who may watch porn) and they’ll say, “No.” But ask most people whose spouse watches porn and they’ll say, “Hell, yeah!”

Says Mark Gaither, “When a woman discovers that her husband has been devoting portions of his mind to sexually gratifying images and then closing off those areas to her, the revelation shakes her world to its very foundation.”

Jesus himself said that anyone who looks at someone lustfully has already committed adultery with them in their heart.

A Godly Response to Sexual Sin

Whether it’s pornography, adultery, or a combination, the discovery or disclosure of sexual sin is devastating.

I’m often asked how my husband and I survived his infidelity. There’s a good chance you or a close friend has questions about responding in a godly way when your spouse is having an affair or watching pornography.

Find out more at Hope for Spouses.com. If you are in a marriage with an adulterer or sexually-addicted spouse and don’t know where to turn to start healing, schedule a free breakthrough call with me.

REFERENCES

[1] Hedges, Chris. (2009). Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Nation Books. p. 58.

[2] Kunkel, D. et al. (2015). Sex on TV 4. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

[3] Owens, E.W., Behun, R.J., Manning, J.C., Reid, R.C. (2012). The impact of internet pornography on adolescents: A review of the research. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 19, p. 105.

[4] Arevalo, E. and Regnerus, M. (2011). Commercialized Sex and Human Bondage. Witherspoon Institute. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com.

[5] Kühn, S. and Gallinat, J. (2014). Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated with Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn. JAMA Psychiatry, 14, 827–34.

[6] Erickson, M. J. and Hustad, L. A. (2001). Introducing Christian Doctrine. Baker Academic.