Porn is not evil, sexuality is not evil, and the fact your religion has twisted you into believe otherwise is evidence of how evil IT is.
I understand you've been conditioned to loathe your own nature by guilty-tripping and the empty threat of damnation. I would ask you avoid making that anyone else's problem.
Viewing post in Why do so many people want NSFW games?
A. Damnation is not an empty threat. But if you're right with God it's not something you need to be afraid of.
B. Healthy sexuality is not evil. Porn is NOT healthy.
C. I'm not one of those religious nuts who go around knocking on peoples doors. Nobody's perfect, me included.
As a follower of Jesus I dislike when people twist faith into religion as well. Faith is free from fear and guilt. It's trusting God to protect and forgive. Religion is the ritual of going to church every Sunday and listening to a guy yell at you and tell you you're doomed. You are absolutely free to do as you please, but I've been very close to being addicted to porn and my warning stands. It WILL consume you and your future. If God hadn't helped me out I wouldn't be where I am today. Faith is freedom.
If you'll excuse the assumption, I would say that you've been conditioned to believe that religion is the same as faith or that they're inseperable. I'm also going to guess you skimmed my comment, saw God and immediately decided I was wrong. The side of Christianity that you've seen is the side that gives God's followers a bad rap.
one of those religious nuts who go around knocking on peoples doors
Preaching on the internet is much better and less nutty. And yes, that pun is intended.
If God hadn't helped me out
Only ... God did not do that. Thanking God for your own actions is the same as blaming God for your own actions. You shift responsibility.
You found faith and overcome something that you lost control over. Well done. But please do not infer from that achievement that the teachings of that faith, and more importantly, the interpretations from bigoted fundamentalists of that faith are sound or would help other people.
In case you did not realize, the bigots cherry pick parts of the Bible. Some examples that are generally ignored by the bigots in daily live:
You shall not wear a garment made of two kinds of material.
No eating of shrimp, crab, lobster, pork, rabbit and other things like blood. No mixing of milk products and meat products - no cheeseburgers!
Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard
No work, travel, cooking, or business on the Sabbath
In contrast, there is plenty of naughty stuff in the Bible that is "approved", including prostitution and incest. The bigots arbitrarily ignore or emphasize portions of the Bible to push their own agenda.
Porn is NOT healthy
Being addicted to porn is not healthy. But being addicted to anything is not healthy. Being addicted to self whipping is also not healthy, quite literally and bloodily so. Yet there are those flagellants.
But alas, even if there were a bit of unhealthyness, it is proven without doubt that alcohol is unhealthy and can kill. Yet is alcohol forbidden in the Bible? No. It is not. Let that sink in. Only the overconsumption is discouraged. You can't very well forbid something that Jesus is well known for. Turing water into wine and all that.
Only ... God did not do that.
I'd just like to point out that we do agree on a lot, however I think a bit differently about what God's role in our everyday lives. If God hadn't wanted me to come to Him at the exact time that I did, then I wouldn't have. Granted I my own struggles, but if He hadn't shown me the way out I wouldn't have known where to start.
do not infer from that achievement that the teachings of that faith...would help other people
Again confusing of faith and religion. I'm not basing my ideals on any doctrine that didn't come directly from God. Literally look at the Bible and see. Also, I'm not the only one. There are many, many people who have similar testimonies that faith set them free.
interpretations from bigoted fundamentalists
Yeah gotta agree there. Fundamentalism is a whole 'nother ball game. Besides, when I said "religious nuts" I was talking about the same people. Potato, po-tah-to.
Some examples that are generally ignored by the bigots in daily live:
You shall not wear a garment made of two kinds of material.
No eating of shrimp, crab, lobster, pork, rabbit and other things like blood. No mixing of milk products and meat products - no cheeseburgers!
Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard
No work, travel, cooking, or business on the Sabbath
A lot of these are taken from the Old Testament. The garment one is symbolic of being double-minded, blood is sacred but God told Peter to take and eat anyway, hair cutting was a sectarian thing back then (I think it falls under traditions that are unique form culture to culture), and the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath.
plenty of naughty stuff in the Bible that is "approved"
Every sin can be forgiven (besides lying directly to God like He doesn't know your mind before you do). That doesn't mean that God approves of sin in any form.
Yet is alcohol forbidden in the Bible? No. It is not. Let that sink in.
In some cases it's even fine to get drunk. Something about letting a suffering man drink to ease his pain.
tl;dr Do not use the Bible to argue against porn. Do not use religion to argue against porn. Do not use faith, God, or faith in God to argue against porn. Please. Even if you do, it would only be applicable for the subset of your denomination that shares the same level of fervor and shares the same interpretations of religous texts. Preaching your own morals with the help of religion is doubly preaching.
In some cases it's even fine to get drunk. Something about letting a suffering man drink to ease his pain.
Uhm. Interesting. And what was the problem with porn again? It helps people to not covet their neighbors wife and so on. It helps ease the suffering of the lonely. It helps not doing adultery. It can help couples to get in the mood to make some babies. It's not against the commandments and the parts of the Bible that deal with sexual things are highly outdated and questionable from a modern viewpoint. Like how everyone was ok with the incest of Lot's daughters and God did not smite them right there with the angels that just smiten those evil villagers.
Whatever was written in the Bible was written by humans codifying their current morals. You might use a dogmatic approach and claim it is the word of God. But it's not. It was rewritten, reinterpreted and even arbitarily selected by humans what is canon. Quite literally. Also, a lot of historical accounts. And not to mention all the translation issues, even back 2000 years they had those.
If God hadn't wanted me to come to Him at the exact time that I did, then I wouldn't have.
I do not want particularily to discuss religion. I just take issue with bringing it into the discussion as an argument against porn. But if you go down that pathway, you kind of reduce God to a tempter, an evil manipulative bastard, that only brings you in a bad situation to later help you out of it. It just can't be, that one only blames God for the good things one does, but not blame God for the bad things one does. Oh, and overindulging in any activity, no matter if stamp collecing, adult entertainment or drinking alcohol, is a bad thing. You can preach against overindulging, if you like, but if you start preaching against porn, I shall remind you, that alcohol is far worse and responsible for many deaths, violent behaviour and abuse, but that proven bad thing is ok in the Bible.
Whatever he uses to argue. The following facts are universally true:
Problems could lead to anxiety, depression, over-fantasizing, social isolation, compulsive sexual behavior
Ignorance leads to problems,
Ignorance is caused by lack of knowledge,
Most porn users don't have basic knowledge,
Addiction sets in and creates bondage.
And faith and God is a battle-tested solution. There many but this is really the most effective.
God is love, justice, and mercy. Your view might be foggy but it's there from Jesus to Abraham to Adam. I don't need to explain it to you but his words are just and true and honestly sometimes a reflection of human nature (imperfection).
This isn't an counter-argument but a way to give you another lens in this issue.
Hmm.
Basically you say, oblivious people are prone to overindulge and can fall from one compulsive behaviour like "porn addiction" to another, like being religious and preachy about it, replacing one devoted behaviour with another.
While replacing one obsession with another is a thing, I would not limit this to people with "lack of knowlege", but rather to the overindulging itself, and that's not something based on knowledge. What is based on knowlege is the ability to blindly follow doctrine, be it religious or political.
I tried to find if there is a correlation between intelligence/education and consumption of adult entertainment. Could not find something conclusive. There are hints that higher education broadens acceptance and people seek a variety of stimulus for their mind. I will even claim that the average intelligence/education of the group that plays adult video games is higher than the general average.
Anyway, to get back on topic, sexuality is just such a basic need, people would be interested in it, no matter their knowlege or lack of knowledge.
Excuse me. I don't think anyone here is trying to to tell you what to do. Just trying to have a reasonable discussion and hear some other viewpoints. If Joyce Meyer is your only basis for Christianity, just know that not everyone is the same and from what I know a lot of those TV preachers don't actually follow God. I'm not judging you, I'd just like to know where you're coming from here.
You can preach...
A lot of commenters have used the word "preach" to describe my comments. I'd like to apologise if that's how it came off. I meant to have an open discussion, which means a place to seek out facts. If you know something that I don't, the correct me. I'll do the same and eventually we'll both be better for it. There's also something to be said for considering other people's feelings when correcting them. Violent or insistant correction can actually drive someone farther from the point you're trying to make.
preachverb
:to urge acceptance or abandonment of an idea or course of action -Valid, but respectfully
specifically : to exhort in an officious or tiresome manner
Officiousness is the opposite of my intentions. I firmly beleive in respectful debate, but I guess this isn't the time or place for it. I guess that says something else about these crazy times we live in.
But if you go down that pathway, you kind of reduce God to a tempter, an evil manipulative bastard, that only brings you in a bad situation to later help you out of it.
The way I know things to work: God gave you free will out of love. What you do with that will is on you, because God respects your choices. God Himself tempts no one. The free will decision to follow God is what He wants. It's a friendship, God doesn't want you to be afraid; of Him or anything else.
Do not use the Bible to argue against porn.
When did I ever do this. I suggested that faith will set you free, but I never used the Bible (direct quotation or otherwise) to tell people that they're wrong for watching porn. There was no judgement; like I said, I've been there and God was my way out. Just sharing a permanent solution for those who feel empty inside. If you choose to ignore my story I won't ask twice. Usually I won't even ask once. It's God who's persistant in persuing His lost sheep. It also occurs to me that you wanted the religious discussion. You replied to my second comment and began by calling me nutcase and a bigot. I never asked for that.
I couldn't help noticing that you're very familiar with the contents of the Bible, so see if this strikes a chord.
"Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.” – Proverbs 9:8
This one's on me, but there's more.
"But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister, will be subject to the court. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to hellfire." -Matthew 5:22
May God forgive you, and me as well for being angry with you.
How interesting... my initial comment was a simple blessing. Oh, how humanity has fallen. I pray understanding for those reading this, and freedom from whatever you're bound to. God bless all, I'm not going to be replying to this thread again.
You seem to want to know what I took issue with. I will tell you.
Probably says something about the state of the world right now, don't you think?
You act as if adult entertainment is saying something about the state of the world. I would say having criminals and liars as leaders of countries says far more about the state of the world. Having freedom of choice for recreational activities is a good thing. But some people, including you, try to restrict those without good reason. And no, you being on the brink of getting an obsession and overcoming it with faith is not a good reason.
What does say something about the state of the world, is how fringe groups get to dictate what others can do, in the name of morals, social justice, and whatever excuse they bring for their cancel culture. This prominently includes religion.
But you can't use religion to argue in a secular society anyways. So if your arguments againt porn are from your faith, you have already lost the debate, before it began.
at the same time it's wrong and eventually playing NFSW games will catch up with you.
You "preach" that playing nsfw games is "wrong". That's an unsubstanciated statement. What about peole playing genocide simulators or killing simulators (every 4x game, most shooter games)? Will that catch up to them too? Why? Why not? Why nsfw games? And why is it "wrong"? I can tell you why. Because it violates the restrictions you made for yourself with the help of faith. So, seeing others violate those restrictions looks wrong to you.
If you're reading this and about to reply angrily, wait. Keep reading. I genuinely hope you find peace. You're probably trying to fill a void that can't be filled this way. Go touch grass, meet more people and get out of your parent's basement.
If you're not a total creep (or regardless), you'll find someone to fill that void.
Creeps are people too.
That's condecending and insulting. You dish out pity. Understandable, because you think the hallmark of a fallen soul is playing nsfw games, since you yourself felt like fallen.
Damnation is not an empty threat.
That's the preachy part with religion. You basically tell people they are damned for playing nsfw games.
Porn is NOT healthy.
Such a broad statement is untrue. It only applies for certain situations. Like overindulgence.
I'm not one of those religious nuts who go around knocking on peoples doors
Sorry for replying to that with a pun about the activity of nutting. Anyway, you really did go to a thread and offtopicly condemned the topic's subject. You called people creeps and brought religion into the thread. As a reminder, the topic was, why many people like such games. Not if those games are morally ok or healthy.
And lastly, I took issue how you made God responsibly for overcoming your problems, but not for having those problems. But that's too much theological and philosophical territory. I just do not like the religion angle, and how that makes porn bad somehow. It just does not follow. Porn is not talked about in the Bible.
They did not talk about sexual images or sculptings or even naughty stories. And those exist for as long as humanity has expression through arts, so like some 40000 years or so. Every art has a sexualized version of it. Every. So there definitively was such things at the time the texts of the Bible were written. There can be no doubt about this. You can even still see some sexualized grafitti in some ancient ruins. Yet you do not see passages talking about it. If they would have had a problem with it, they would have said so. They did not. They deemed it not even worth mentioning.
What they did deem important was how sexuality between humans was regulated. Marriage vows, heirs, and so on. Very interesting about morals is the story of Tamar and Onan. Was Tamar condemned for acting as a prostitute? Was Judah condemned for visiting a prostitute? No. Tamar was initially condemnded because when she was prenant it would mean adultery, but she could prove that the father was within the bloodline. Something that previously was denied her by Onan. Onan's sin was not letting seed drop to the gound, but ignoring Tamar's rights and not getting her pregnant, after her husband's death. It was about heirs.
Ancient Jews did not care about things like prostituion, incest or porn or masturbation. They cared about bloodlines, rightful heirs and so on. But what was written was twisted in later centuries to mean different things. Just look at this term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onan#Onanism . The perpetrator that denied a woman her right to a child and his dead brother an heir is the name giver for the "sin" of masturbation. Judging by the name, this passage is the main reason why masturbation is considered "wrong" and a "sin" and that's a huge fallacy, if you look at what actually was written and why it was considered a sin. Oh, and for context, the dead brother was smitten by God. So the situation is, that God would smite you, if you do bad. Which He did with Onan eventually. But not with Tamar, nor Judah.
While this is more an argument that prostituion is ok, it serves as an illustration how different morals were viewed at the time and how later generations would twist it for their own agenda of morals. Like condeming porn, which leads to the sin of Onan. Only ... it does not, because the sin of Onan never was masturbation.
Better to use the passages about overindulgence of things like alcohol to argue against overindulgence. There you have my agreement.
I meant to have an open discussion
I firmly beleive in respectful debate
my initial comment was a simple blessing
There's also something to be said for considering other people's feelings
There was no judgement
Really? Let's review that first comment again, shall we?
You're probably trying to fill a void that can't be filled this way. Go touch grass, meet more people and get out of your parent's basement. Responsibility isn't something to be afraid of, it's really freeing. Maybe you don't even know it, but everyone is reliant on something and sometimes that thing is a weight dragging you down. Think about what you want from real life and go get it. If you're not a total creep (or regardless), you'll find someone to fill that void.
This is dripping with judgment and condescension directed at an entire class of people whom you do not know. This is exactly the negative Christian stereotype that you insist is nothing like you (whilst you simultaneously stereotype others). Then when called out on it, this is your response:
Just sharing a permanent solution for those who feel empty inside.
I guess this isn't the time or place for it. I guess that says something else about these crazy times we live in.
Oh, how humanity has fallen. I pray understanding for those reading this, and freedom from whatever you're bound to.
You started by poisoning the well to ensure that no good-faith discussion can follow, then pivoted to gaslighting and sealioning to act as if you did no such thing.
I'm not going to be replying to this thread again.
Why not?
Really? Let's review that first comment again, shall we?
What you can't see is the feeling that went into that comment. I practically cried writing some of these. Is empathy a bad thing? Is it wrong to try to help? I wish I'd had somebody to say to me what I'm saying to you when I needed it.
This is exactly the negative Christian stereotype that you insist is nothing like you (whilst you simultaneously stereotype others).
I'm truely sorry if you feel stereotyped. It's something I can't help since I don't know who I'm talking to. One thing I can ask is that you don't look down on me for my shortcomings. Blind anger solves nothing, and an "I'm-better-than-you" mentality is wrong no matter what what you believe in.
You started by poisoning the well to ensure that no good-faith discussion can follow, then pivoted to gaslighting and sealioning to act as if you did no such thing.
I know I'm not perfect. In fact I can be a perfect ass sometimes. The best I can do is say I'm sorry and mean it. What would you have me do to start a good-faith converstion?
Why not?
I believe that if someone disagrees with me, we should be able to do so peacefully. If peace isn't an option, I might as well leave. It's also been called shaking the dust off of your shoes. That's not a judgement I wish on anybody, but it's been that way since Jesus' time. When a city tried to stone Him and His disciples, they moved on. I've said my piece, now I'm going to move on and talk to someone who will listen. It goes against everything I believe in to force someone to think a certain way.
God grant you peace.
What would you have me do to start a good-faith converstion?
For me, that would be sound arguments.
If you bring religion into a discussion, that has several issues. One of them is bringing the fallacy of appeal to authority to the table. For sound arguments one needs to avoid fallacies and one needs true premises.
In case that helps you, I am not angry with you and I believe you had a problem and faith helped you overcome that problem. But this does not mean that everyone has the same basic problem or that the same solution would be helpful. Or that people like hearing you talk like it were so.
And I rather would like you having strength because of faith and not because of literal things that are written in the Bible or were misquoted, reinterpreted or otherwise used for centuries to tell people lies. Learning how the story of Tamar was perverted into a tale against masturbation was very enlightening.
What you can't see is the feeling that went into that comment. I practically cried writing some of these. Is empathy a bad thing? Is it wrong to try to help? I wish I'd had somebody to say to me what I'm saying to you when I needed it.
This is where you are going wrong: you are assuming too much. I never said that I play these games, but you are assuming there that I do. Likewise, you seem to be assuming that anyone who does is struggling with a destructive addiction, or at the least is in immediate danger of it, and needs a theological intervention. Why that led to calling them developmentally arrested sun-hating basement trolls, though, I'm not sure. This is the same stereotype that the corporate media has levied for decades at anyone who plays videogames in any form.
Alcohol was mentioned upthread, which you don't seem to have a general problem with - but many millions have suffered from alcoholism. Suppose this thread instead asked "why do so many people drink alcohol?" and someone came along and posted this:
It's worrying to me as well. Probably says something about the state of the world right now, don't you think?
You do have the right to do as you like, but at the same time it's wrong and eventually drinking will catch up with you.
If you're reading this and about to reply angrily, wait. Keep reading. I genuinely hope you find peace. You're probably trying to fill a void that can't be filled this way. Go touch grass, meet more people and get out of your parent's basement. Responsibility isn't something to be afraid of, it's really freeing. Maybe you don't even know it, but everyone is reliant on something and sometimes that thing is a weight dragging you down. Think about what you want from real life and go get it. If you're not a total creep (or regardless), you'll find something to fill that void.
God grant that this helps someone, and whoever you are I ask that He give you the means and motivation to be free.
Blessings to all and just remember that this applies to everyone. Creeps are people too.
That would be very presumptuous and would irritate a lot of people. Nothing there says why drinking is wrong, just that it is, and that anyone who drinks champagne at weddings is a sodden lowlife deadbeat.
Incidentally, OP didn't even say they were worried about it, just that they didn't get it.
What would you have me do to start a good-faith converstion?
That depends on exactly what conversation you want to have, but whatever it is, you should avoid aggressive blanket statements like the ones above. You might touch a nerve regardless, in fact you probably will, but you don't need to go straight for it.