Why is watching pornography a sin?
We will let the words of Jesus Christ answer that question. In Matthew 5:27-28 Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already COMMITTED ADULTERY WITH HER IN HIS HEART” (NKJV). This means that one need not commit the actual PHYSICAL ACT of sexual intercourse with one BEFORE they are married or with one that is not their spouse AFTER they are married in order to be guilty of adultery. To “act it out in one’s MIND” is equal to adultery in God’s sight. He sees the thoughts of your mind and heart, as we see in Hebrews 4:13 and Psalm 139:1-3, “And there is not creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account…O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; YOU UNDERSTAND MY THOUGHT AFAR OFF.” So, He sees the lustful thoughts of one who is watching pornography and calls it SIN, the “sin of adultery.”
Of course, watching pornography and acting out the sin of sexual intercourse in one’s mind can easily lead to committing the physical act. We have a well-known example of this in 2nd Samuel 11:2-5, “Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof HE SAW A WOMAN BATHING, AND THE WOMAN WAS VERY BEAUTIFUL TO BEHOLD. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, ‘Is this not BATHSHEBA, the daughter of Eliam, THE WIFE OF URIAH the Hittite?’ Then David sent messengers, and took her, and she came to him, and HE LAY WITH HER…and she returned from her house.” David was not actually guilt of “watching pornography” in this scene; yet when his eyes scanned the scenery below they saw a beautiful, naked woman and instead of turning away, his mind went to work and the desire to “lay with her” was the result. Since he had the power to summon her (one of his “Royal subjects”) to his bed he did so and the PHYSICAL ACT of sexual intercourse took place. Thus David was guilty on two counts; 1) looking at a woman to lust for her and 2) committing the actual act of adultery with her. The one sin led to another, which illustrates the truth of James 1:14-15, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, bring forth death.”
If we were to read on we would see that “the woman conceived” (verse 5) and then David concocted a plan to have her husband Uriah killed (see verses 14-15) and after he died (verses 16-17) David took Bathsheba for his wife (verses 26-27). Again, one sin often leads to another and the next sin may turn out to be even worse than the first. In this case it STARTED WITH A LOOK, a look at a woman that David had no right to look upon when she was naked. This should convict all of us (men and women!) not to flirt with pornography, for “the lust of the eyes” (1st John 2:16) will lead us further and further into sin. (441.5) (DO)