by Heather Carreiro

Created on: June 28, 2008

Is pornography equated to marital unfaithfulness?

Jesus himself said, "You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:2) Intent as an adjective means "resolved or determined to do so." As used by Jesus in Matthew 5, intent is seen as having the purpose to do something. Intent is what takes place before the action carried out. Jesus seems to be saying here that even if you look at a woman and desire to act on your lust it is already like committing adultery. Intent is not even yet acting upon the lustful desire, it is simply desiring it and planning or imagining to act upon it.

When men look at pornography it generally does not stop with lustful intent. Intent is when he goes on the Internet looking for pornographic material or when he opens a magazine. According to what Jesus said, this is already equated to adultery, even if he has not yet brought himself to sexual gratification.

If the intent is further acted upon, the man masturbates and entertains sexual fantasies based on the images or footage he is looking at. He will do this to the point of orgasm or ejaculation. He has basically imagined that he has had sex with the woman or women he was looking at. This act is much more serious than the "lustful intent" that Jesus equated with adultery. Based on this, I would conclude the sexual gratification through masturbation and pornography should definitely be considered a form of adultery. Jesus has set the standard for sexual purity high, and we should not allow the enemy to convince us that pornography is not sin.

God desires the marriage be honored and he will judge those who do not honor it. "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and the adulterous." (Hebrews 13:4) As the apostle Paul writes the Corinthians he also stresses that " the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality" (1 Corin 6:9) He continues on to encourage believers to flee form sexual immorality. As Christians we should run away and escape from this deadly sin. The letter to the Ephesians also stresses that sexually immoral people and adulterers will have no inheritance in the kingdom of God (Eph 5:2-6).

Not only does the Lord see adultery as

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