Bible Question:

I think I willfully sinned a couple of years ago when I watched porn. Since then I have tried to stop watch it. A couple of weeks ago I stopped and kept praying that the Lord would help me not watch again. Now I am scared that I committed the unforgivable sin. I have been a Christian since I was 5 years old but I am scared that I'm going to hell.

Bible Answer:

If you are struggling with guilt and/or shame because you once watched pornography or have been watching porn, then this article will be helpful. You will learn why porn causes guilt and shame. You will also learn that the answer to the question, “Can I be forgiven for watching porn?” is “Yes!” You can be forgiven for watching porn.

Forgiven For Watching Porn

Nakedness As A Shameful Act

Watching porn is a sin for several reasons. First, the women and men who remove their clothes so that others can see their nakedness and be sexually stimulated have committed a shameful act. God reveals in scripture that exposing your nakedness to anyone other than your spouse is shameful.

Your nakedness will be uncovered, your shame also will be exposed . . . Isaiah 47:3 (NASB)

Woe to you who make your neighbors drink,
Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk
So as to look on their nakedness!
You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor.
Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness.
Habakkuk 2:15-16 (NASB)

Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame. Revelation 16:15 (NASB)

However, nakedness between a husband and a wife is not considered a shameful act by God.

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Genesis 2:25 (NASB)

Also Hebrews 13:4 tells us that the marriage bed is not defiled when a husband and wife are together whether they are performing sexual acts or just sleeping together.

Therefore, those who remove their clothes so that others can see their nakedness have committed a shameful act. This reveals that their conscience is not sensitive to sin. It is defiled.

To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. Titus 1:15 (NASB)

However, exposing one’s naked body to medical personnel or situations in which a person needs physical assistance is not a shameful act since the purpose is not for sexual stimulation (of self or another person) or some sexual act. That is, exposing your genitals to someone who is not your husband or wife or for a medical reason is a sin.

Nakedness As A Stumbling Block

Also, Jesus warned us in the Sermon on the Mount that men and women are not to lust after one another.

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 lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28 (NASB)

In 1 John 2:16 we are told that the lust of the eyes is a sin and that is what happens when a man looks on a naked woman and sometimes when a woman looks on a naked man.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1 John 2:16 (NASB)

We often hear that men lust after women, but no as often do we hear that women lust after men. But women can and do lust after men. Experienced counselors know that women lust after men too! Women strongly desire a man of character who is loving, kind and warm. The next step is to lust after him. For example, in Song of Solomon 1-5 King Solomon’s bride was physically desiring him as she anticipated their wedding night. Yet, men lust even more because they are visually attracted to a woman’s naked body. Some women are attracted by naked bodies too!

Therefore, visually looking at naked bodies can cause both sexes to sin by lusting after another person and it can cause married individuals to commit the sin of adultery in their hearts. We must add quickly that there is nothing wrong with a husband and wife looking at one another’s bodies with physical desire. That is planned and approved by God.

Jesus warns us in Matthew 18:7-10 to not be a stumbling block to others.

Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! Matthew 18:7 (NASB)

A survey of the New Testament reveals that stumbling blocks are behaviors that we commit that motivate others to sin (1 Corinthians 8:13; Romans 14:13; Revelation 2:14). Therefore, men and women become stumbling blocks when they remove their clothes and others, who are not their spouse, look at their nakedness and as a result become sexually stimulated and even want to commit some sexual act: intercourse, oral sex, anal sex or masturbation.

The actors and actresses in the pornography industry know what they are doing. They seek to hook people into repeatedly viewing their bodies. As a result, they become a stumbling block because both men and women sin in the process. The pornography business wants people to become addicted. Recent studies have shown that about 60-70% of men watch porn and 25-30% of women do also. Pornography does not appeal to just men.

Therefore, it is obvious that those in the porn industry are committing shameful acts and are stumbling blocks to others by causing them to commit sin in their hearts. This is a wicked industry. Ancient sculptures and paintings were pornographic too! It appears that the electronic pornographic media is the modern version of these ancient sculptures and paintings. The pornography industry wants to capture you and enslave to your passions. Why? The answer is called “money.”

God Forgives the Sin of Watching Porn

Therefore, if you have been or are watching porn or pornography, you have committed sin or are sinning. That is true also of those involved in the porn industry. Any person who is truly a Christian and is engaged in porn will feel very guilty because the Holy Spirit will be convicting them.

So, does God forgive those who have watched pornography? The answer is yes. There is only one sin that will never be forgiven and that sin is called the unpardonable sin. That sin occurs when someone rejects the truth about Jesus Christ and believes that His miracles, wonders and signs are the result of demonic activity or something else such as magic. But a Christian who has committed the sin of pornography and still believes in Jesus Christ has not committed the unpardonable sin. That means that your sin of addiction to pornography is forgivable if you are serious about breaking free of the addiction.

In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we have a promise that God will help us break free of any sin,

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NASB)

Therefore, you should tell God that you want to be free of this sin, if you are serious. Then flee everything and anything that motivates you to watch or look at pornography (2 Timothy 2:22).

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:22 (NASB)

You should get married if you are not married because that was the apostle Paul’s recommendation to avoid sexual sins (1 Corinthians 7:2). You should also seek to be filled with the Spirit because that provides the power to help you to not sin (Ephesians 5:17-18; Galatians 5:16-23). Also,  put on the Armor of God because that helps you resist the Devil and his demons (Ephesians 6:10-17). If necessary, tell a Christian you respect about your addiction and ask them to keep you accountable.

Conclusion

You should flee pornography! If you do not flee it, God will eventually judge you if you don’t (Romans 2:4-7). If you do flee your sin, you will have greater joy and satisfaction than pornography can every give you. Read the study called “Blessed Are Those Who Hunger For Righteousness.” In that study you will discover how to be truly happy and satisfied.

Confess your sin to God and then trust Him to forgive you. In 1 John 1:9, we are told that God will forgive because He is righteous and faithful. He would not be righteous and faithful if He did not forgive. Remember these verses,

As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12 (NASB)

Come now, and let us reason together,
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18 (NASB)

Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. Isaiah 38:17 (NASB)

. . . for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Jeremiah 31:34

He will again have compassion on us;
He will tread our iniquities under foot.
Yes, You will cast all their sins
Into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19 (NASB)

Confess your sin of pornography, flee pornography, trust Him and be committed to not doing the sin again. Rest in peace believing that God will forgive your sins. 1 John 1:9 tells us that God would be unrighteous or unjust and be unfaithful if He did not forgive your sins when you are truly repentant and will fight to not repeat your sins. The sins of a true believer are forgiven at the point one becomes a Christian. Then when the sinning Christian confesses and repents of sin, the fellowship with God is restored.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and  to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (NASB)

Suggested Links:

Sex, Seduction, and Saints
Is suicide a sin against the body?
Unpardonable Sin
Filled With The Spirit
Armor of God (MP3)
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger For Righteousness
Is oral sex within marriage wrong?
Is masturbation a sin if I control my thoughts?
How can I stop being addicted to the sin of pornography?