Compromising With Morality

Even more serious and dangerous than our financial shortcomings is the American attitude of compromise toward sexual morality.

A recent long feature article in The Atlantic stated that "polls show that Americans are almost evenly divided on questions like whether porn is bad for relationships, whether it's an inevitable feature of male existence, and whether it's demeaning to women" (Ross Douthat, "Is Pornography Adultery?" October 2008).

Rather than viewing porn stars as tragic figures earning their money from illicit sex, they are often accorded minor celebrity status. U.S. porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS and NBC. Do we see how far we have descended downwards in the way we view God's law against adultery and fornication?

The Atlantic article also observed that "most Americans, devout or secular, are inclined to distinguish lustful thoughts from lustful actions…Intercourse, after all, involves physicality, a flesh and blood encounter that the Internet Explorer and the DVD player can't provide, no matter what sort of adultery the user happens to be committing in his heart."

Yet Jesus Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount: "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 in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28). To whom are we ultimately going to have to give account? Transient societal views of this world? Or Jesus Christ Himself (Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10)?