Porn, for many, is a comfort sin, a type of therapy. Have a stressful day? Sit down and relax. Angry with your spouse or anxious about an upcoming test? Bring your concerns to the computer screen. Are you lonely? Sad? Bitter, bored, or busy? The door is always open. We bring our problems to porn, the cheap, deceptive therapist, ready to relieve the struggles of a long day.y

You say you’ve tried everything.

You gave away your computer, unplugged your TV, had a total stranger put a lock on your phone. Maybe you’ve done well in stretches. You have four accountability partners, and multiple search engine filters, and yet, in your moments of madness, you find a way to circumvent all boundaries and plunge into sin. You don’t know why you do it. Afterward, you lament with Paul, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15).

My question for you is simply this: Is porn really your problem?

It may seem strange to ask. How could this, your secret shame, this habit which makes you hate yourself, this offense which robs your happiness in the Lord and grieves the Holy Spirit — how could this, which you have tried unsuccessfully to shake, not be your problem?

A friend of mine stumbled upon the crucial distinction. “I know this may sound strange,” he confessed, “but I don’t think porn is really my issue.” How could he, someone who the delicious leash had been strangling for years, say it wasn’t his deepest concern?

The Old Therapy

The moment he said it, I knew exactly what he meant. Porn was not his problem. What was? The many unaddressed sins feeding his impurity.

To be clear, porn is a problem, and a tragedy. In a society without the Internet, could Jesus have been much more explicit concerning the very heartbeat of the porn industry today?

“Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (Matthew 5:28–30)

The war against lust costs arms and limbs. Embarrassment during your next men’s group isn’t mainly what’s at stake. Hell is at stake. And hell is a place that we should tear out eyes and cut off limbs to avoid. Porn, the crown jewel of twenty-first century lust, is always a problem.

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