I hesitated using that title since it represents an attitude about life that is Biblically unsound; and the last thing we need is to burn into our minds a message that may result in corrupting our service to God. So I am hopeful that everyone will read beyond the title.

    What has occasioned the writing of this article is a recent interview on "Good Morning America". The subject was Internet pornography. The interviewer was Charles Gibson. The guests were two so-called "youth ministers" whose objective is to warn young people about the harmful nature of pornography. They drive an arty and colorful SUV that promotes their website. At the website visitors can learn more about the danger of pornography, and they may even download software that keeps track of Internet "surfing" (web sites visited).

    It's certainly not the effort to warn people about the dangers of pornography that has me disturbed. We all applaud any effort to turn people away from harmful influences. But it was that age-old question asked by Mr. Gibson that distresses me. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: "What's so wrong with that?" Mr. Gibson asked, "What's so wrong with a young man taking a peek (at pornography on the Internet, bj)?" He then compared it to a young boy finding his father's Playboy magazine, as if subscribing to a pornographic magazine ought to be an accepted norm in our society.

    We expect such reasoning and questions from someone in the world, but a Christian will reason differently. He will ask different questions. He will ask, 1) Has God placed any limits on the viewing of a human body clothed or unclothed? 2) Does the living word of God (Heb. 4:12), revealed in Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16), shed any light on the matter of one person looking upon another?

    These are proper questions and they spring from sound and godly reasoning. God has certainly revealed the truth on this and all other matters that relate to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). His Son said, "I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt 5:28). Lust is an evil desire (as God defines evil). Jesus spoke of a man who desires "the company of a woman" to whom he is not married, so he plays out the scene in his mind. "What''s so wrong with that?" God calls THAT an evil desire, a lust! The Hebrew writer explained that all lawful sexual encounters are between a man and woman lawfully married (according to civil and spiritual laws), otherwise God will judge them to be adulterers and fornicators (Heb. 13:4). The apostle John added another warning; he said that ALL lust (evil desire) severs one from the love of God the Father (cf. 1 Jn. 2:15-17). The Scripture states plainly that for anyone to view the physical form of another with sexual intent will result in the viewer being charged with the SIN of adultery; and the danger of being convicted of any SIN is that it will, if not repented from, result in one's eternal separation from God (Rom. 6:23; Jas. 1:15).

    The two men interviewed did not refer to the Biblical definition of SIN (1 Jn. 3:4). They never spoke of "the SIN of adultery or fornication" in reference to viewing pornography. By no means did they even suggest that a single SIN could affect one's spiritual condition or relationship to God (Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17,18). They may have felt it was futile to speak of SIN to a nationwide audience. So their emphasis in the television interview was on the prevention of a harmful social behavior among today's youth. "What's so wrong with that?" That is certainly the direction many professional counselors would have taken in a similar interview. However, anyone claiming to labor on behalf of God for today's youth and that is what a "youth minister" would claim that he or she does must direct young people to the will of God (Matt. 7:21) spoken through His Son (Heb. 1:2), and they must be warned of the terrible consequences of refusing to acknowledge His absolute authority over their lives (Matt. 7:21-23).

    Basically, any effort to change harmful social or moral behavior is futile apart from encouraging that change in response to God's will. It will have no more meaning than to bring a little comfort to a dying man before his final breath.

    Job said, "I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman" (Job 31:1)? The sage of ancient times made a covenant with his eyes because he had previously made a covenant with God to keep heart and life clean from moral impurities. King David answered the greatest moral question, "How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word" (Psa. 119:9).

---Boyd Jennings