Sin, Sex and the Human Mind

Apparently many people fear that a penalty of intense pain and suffering for sin awaits them. It could be restraint and suffering in a literal fiery place (Dante’s invention of the realms of purgatory and hell have certainly become part of the popular imagination), or it could be cold, eternal separation from God in outer darkness. Even the lapsed believer might experience the lingering threat of hell. And because we can’t prove that life does not go on after death, the agnostic and the atheist might also succumb to such fears. Uncertainty and guilt can combine to create an underlying, unconscious anxiety.

“Through me you enter into the city of woes. Through me you enter into eternal pain. . . . Abandon all hope, you who enter here.”

Social Order

Despite the Pew survey results, all this talk may still seem like an illogical throwback in a world where sin has largely disappeared as a category of human behavior. Even some committed Christians are having a problem with the idea of sin; they opt for churches that prefer to affirm rather than proscribe behavior (ignoring biblical teaching about the consequences of failure to do what is right). If some people don’t want to think in terms of sin, though, surely they don’t need to worry about hell and payback. And yet there’s always that nagging possibility that punishment awaits. Because we know that some of our behaviors are less than optimal, antisocial, and destructive of relationships, we might have an understandable sense of guilt.

We also know that societies cannot function as law-free zones, where there is no penalty for wrongdoing. Since ancient times, societies have recognized the need for law codes that define right and wrong behavior—from cheating to bribery, from theft to slander, from incest to murder. But some might ask if such lawbreaking is equivalent to sin.

From the Judeo-Christian perspective, the biblical record provides much of the moral and ethical understanding that has underpinned Western civilization. It includes lists of good and bad behavior. Reviewing those lists might shed light on a social order where all human beings can flourish.

Consider the 15 characteristics the apostle Paul spelled out in the first century as ruinous to relationships: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19–21).

Even after 2,000 years his writing rings true. Human nature doesn’t change very much.

In Paul’s list, three of the traits are sexual in nature, two are religious, eight deal with social mores, and two relate to intoxication. In the remainder of this article, we’ll consider the first three: being sexually immoral, being morally impure (including sexual violence), and indulging in unrestrained sexual excess. These three characteristics form a cascading threat to intimate relationships and social stability.

Then and Now

In the Greek of the first century, the word porneia signified sexual immorality. Originally used as a term for prostitution, its meaning came to include any form of sexual betrayal or sexually immoral act. In Paul’s time porneia was acceptable in society—within limits. New Testament scholar Richard Longenecker explains, “This vice was so common in the Greco-Roman world of Paul’s day that it was not regarded as particularly reprehensible, except when carried to excess.” Longenecker quotes Bible commentator William Barclay: “It is significant that it is with this sin that Paul begins. The sexual life of the Graeco-Roman world in [New Testament] times was a lawless chaos.”

The English word pornography (from Greek porne, “prostitute,” and graphein, “to write”) is connected with sexual immorality (porneia) in its etymology. The initial dictionary definition of pornography in 1842 was “ancient obscene painting, especially in temples of Bacchus.”

“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [hard-core pornography]; . . . But I know it when I see it.”

We might ask how our world compares to that ancient time. As already noted, porneia was commonplace in Paul’s time, as were the related problems of sexual impurity and lack of sexual restraint.

We could take current exposure to pornography as one way to make a comparison. According to a 2024 research report in the journal Addiction, “pornography use is prevalent in the general population in Australia, North America, and Europe, where approximately 70–94 percent of adults report lifetime pornography use in large-scale and national probability-based studies.” Other measures indicate the serious consequences of problematic pornography use (PPU), defined as “uncontrollable and repetitive persistent pornography use accompanied by clinically significant distress and functional impairment (e.g. job loss).”

While excessive involvement with pornography is not currently classed as a mental health issue in the United States, PPU is included in the new Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) entry in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases.

Addiction’s 2024 report continues, “Approximately 1–38 percent of participants reported PPU in these studies, with prevalence estimates ranging between 3–38 percent among men and 1–23 percent among women.” In a 2021–22 study of 82,243 individuals with an average age of 32, conducted across 42 countries and 26 languages, the highest PPU scores were seen among men in Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Turkey and Brazil.

This snapshot disguises the fact that in 2023, 20 countries accounted for more than 78 percent of all viewing consumers on the leading global pornographic site. Of the five listed above, only Brazil appears (at number 10). The United States heads the list, followed by the Philippines, France, Mexico, the UK, Japan, Germany, Italy, Canada and Brazil. Though the number fluctuated, the site says it averaged around 5.5 billion monthly visits in 2024. It’s the biggest, but it’s only one of millions of sites offering pornographic content—about 12 percent of all websites. In the United States, 95 percent have access to the Internet, and 98 percent of pornographic use in 2021 was via online access, with 69 percent viewed on cell phones.

“With a visit to an adult video site . . . , you can see more naked bodies in a single minute than the most promiscuous Victorian would have seen in an entire lifetime.”

Beyond mere numbers, the quantitative data conceals an even more insidious reality, because what consumers are viewing is deeply troubling. It is often racist; demeaning to men, women and children; abusive, violent and perverted. What users may not realize is that child sex trafficking is often in the background of pornographic imagery of children aged 7 to 11. This is but one appalling aspect of the very lucrative pornography business, worth (in 2023) in excess of US$1 billion.

Research shows that children who are introduced to pornography are often exposed at a very young age—between 9 and 13 on average. By teen years, most youths have been subjected to Internet pornography in some form, with 93 percent of teen boys and 62 percent of teen girls reporting Internet exposure. There is evidence that men connect their early exposure to pornography to frequency of use later in life.

From these statistics we can see that, although addiction may be low percentagewise, exposure to pornographic material is high—yet not many think of it as problematic. In one study, only 14 percent of Americans believed that the use of pornography is wrong, while 51 percent did not.

What’s the Harm?

The damage that pornography can cause starts somewhere. Before a person becomes a victim of PPU, they may begin viewing for various reasons: for recreation, to relieve stress or anxiety, to compensate for childhood trauma, or as a result of childhood exposure.

Those who provide therapy for PPU have an important angle on the question of whether involvement with pornography is harmful. While some are unequivocal about the negative effects, others claim that it’s too early to know, that there isn’t enough objective evidence to decide the question, that self-reporting gets in the way, or that religious belief distorts the discussion.

Reading a few case histories may cast needed light on the issue.

Consider one example of Internet infidelity, as reported in The American Journal of Family Therapy: A couple entered therapy after the husband’s porn addiction threatened their marriage. They had begun their intimate married life by viewing pornography together. Though the wife did not prefer it, she participated. What started as a joint activity eventually became the husband’s private compulsion, threatening the foundation of their relationship. Later, when she found evidence of his private porn viewing, she began to feel resentful and betrayed. Her husband’s desire for mutual sex diminished with his continued viewing. He developed tolerance and could only achieve arousal from more and more diverse material. Finally, at risk of losing his wife, he sought therapy. This included creating an alliance with his wife against the pornographic intruder in their marriage. Coming to understand that he had allowed a third party to disrupt his relationship, he finally was prepared to take steps away from his addiction. Here some of the commonalities associated with PPU are evident: Men are more prone to succumb to it than women. They often experience depression, anxiety, shame. Similarly, their wives may experience depression, but also betrayal, loss of trust and self-esteem, anger, and insecurity.

In another case, this one addressed in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, a 37-year-old single man held a responsible job by day but spent three to four hours every evening for a decade watching Internet pornography. Though he tried to stop his addiction, he was unable to exert the needed level of self-control. He felt shame and guilt and became socially isolated and lonely, which only reinforced his pornography habit. Therapy uncovered an abusive childhood with an alcoholic father. As a result, he was fearful of attachment and intimacy. In this case, childhood trauma brought on addictive coping behaviors in adulthood. Through extensive therapy that focused on the man’s maladaptive psychological processes, he was able to make significant progress in overcoming his compulsions.

“Neuroscientists know now that bad habits . . . become the default circuits when we are faced with temptation. . . . But now we also know that we can rewire the brain to develop healthier circuitry.”

These individual narratives reveal more than a personal struggle; they illuminate how the availability of Internet pornography exacerbates the victim’s plight. The Internet provides access with anonymity and is affordable. When the apostle Paul included three sexual sins in his list of 15 common human failings, he knew nothing of the power and influence of modern communications. But his identification of sexual immorality (porneia) and its related behaviors as some of the main social problems of his time surely accords with our own experiences in this ultra-pornographic age.

In the same passage Paul also wrote about some of the traits that must replace the negative ones for healing to begin. Some therapists have identified love toward others and personal control as essential in the healing process. Paul mentions kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as some of the qualities that come from the Spirit of God at work with the remediated human spirit (Galatians 5:22–23).

If you are struggling with problematic pornography use, get therapeutic help from a therapist who understands the gravity of the problem (not all do). While the challenges of compulsive behaviors may seem overwhelming, hope emerges through comprehensive healing strategies. Professional help, spiritual guidance and compassionate support can provide the environment necessary for genuine healing and renewal.

If you sense the need for spiritual help, you could begin by considering Vision’s article collection The Path to Change.