Why is watching porn a sin?

Apologetics Moral Theology
#1

hi im new. heres my problem
i used to watch it but i am a teen so i have an urge not to do it
the real reson im not doin it is tellin it to a preist because they look up to me because im goin to a minor seminary:thumbsup:
i also used to masterbate but stopped along time ago but i need help
i have prayed but everyday it is coming back to me
its like tourture.
i am free from mortal sin ( Which is hard for me)
one of the priest noes about my porn watching and i confessed it to him but not
masterbathing because i did not noe if it was a sin so im clear

so the question is why is watching porn a mortal sin it is not doin any thing to anyone and if you dont miss treat ur body but u lust.
lust is not a mortal sin like impure thoughts
plz give me ur oppion on why is it bad not the churchs one

May God be with u
ill pray for u if u pray for me

#2

Jesus said you shouldnt look at women with lust. Lust is intense sexual desire or appetite.
The main reason someone watches porn is so they can satisfy they sexual needs(physically and/or mentally). The whole purpose of porn is to satisfy sexual needs.

#3

If I understand you correctly you want to know why watching porn is a mortal sin, but you don’t want the opinion of the Church as to why it is bad? That is confusing since secular society doesn’t recognize mortal sin, but the Church does.

Anyway, you want a reason why watching porn is wrong? Because it reduces people to objects being used for personal gratification. That is wrong.

#4

The purpose of your life is to stay in union w/ God…we are always IN God through baptism, but how can one fulfill the state of “Grace” if we are watching an act that destroys one’s humanity?

#5

Are you sure it’s not doing anything to anyone? How about the “actors” involved? Like prostitutes, many of them are mistreated, drugged up, and then tossed out when they are no longer useful. And why? Because no one in our society sees it as a big deal. Our complacency fuels that industry.

Remember, lust is a sin regardless of whether you act physically on that lust. Didn’t Jesus say that someone who coverts their neighbor’s wife in their mind has committed adultery? You are basically using the men and women in those movies as nothing more than a means to your own gratification whether it is mental or physical. And that is why even just watching it is wrong.

#6

That is a ridiculous statement you have made!
Below is the Church teaching which makes it very clear why it is a sin.

CCC 2354 Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.

#7

Porn is the Devil’s twisted usage of our gift of sexuality. The whole reason for our sexual nature is procreation, but porn is a solitary pursuit of lust. When you view porn, you are being incited to masturbate to the images (they enflame you with lust). The people in those images or those movies are lost souls with a lot of pain, including drug addiction, alcoholism, and most of whom have STDs from having sex with strangers for money. It is just higher-paid prostitution. It is wrong and sinful in myriad ways.

You must confess your sin of masturbation, and I would urge you to get support about the desire to view porn. It is something most men have to actively battle in this day of easy access to porn. And like most addictions, it escalates as the man starts with somewhat tame images and then advances to more offensive and violent/exploitative forms.

Causing yourself to lust is walking on fire, my friend. To say nothing of what you are indirectly doing to those people in the images. How about you think of those women as your sisters, or even your mother? Because many of them ARE mothers, and they are someone’s daughter for sure.

#8

It sounds to me like you’re a normal teen - working out how to manage your experience of sexual desires and all the while, admirably, trying to stay true to what the Church teaches.

Here’s my interpretation of why pornography is wrong… I hope it helps you build the strength to resist the temptation that you’re trying to achieve…

Pornography objectifies other human beings. By looking at such pictures you’re using another person and that denies them the dignity that God wishes them to have. Essentially you’d be using them as though they were a slave simply to satisfy your desires, with no thought as to their welfare.

Some people fall into the pornography industry because of circumstances they find themselves in. Despite the simulations you might be seeing on the printed page or the internet, these people may well be desperately unhappy because of what they may be feeling forced to do (for whatever reason: human trafficking, poverty, drug addiction, moral collapse, etc). By consuming these images you’re feeding the industry (even ‘free’ porn is simply a hook to get you to consume more and more, and eventually either pay for it or, given the way the internet works, to expose you to more and more advertising that earns a site money based on the numbers of people who see it). Ultimately pornography is an industry based around the exploitation of people: those who find it necessary to sell themselves into it and those who can’t resist the temptation to look at the results.

Porn isn’t a consensual exercise. There is no consideration of anyone’s welfare, except the bank accounts of the people or companies producing the porn. To them, the viewer of porn is just a consumer to be fleeced and the models are pieces of meat to be used until they’re no longer beautiful enough at which point they’re ignominiously kicked onto the ‘scrap heap’.

This isn’t guesswork. It’s what actually happens.

Does any of this exploitation sound anything at all like something a loving God would approve of. Would He, in all His glory, approve of the abuse of our instincts in the name of obscenity and someone else’s profit? Even if the arrangements are consensual doesn’t make them acceptable. It is not a loving thing to do, to participate in that industry as a consumer or a provider.

While it may be understandable that you might give in to temptation because you’re not strong enough to resist all the time, it doesn’t negate the effects that it has on you: the dulling of your sense of awe at the sexual act, the reduction in respect that it may cause towards persons to which you are sexually attracted, etc. Do I need to go on?

You’re a teen. You’re struggling with the temptations and I get that you’re probably enduring a flood of hormones and confusion at the age you appear to me. That’s normal and it will pass. I’ve struggled with them myself as well. Work at it, pray about it, develop your sense of self-discipline. It will pay dividends in all sorts of areas as you mature and become a person with better senses of what’s right and wrong than many other people. And if you slip up, which plenty of us do from time to time, don’t be so ashamed that you feel you’re somehow much worse than others and that you’re not worthy of absolution. You are worthy and God will always forgive you if you ask for it with an honest heart. Oh, and don’t worry about telling the priest. I’m sure he’s heard ALL of it before from many many different people!

#9

:thumbsup:

Why are pornography and masturbation sins?

Both pornography and masturbation are looking upon woman/man with lust.

Jesus was clear about lust, with Matthew 5:28, stating lust is adultery.

Exodus 20:14 and Deuteronomy 5:18 are clear about adultery, stating it is a sin.

This is why pornography and masturbating are sins: both are lust and lust is adultery and adultery is a sin.

:slight_smile:

#10

Looking at pornography is a sin because it is a sin to “covet your neighbor’s wife.” Deut 5:21 You have absolutely no right to look upon any woman in a state of undress unless you are married to her, and even then you must look upon her with love and honor.

#11

Hi, I was just wondering in Confession if porn and masterbation could be forgiven for admitting to the sin of lust. I want to confess my sins but I’m not really confident enough to speak of such with my priest who I happen to be very good friends with. Due to the difficulty God knows I face with admitting my sins, I hope that I can be forgiven because I’m truly sorry for my sins. Thanks I’m advance

#12

Masturbation is wrong because the sexual urge is designed to be an expression of marital love. When you masturbate, you’re not loving anyone. There is no one to love.

As for pornography, you are objectifying the person. Again you are not loving the person, but are treating the person as an object for your enjoyment.

Thus it becomes about satisfying yourself rather than loving others.

You will also find women have a much fuller understanding of this as when we catch our husbands viewing and masturbating to pornography, we feel very betrayed. its not just that we don’t feel attractive, its that we fear the man viewing us and all women as merely a sexual toy rather than a person. We long to be loved.

And when it comes to those women in pornography, many of them are being abused. Its not a healthy industry for a person to be involved in and when you view that stuff, you’re contributing in an indirect way to how the industry mistreats them. You should feel sorry for those woman. Those women are individuals.

#13

If you are in minor seminary, I’m surprised that they aren’t giving you better instruction on morality and what constitutes sin.

Porn does harm many people… the ones in the film/picture and the ones watching. And yes, lust is a mortal sin. It’s one of the 7 deadly sins.

Can you watch porn with a pure heart, free from any impure thoughts? Even if you answer, “yes,” I’m pretty sure the real answer is, “no.” It sounds to me that you are unaware of the gravity porn has how it has, is and will affect you.

Once impure thoughts have entered your head, they don’t simply disappear. Watching porn has affected you and is affecting you, your thoughts, your views, your judgements, your soul… It’s much easier to stop temptation in the beginning. If we allow it to seep into us, it’s all that much harder to get rid of. It’s like cleaning a house… one can pick up after themselves daily, maintain their home and house-clean weekly. But if one only does it every so often, or almost never, the filth is compounded and very difficult and tiring to get rid of. Sometimes major repair work is needed.

My advice to you for confessing… if you are worried about what the priest will think, then you are missing the point. Don’t get me wrong, we all have struggled with this temptation at some point or continually struggle with it. I do every time, but I also realize that in order to make a good confession, I can’t worry about what the priest thinks of me because I will not give a good confession if I do.
You are not confessing to Fr. Bob. You are confessing to Christ. But if you need a little help in this area, I am more impressed by people who can share their weaknesses with others than by those who boast of their accomplishments.

Don’t be afraid. Ask Mary and the saints for their intercession.

#14

Everyone here posted the reason why. I’m just giving you an advice since I’m suffering from this dilemma for about seventeen years which make me 30 this year; but now I’ve learned the truth. Like you, I tried hard but failed and the habit gets worse as time goes on. For me it started out embarrassing to keep going back to the priest to ask for forgiveness. Worrying about what the priest think is just satan implanting thought. It seeks to separate you from Jesus Christ. So ask for forgiveness of sin and confess because the more you go to confession the stronger is your will to resist. If you haven’t confess, just go up and receive blessing instead of Eucharist (again, don’t be embarrass be more worry about straying away from God).
My friend, I’ve seen evil and it sicken me to the core! It is everywhere lurking waiting for best opportunity to strike; don’t let your guard down because it closes to and without you noticing it. As a follower of Jesus Christ, do whatever it takes to be his knight shinning with the best weapon and armor. Remember that the closer you are to God, the stronger you are and nothing else matter!

God bless

#15

I would say no. The Church requires us to confess all mortal sins in kind and number. Now realize, there is no need to get scrupulous with this. As a confessor, my role is to determine the extent of the sin. I don’t need someone to tell me, “Father, I masturbated 27 times since my last confession.” If they do, no problem, but, as long as I can get that this is an ongoing problem vs. a one time slip up, that sufficient.

Priests don’t need a lot of specifics, but there is wisdom in the Church’s guidance. By naming our sin, specifically, we take a certain ownership of it. It keeps us humble, and it serves as a type of penance in itself for just the reasons you point out. The other thing to note is that if you are uncomfortable saying, “masturbation,” you can say self abuse, self sex, impure acts with myself, touching myself, any number of things…the priest will understand what you mean.

From the priests’s standpoint, he can better offer specific counsel as to how to avoid said sin. I can promise you that you are not going to say anything we haven’t heard before. Finally, I think the temptation is to think that Father will think so much less of me if I confess a big mortal sin to him. He’ll look down on me and be disappointed. I can tell you with absolute certainty, the opposite is true. I have the utmost respect for a penitent who is contrite and humble, and wants to just “lay it all out there.”

Think of it this way…if you went to the doctor, and just said, “My stomach hurts.” The doctor would, if he was doing his job, ask more questions. Where does your stomach hurt? For how long have you felt this way? Is it a sharp or dull pain? What else is wrong? Why? Because there is not one magic fix-all for every stomach ache. Rather, the doctor needs to find out what specifically ails you so he can prescribe the proper medicine or treatment. A priest, a spiritual doctor, is the same way.

I hope this helps.

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