Last updated on September 24, 2020
Question:
I have two questions:
First, is there a difference in the badness of gay over normal pornography?
Second, is it wrong to masturbate without pornography in an attempt to stop the urges to watch porn? Along with that is it wrong to be turned on by naked men, even if I am for sure not gay, or does it mean that I am gay and I just don’t know it.
Answer:
One of the chief reasons pornography is wrong is that encourages the viewer to accept the depicted forms of sex as being acceptable. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God” (I Thessalonians 4:3-5). Pornography depicts all kinds of improper sexual situations, such as fornication, adultery, or homosexuality. When you watch this type of trash, you start thinking that such behavior is justified and normal. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man” (Mark 7:21-23).
Not only does it produce lust for evil within you, but pornography also reduces your resistance to actually sinning if the situation comes up because you had been thinking about doing just those sorts of things for so long. Instead of chasing after lusts, we are to run the other direction. “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (II Timothy 2:22). See: Lies Pornography Tells Men.
There is nothing in the Bible that indicates that masturbation, by itself, is wrong. See: How is it possible to masturbate without sinful thoughts?
In regards to sexual arousal, see: Is being gay a sin, or is the act of having relations with the same sex a sin? You are facing temptation, but what you are tempted by does not mean you accept what is being offered.