Aug
31
2010
Not Like the Beasts
Guest Post by Robert Sagers
In a recent issue of First Things, Mary Eberstadt surveys America’s growing “sexual obesity.” The article, “The Weight of Smut,” is devoted in part to knocking down three common myths surrounding pornography use. It’s well worth reading in full.
One insight in particular, however, caught my attention. It seems that when one exposes pornography for what it is, it’s “practically guaranteed to elicit malice and venom unique in their potency from its defenders.” Eberstadt continues:
What does it tell us that, when faced with any attempt to make the case that this substance should be harder to get than it is, some reliable subset of defenders can be counted on to respond more like animals than like people? If such is not the very definition of addiction, what is?
It was the insight regarding the animal-response that has stuck with me since I first read this article. It’s not just, it seems to me, those enslaved to pornography who may lash out when their sin is exposed. No.
Instead, it seems to me that any of us is tempted to respond like that whenever the light encroaches on our dark places. And Satan is surely pleased that it can devolve us into beasts.
It may be an aspect of the mystery of lawlessness that causes us, at times, to respond not with gratitude but with (un)righteous indignation when our pet addictions, our personal idolatries, are exposed.
If we respond with disdain when our spending habits come under scrutiny, perhaps we’ve fallen into mammon-worship. If we respond with vitriol when our relationships are questioned, perhaps those relationships are inappropriate. If we respond with hatred when our particular political party is critiqued, perhaps we’re worshiping the wrong king.
Let’s be joyful when our sin is exposed. And then let’s repent, and be grateful for the Spirit’s work.
Satan sees when we treat each other not with the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit, but the manifestation of the works of the flesh—he sees, and grins. Let’s not give Satan reason to smile.
Let’s make sure that when we speak to one another, perhaps even when our sin is exposed, that we respond like people—like Christians—and not like the beasts.