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Thursday, July 11, 2024

Anti-pornography (and slander, and more) in the Bible

A Psalm by David.
101:1 I will sing of loving kindness and justice.
To you, Yahweh, I will sing praises.
101:2 I will be careful to live a blameless life.
When will you come to me?
I will walk within my house with a blameless heart.
101:3 I will set no vile thing before my eyes.
I hate the deeds of faithless men.
They will not cling to me.
101:4 A perverse heart will be far from me.
I will have nothing to do with evil.
101:5 I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor.
I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.
101:6 My eyes will be on the faithful of the land,
that they may dwell with me.
He who walks in a perfect way,
he will serve me.
101:7 He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house.
He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes.
101:8 Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land;
to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city. (World English Bible, public domain)

Verse 3a has an admonition against willingly experiencing pornography. And there are some more admonitions. Verse 5a is against slander. Verse 4b covers it all, I guess: "I will have nothing to do with evil." If that doesn't cover it all, there's 2a, "I will be careful to lead a blameless life." But, in spite of the importance of the warnings, Perhaps the first verse of the Psalm, "I will sing of loving kindness and justice. To you, Yahweh, I will sing praises" is the most important command. If I spend time praising God, verbally or in other media, I won't have time to slander anyone, or to indulge in pornography, or commit other sins. 

Thanks for reading. Praise God!

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Added July 12, 2024:
Pornography is a form of adultery, and slander is a form of false witness. Both of these are forbidden by the Ten Commandments.

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