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Showing posts with label pornography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pornography. Show all posts

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!

**** 

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.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Sunspots 885

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:




Christianity: Relevant has an article that discusses the harmful effects of watching pornography -- it leads to a decline in desire for sex with real people. The article mentions the effects on Christian young people.

Computing: Gizmodo tells us that Chicago (and other) police, with help from the FBI, are using fake social media accounts to trap criminals (or innocent people).

Environment: Gizmodo reports that legislators in Utah are considering piping ocean water into the Great Salt Lake, which is at record low levels, with no natural fix in sight.

Health: (and politics) NPR reports that the death rate from COVID has been significantly higher in counties that voted for Trump.

Politics: NPR reports that American right-wingers are praising the autocratic leader of Hungary.

Science: The Scientist reports that significant malaria transmission occurs, due to daytime mosquito bites.

Gizmodo reports that dolphins in the Red Sea apparently rub their bodies, or parts thereof, on corals, for medicinal reasons.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, February 09, 2022

Sunspots 870

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:


Computing: NPR reports that, in Belgium, some workers are not required to answer communications related to their job, at all hours of the day and night.

Politics: Relevant discusses the matter of white evangelicals being the only significant religious group that is strongly against allowing immigration, and a path to citizenship.

Pornography (There are no photos of pornography in the article(s) linked here): A Christianity Today article on what's wrong with pornography -- it's not about relationships.

Science: The Scientist reports that plants in the UK are blooming about a month earlier than they did a few decades ago.

Gizmodo reports on chimpanzees applying insects to a wound, probably as a treatment of some sort. 

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Sunspots 863

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:




The Arts: Relevant says that Denzel Washington, as a movie director, starts each work day with prayer. Good for him!

Christianity: Relevant reports on various city ordinances prohibiting feeding the homeless, or making it difficult to do so.

Christianity Today reports on a study that found that (surprise!) people stay away from church when it rains, and also commit more crimes when it rains, and they aren't in church.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that some bacteria seem to be breaking down plastics in the ocean, for food.

Finances: NPR reports that people living in mobile home parks are having their homes taken away, and that US government agencies are facilitating this process.

Politics: The Coal miners' union thinks Joe Manchin should have supported the Build Back Better bill, according to Gizmodo.

Pornography (There are no photos of pornography in the article(s)) linked here): Relevant writes about Billie Eilish, who was addicted to pornography as a child, and discusses women being addicted to pornography.

Science: Gizmodo reports that scientists have had some success in transplanting a pig's organ into a human.

NPR reports that a large eagle from Asia has been flying around North America for nearly a year.

Sports: FiveThirtyEight reports on new ways of tracking all sorts of data during basketball games.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Sunspots 839

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:



Environment: (and Politics) Gizmodo reports that the US Chamber of Commerce has been denying climate change for years.

Finance: (or something) According to Politifact, prominent TV preachers Charles Stanley, Pat Robertson, and Joel Osteen are not selling cannabis products.

Food: NPR reports on nut thefts: Organized criminals are stealing pistachios and almonds,

Politics: Florida now has a law that expects universities to keep track of the beliefs of employees and students, according to Relevant.

According to Gizmodo, Florida has also given fossil fuels an advantage in energy sources.

Pornography: With considerable reluctance, I have added this category to my weekly sunspots. It's important, and it keeps coming up. I will not knowingly link directly to any pornographic sites.

Relevant gives us some misconceptions about sex trafficking and pornography.

Science: Astronomers have been thinking about the possibility of intelligent life on other planets detecting earth, according to NPR.

The Scientist reports on cicada holes, which are more permanent than some other animal-produced holes in the ground, and which have important effects on the microbes in the soil, and on the atmosphere. There are lots and lots of such holes.

Gizmodo reports that there are underground (and frozen) lakes on Mars.

Gizmodo reports on the collision of a black hole and a neutron star. 

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading. 

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Sunspots 838


Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others:

Computing: Relevant reports that PornHub is being sued for subjecting women and children who are sex-trafficked to non-consensual sex.

Gizmodo discusses the most significant hacking events in history.


Finance: (and Politics) Gizmodo reports that many States are using facial recognition software to verity unemployment claims is prone to error, thus denying legitimate unemployment claims. Gizmodo also says that the company is difficult to contact about an error.

Health: The Scientist reports that antibodies to COVID were present in the US in late 2019.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight on how, in the US, adherents of the two major parties despise each other more than in similar situations in other countries, and how this puts democracy itself in jeopardy.

According to Gizmodo, reporting on testimony to Congress, the upstart social network, Parler, warned the FBI, several times, about the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.

Science: Gizmodo reports on snake-like robots that dig into the ground, and under it.

NPR reports that a fossil dinosaur as long as a basketball court has been found in Australia.

NPR also reports that several varieties of apple, thought to have disappeared, still exist.

The Scientist reports on a study indicating that different groups have different "handshakes." These variant behaviors appear to be long-lasting within the group.

Gizmodo reports that ground temperature in Siberia recently hit 48 Celsius, which is way above normal, and not good.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

 

Wednesday, June 09, 2021

Sunspots 836

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others:



Christianity: Relevant discusses the five most commonly used (and misused) Bible verses.

Computing: Relevant also discusses the harmful effects of pornography on females.

Gizmodo discusses the too-useful iPhone. They more one relies on it, for example to pay for purchases, or to start a car, the worse it is to lose it or have it malfunction.

Health: NPR reports that a new kind of COVID vaccine may be ready for use soon.

The FDA has approved a new drug that is supposed to help Alzheimer's patients. But maybe it really doesn't, and it costs a lot. See also here for Gizmodo's take on this situation.

Politics: NPR reports on how the 2nd Amendment to the US constitution hasn't been friendly to blacks.

Science: Gizmodo reports that scientists have been successful in teaching blind people to echolocate (bats use echos to find things).

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, March 03, 2021

Sunspots 822

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Some Gizmodo writers discuss the question of why music moves us emotionally.

Christianity: Relevant has a disturbing article on the pervasiveness of pornography, and its effects (people who watch pornography are more likely to divorce, for one). The pervasiveness seems to be as 

Education: Grammarphobia on the history of the words grid and gridiron.

Finance: (or something) Gizmodo reports on an analysis which says that Texans have paid 28 billion dollars more for power, over the last few years, than they would have if their grid had been regulated like other grids.

Politics: Gizmodo reports on congressional hearings aimed to cut down on misinformation. It's an interesting read, pointing out more than one side's misinformation, but no conclusions were found.

NPR reports that Russian diplomats and their families left North Korea by way of a manually pushed rail handcart.

Science: Gizmodo reports that there are a lot of double stars in our galaxy, meaning that, on many planets, there would often be two sun shadows of the same object, or person.

Gizmodo also reports on studies of fossil dinosaurs. There aren't many fossils of medium-sized dinosaurs, and the reason seems to be that the young of Tyrannosaurus rex and similar forms out-competed them.

Gizmodo also reports on the development of flying drones, the size of a cicada.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, December 09, 2020

Sunspots 810

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:




The Arts: Christianity Today reports that Walter Hooper, who spent most of his life editing and publishing the writing of C. S. Lewis, has died.

Christianity: Christianity Today on the most commonly read Bible verses of 2020.

Relevant points out nine myths about Christians that many Christians believe (such as that there were three wise men.

Computing: Relevant discusses a New York Times report on sexual exploitation of children, and other bad stuff, on the most widely used source of pornography on the Internet.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that all major US banks have indicated that they will not finance oil drilling in the Arctic.

Elephants are making a comeback in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to Gizmodo.

Gizmodo also reports that "The Old Arctic is Gone," for centuries, probably.

Food: (or something) NPR reports that service workers, such as those who make deliveries, are getting smaller tips, and are more likely to be sexually harassed, since the pandemic.

Health: Gizmodo reports that the Centers for Disease Control has updated its recommendations on length of quarantine stay, relative to COVID. The recommended lengths have been shortened.

The obituary of Marvin J. Farr, a veterinarian who died from COVID, as so many others have, has gone viral. With good reason.

Politics: A Trump election lawyer has called for the execution of Chris Krebs, who was fired for saying that the 2020 Presidential election was free from anything close to lost or changed ballots, according to Gizmodo.

Science: TheScientist discusses the use of messenger RNA vaccines. (The most promising COVID vaccines are mRNA injections.)

(or something) Gizmodo reports on how a capsized cargo ship, with a few thousand autos on it, is being cut up and removed.

(And Christianity) The Wikipedia has an article on the star of Bethlehem, which considers several possible explanations, including the purely miraculous, and some astronomical phenomena.

Gizmodo has a slide show about the "most intriguing" archaeological discoveries of 2020.

Relevant and other outlets report that there will be a "Christmas Star" conjunction on December 21, and for a few days later.

Sports: FiveThirtyEight reports on findings that elite professional athletes are likely to be younger siblings.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Sunspots 738


Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:


Christianity: Christianity Today interviews Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The State Department is hosting a major event, focusing on religious freedom all over the world.

More from Speculative Faith on engaging (or not) with the culture.

Computing: Gizmodo reports that almost all activity of users on pornography web sites is tracked by Google and other companies, including Facebook. The study did not answer the question as to what, if anything, that data is used for. The study looked at over 22,000 pornography web sites.

Health: NPR reports on a study, indicating that, world-wide, we don't grow enough fruits and vegetables for everyone to have recommended amounts of them.

An NPR writer tells us how to know if we really need surgery, and how to find the right surgeon, if we do.

NPR also reports on a study of teeth, around the world. We are eating way too much sugar, and not doing preventive practices.

Humor: (or something) Listverse tells us about some elaborate and amazing things made with Legos.


Politics: An NPR person thinks that President Trump's statements about certain House members should have been reported, but that calling them "racist" was opinion, not reporting. Not everyone at NPR agrees.

Catherine Rampell summarizes several recent actions, by the Trump administration, to make immigration from the South even more difficult. Most of these actions violate US and international law, she says.

Science: Gizmodo reports that the temperature at the northernmost settlement on earth reached 70 degrees Fahrenheit, for the first time ever, recently.

An environmental success story. Thanks to heroic efforts (and funding) from many people, the California condor population has grown from 20 or so to 300 wild birds.

Gizmodo reports on studies of the frequent volcanic activity on Io, a moon of Jupiter.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain. 

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Sunspots 686


Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:




Computing: Gizmodo reports that internet filters are not effective in keeping children from viewing pornography.

Gizmodo also reports on privacy concerns for those of us who have smart TVs.

Health: Scientific American reports that the Environmental Protection Agency wants to drastically curtail the use of scientific and medical evidence it uses in producing or modifying regulations.

The New York Times reports that administrative costs related to health care are very high in the US, probably mostly because of the complexity of the health care "system."

Listverse discusses the bacteria in our guts.

Humor: (or something) Gizmodo reports, with photos, on a man who let the fingernails on his left hand grow for 66 years.

(or something) Scientific American discusses the fear and joy of riding a roller coaster.


Politics: Gizmodo reports on the newly appointed acting chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Wheeler.

To the surprise of many, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission has serious doubts about allowing Sinclair broadcasting to add more TV stations, according to Gizmodo.

Analysis of the falsehoods President Trump tells.

Science: Listverse tells us about 10 amazing extinct animals. Not Tyrannosaurus, or saber-tooths, but even more impressive beasts.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Wednesday, June 06, 2018

Sunspots 680


Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:


The Arts: (Including pornography -- never mind whether it's art or not!) An article in Speculative Faith warns that thinking you are oblivious to pornography and questionable visual stimuli is not a sign of Christian maturity. For part 1 of this series, see here.

Computing: A primer on typography, for those not expert in the selection and use of typefaces.

UnDark debunks the idea of "technology addiction."

Gizmo's Freeware tells us how to delete the conversations we have with digital assistants, such as Alexa.

Gizmodo considers the question of how many social media users are real, and how many are not.


Education: Scientific American debunks the value of so-called "learning styles."

Health: Gizmodo reports on studies of the effect of dietary supplements on heart health, which found that such supplements did not have a positive effect.

Gizmodo also reports that one-fifth of 20-30's deaths in the US are now caused by opioids.

Politics: (or something) Relevant reports that some Liberty University students and staff are working with a producer who is filming something called The Trump Prophecy. It is claimed that this film won't be political, which is hard to imagine.


Sports: FiveThirtyEight analyzed the loss of the Houston Rockets to the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association's western conference final series, seventh game, where the Rockets, usually a good 3-point shooting team, missed 26 3's in a row.

FiveThirtyEight also discusses Kevin Durant's propensity to lose a shoe during an NBA game.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Sunspots 649

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:



Christianity: Christianity Today says that a Chinese pastor, of an unregistered church, has been arrested, with some of her family, for publicly proclaiming the gospel.

A Relevant writer has some good advice for those attracted, or hooked on, pornography, and other sexual sins.

Relevant discusses martyrdom, which is all too real for hundreds of Christians (almost all in other countries than the US) every year.

A Relevant writer explains the benefits of not agreeing with everything your pastor believes.

And another Relevant writer says that US Christians are NOT under attack.

(And Politics) Michael Gerson, himself a political conservative and a Christian, blasts those who sympathize with the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit, for straying from Christian values. Writes Gerson: "Now, according to [Steve] Bannon, 'economic nationalism' is the 'centerpiece of value voters.' I had thought the centerpiece was a vision of human dignity rooted in faith." Bannon spoke at the Summit, and was apparently acclaimed.


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware mentions a program that converts Office files to .PDF. It apparently also converts Word files to epub files, too.
 
Health: National Public Radio reports that medical eye drops are bigger than they need to be, or than you actually absorb, and users are paying more because of their size.

History: (or something) Sojourners reports on the Samaritans of today. A tiny group, less than 1,000.

Politics: Scientific American documents how several appointees in the Trump administration are working to set aside scientific findings which show how industries of various kinds are hurting the public.

(and gender) A Pew Research poll finds that Democrats and Republicans have different views of how hard men have it.

Science: According to Scientific American, dodder, a parasitic plant -- you may have seen it, it looks like skinny spaghetti -- passes warning signals between plant hosts, allowing plants that may soon be attacked by insect pests to be better prepared.

Listverse shows us, and describes, 10 newly discovered species of animals.

Image source (public domain) 

Wednesday, February 08, 2017

Sunspots 612

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:


Christianity: A Relevant writer says that our prayers probably should be simpler.

In Christianity Today, a short discussion of addiction to pornography, and how prevalent it is.

Morgan Busse repeats some classic, and needed, guidelines on what to say, or not.


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware reports on a Chrome browser extension that searches your Internet cache. In other words, it looks in what you've already looked at, rather than the entire web. Should be a big help in finding things you only partly remember, that you've already seen.

Google has made 819 typefaces available for free. One catch -- you can't download these to your computer, and use them in, say, Word. They are designed to be added to part or all of a web page.

Gizmo's also notes that a new version of Libre Office, a freeware substitute for Microsoft Office, is available for download.

Health: Scientific American reports that the dust mites that you may be allergic to cannot survive in a dry area, like, say, Arizona or Utah.

History: Listverse reports on 10 amazing items (or groups of items) of considerable value found with a metal detector.

Philosophy: Scientific American reports on research that shows that most people think that they are morally superior to others.


Politics: (And the environment) The Guardian reports that a house bill would, if adopted as law, sell a chunk of public land "as large as Connecticut." Please don't.

FiveThirtyEight on how Judge Gorsuch (if confirmed) and additional Supreme Court Justices appointed by President Trump might change previous decisions, such as Roe v. Wade/Doe v. Bolton.

Listverse discusses 10 problems with where and how we get our news. And "fake news" is on the list, but it's not the only problem.

Science: Scientific American discusses "strategic retreat" from rising bodies of water, caused by climate change.


Image source (public domain)

Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Sunspots 585

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:


The Arts: Listverse reports on 10 mysteries in the works, and lives, of great composers of classical music.

Christianity: A Relevant columnist says that living together without being married is not the best way to assess compatibility.

Christianity Today reports that Russia has enacted a law which may outlaw evangelizing in Russia.

Christianity Today reports on the harmful effects of pornography.


Computing: The Wall Street Journal on how to avoid being hacked.

Freesound is a repository of sounds that you can use, free.
 
USA Today
on the possibility of some really scary hacking, of your car, and other "wired" apparatus. 
Wired reports that hacking of the brakes and accelerator of a transfer truck, or a bus, is fairly easy.
 

Health: The New York Times discusses studies that show that being cold doesn't cause you to get a cold.

Philosophy: Listverse on 10 thought experiments in philosophy.

Politics and race: South Carolina's US Senator Tim Scott, a Republican African-American, on prejudicial treatment by some police officers.

Science: Listverse on 10 examples of convergent evolution -- that is, where the same feature is found in organisms not closely related. Example: opposable thumbs in pandas and primates.

The New York Times, and other sources, say that many of us, especially evangelical Christians, are afraid of technology to enhance human abilities, such as DNA engineering or brain chips.




Image source (public domain)  

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Sunspots 571

Christianity: Like many of us, the author of an article in Relevant is troubled by the idea of eternity in hell, for some people. But he decides that God knows more than we do.

Health: NPR reports that Utah has declared pornography a health hazard, and indicates why.

Literature: Listverse describes 10 attempts at punctuation marks that didn't catch on.

Politics: Relevant warns us not to confuse America with God's Kingdom. Some Christians have done that.

Surprise! FiveThirtyEight finds that politicians, as a whole (both parties, in both Congress and the Presidency) keep most of their promises.

Science: Wired reports on the difficulties of using modern genetic techniques on marijuana plants.

Science News discusses the "Goldilocks Zone" -- conditions on a planet, necessary for life as we know it.

Sports: Oksana Chusovitina has qualified for the Olympic gymnastics team from Uzbekistan. She is 41 years old. Good for her!

UK astronaut Tim Peake was the official starter of the London Marathon, and finished the 2016 marathon, while in the International Space Station, according to NPR. However, US Astronaut Sunita Williams ran the first Marathon in the ISS, competing, and finishing, the 2007 Boston Marathon. (She also competed, and finished, on earth, in the 2008 Boston Marathon.)

Image source (public domain)

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Sunspots 570

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: (And science) Wired reports on the creation of some 3-D virus trading cards. You read that correctly.

Christianity: Ken Schenck on the command to not steal.

Christianity Today reports on a church in Texas that has attacked predatory lenders, and mostly won.

Computing: Relevant has an essay on the effect of pornography on society, and how some non-Christians are trying to stop wide-spread use of pornography. "...porn culture offers an accessible, instant kind of sex but in the end leaves you with no sex at all. God offers sex that requires self-sacrifice and covenant, and it brings far more than just sex."

Gizmo's Freeware on the best video player for Android information appliances.

Gizmo's also notes a free tool that gives you all kinds of specifications of your Windows computer. (My motherboard is currently running at from 55-60 degrees C, for example.)

The Environment: (Or something) Wired has an article on the many ways that space under elevated highways is being used.

Science: Wired reports on a woman who "has no episodic memories—none of those impressionistic recollections that feel a bit like scenes from a movie, always filmed from your perspective."

Wired also reports on a quadriplegic who, with help from a brain implant, is able to control some of his movements by thinking about doing them.

Listverse describes 10 carnivorous plants and fungi that you probably didn't know about. Some of them are pretty gross.

Listverse also describes 10 amazing moth facts. Some of them are pretty gross, too. All are interesting.

From Discover: Fairy wrens teach their chicks a "password" while they are in the egg, which helps the parents to not feed brood parasites.


Image source (public domain)

Wednesday, September 02, 2015

Sunspots 536

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Wired discusses producing fine musical instruments with 3-D printers. (They use the term, 3dvarius!)

Rebecca Luella Miller on Christianity and beauty. (She brings in Tim Tebow, too, amazingly enough.)

Christianity: Benjamin L. Corey on the type of people you should associate with (hint: see Galatians 5:22-23).

Relevant on how to guard against infidelity, especially on-line infidelity. "Married people don’t just suddenly stumble into affairs ... It’s usually the inevitable result of thousands of questionable decisions, all of which slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, lead people astray."

Relevant also lists "7 Sins the Church Ignores."


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware tells about a database that lets you know, immediately, if your e-mail address has been hacked.

Health: National Public Radio has a report on six communities, on at least three continents, where people live much longer than others, and suggests reasons for this, including some things that you and I can do individually -- but community action is more important.

Literature: (or something) NPR reports on new words added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Science: Wired tells us why we don't know enough yet (and may never) to preserve most endangered species by artificial insemination.

National Public Radio lets us listen in on, and explains, mate-attracting sounds in treehoppers and crickets.



Image source (public domain)

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Sexual sins not mentioned in the Bible

The Bible mentions a number of sins having to do with sex. Adultery, which is violating the marriage covenant, is so important a misdeed that it is mentioned in the Ten Commandments. Homosexuality is presented as a sin. Some sexual sins, all of them specific prohibitions (don't have sex with an animal, or with your sister) are listed in Deuteronomy 27. But the Bible doesn't cover all sexual misbehavior. The New Testament is probably more about our attitude, our relationship with God, than about setting forth all the possible dos and don'ts. The Old Testament, too, can be summarized in the commands to love God with all our heart, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we do these things -- and we need divine assistance to do them -- we will meet God's behavioral standards.

Here are some sexual behaviors that I believe are sinful, but that are not specifically mentioned in the Bible, so far as I know:
* Having sex with a child. I suppose we should have sense enough to know that is wrong, without a scriptural prohibition. The Golden Rule, and the "love your neighbor" also prohibit this.
* Although both prostitution as a part of idol worship, and "ordinary" prostitution, and the use of prostitutes, seems to have been considered wrong, there is nothing direct in the Bible about pimping -- making arrangements between prostitutes and customers.
* Jesus said that looking on a woman to lust after her was a form of adultery. He didn't say that for a woman to look on a man in this way was a form of adultery, but it must be. So, I guess, must homosexual look-lusting be sinful.
* There is nothing in the Bible about sex slavery.
* Using, and producing, pornography must also be sinful, because it's lusting after images of someone, or helping someone else to lust after such images.  
* The Bible doesn't say so, but using sexual images or other stimuli to sell merchandise seems to me to be sinful.
It seems to me that all six of these behaviors are sinful, although the Bible doesn't specifically say so. Probably the last three of these weren't really possible in Bible times. Unfortunately, they are now.

The Bible does indicate that sex outside of marriage between a male and a female, committed to each other, is wrong, in many ways. But see here -- I was surprised at how little the Bible really says about this.

Stay pure. 1 Corinthians says that there is hope for us when we haven't been pure in the past:
1 Corinthians 6:9b Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. 11 Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. (World English Bible, public domain)

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Sunspots 522

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity: A review of Lauren Winner's book, Wearing God, by Relevant. Winner discusses some interesting Biblical metaphors for God in the interview, and the book. Not just Father, or Lord.



Relevant also tells us 5 ways that viewing pornography ruins a marriage.


Computing: National Public Radio reports on how good a job (or not) various traffic and map apps really do.


 

Health: Wired has some suggestions for making the development of effective antibiotics more attractive to drug companies.

Politics: Benjamin L. Corey believes he knows what a truly Bible-based nation would look like. Maybe not like you think.



Science:  Wired tells us about a woman who has deliberately let 200,000 bedbugs bite her.


Image source (public domain)