I was reading Challies blog yesterday and came across his 7 Good Reasons To Stop Looking at Porn Right Now. It is very good and I believe, these reasons should be sufficient enough in themselves to go cold turkey with the porn. But I wanted to elaborate, if I may, on reason # 6. The Cost to Your Witness or perhaps expand it to new category #8 How Your Online Viewing Habits Will Inevitably Cost the Witness of the Entire Church.
You all know Edward Snowden, right? The man who showed the world about secret FISA courts and the sweeping up and collection of almost all online data by our own government on its own citizens. Many Americans and British citizens have, through this, been made keenly aware that that we now live under a surveillance state. Our 4th Amendment rights (in America) are a thing of the past. There is no longer any such thing as online privacy. It isn't just that companies collecting data on your viewing habits, but your entire online history and every keystroke is being recorded by the NSA and stored in a massive database, I believe somewhere out in the Utah desert and perhaps elsewhere. It doesn't seem to bother many people that it is highly illegal (unconstitutional) for our government to do this. Well, I think it is safe to project that this data will, no doubt, eventually be used on political enemies. It is just human nature. To think otherwise, IMHO, is just naive. As an example of how online exposure happens, I just read last week that a massive number (154 million) voting profiles of individuals were found and posted online which show gun ownership, their views on gay rights, their positions on abortion, their age, etc. with their addresses included. Technology and hacking abilities are constantly improving. It is just a matter of time that someone, perhaps a person or persons who doesn't like your views, will hack, find and expose your existing online viewing history. Or perhaps they may hack and expose the online viewing habits of the entire Christian community. Remember what happened to those who were exposed for signing up at Ashley Madison? That is just the tip of the iceberg. Though I like Challies reasons for quitting porn better than mine, I just wanted to add this because those who habitually view online porn are putting the witness of the Church at significant risk because it is really just a matter of time until your detailed profile will be exposed online. You don't think it can happen? Think again.
You want to be a good witness for Jesus Christ. Then stop viewing anything online that you would not want others to discover, because they probably will.