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The Christian and the 21st Century 22 Lesson Six: Pornography The Heart, Part II Whenever we get on the subject of the sins that seem to flourish in the Internet age, it’s easy to think of the Internet and all the other mod-ern communications technologies as somehow evil. That isn’t true. The Internet is neither good nor evil. It’s a tool that makes it very easy for our hearts to get what they truly want. Our problems with the Internet, then, are really heart problems that now have an outlet.Back in the day, pornography wasn’t so easy to come by. You had to go to the convenience store and wait while the clerk smirked at you as he got the smutty magazine out from under the counter. You had to drive across the county line to the XXX video store with painted-over windows by the interstate. Worse still, you had to do all these things in public, and Somebody—somebody you went to church with, even—might see you! Laziness and fear conspired to keep a lot of would-be porn hounds on the couch watching Family Ties instead.Today, by contrast, the streaming video can go straight to our laptop screens, the steamy novel can go straight to our e-readers, and not even our spouses will know.We must remember, though, that the real problems with pornography continue unchecked. If we use it, it will inevitably corrupt our hearts further, damaging our marriages and our lives in ways we can’t imagine. Worse still, God will always know, and we cannot give our lives in service to such things a 1.From a dictionary, define “pornography”. In your own words, explain what this definition means. According to this definition, what forms of entertainment are pornographic? 2. Each of the four verses listed below supplies a negative definition or consequence of lust. List at least one definition/consequence for each Scripture and explain how it applies to us. Matthew 5:27-28 1 Peter 2:11 Ephesians 2:3 24 Colossians 3:5-63. What principle does Numbers 32:23 state? How does this apply to pornography use? Why is this important? 4. Below, there are three verses that explain a Biblical defense against pornography and lust generally. For each verse, give the defense, ex-plain what it means, and explain why it is effective. Romans 13:14 Colos ©Copyright Matthew W. Bassford, 2013. This material is subject to a Crea-tive Commons attribution-noncommercial-no derivative works license. This means that it may be reproduced, shared, and used freely, provided it is attributed to the author, not used for commercial purposes, and not altered in any way. For more information, please see creativecommons.org