Would you mind if I stepped onto my #soapbox for a second?
As I have mindlessly scrolled through my Instagram feed the past few weeks, I’ve noticing an uptick of a moderately recent trend: adding the word “porn” to the end of a hashtag.
#foodporn
#sunsetporn
#craftbeerporn
and today, I suspect I’ll see a fair amount of #eclipseporn
What’s the big deal?
This trend is normalizing the word “porn” and making it into a neutral adjective, merely describing something we love and can’t get enough of. See the problem?
[highlight color=”yellow” text_color=”” background_color=”” background_opacity=”1.00″]Porn is not neutral.[/highlight] The word itself is short for “pornography,” which comes from the Greek word “porneia,” which means any type of sexual expression outside the context of marriage. And the Bible is clear that porneia is a devastating sin, going so far as to declare, “Flee from sexual immorality (porneia). Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18)Make no mistake about it.
Porn is destructive.
Porn is addictive.
Porn devastates marriages.
Porn is enslaving a generation.
I’ve seen it time and time again.
Is it a sin to use the hashtag #SOMETHINGporn? Probably not, but I fear that using the word so flippantly takes the edge off of an issue that is plaguing our culture–sexuality is no longer seen as a sacred and beautiful gift given by God to those who are married.
#steppingoffmysoapboxnow