Joshua Broome, a former porn star turned pastor, is speaking out in the wake of conservative talk radio host Dennis Prager’s justification of pornography use, calling it “misleading and disappointing.”
Broome — who spent years in the adult entertainment industry — told CBN’s Faithwire pornography “further pollutes the heart” of the one using it and noted statistics showing around 50% of divorces involve some form of pornography consumption.
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His comments were in reaction to this claim from Prager: “If pornography is a substitute for one’s wife, it’s awful. If it’s a substitute for adultery, it’s not awful.”
“Pornography is very clearly not a moral good,” Broome said, noting not just the divorce statistics but also data showing as many as 9 in 10 porn videos depict some form of sexual violence or aggression. Furthermore, he explained, pornography use fuels sex trafficking (how can you truly know the video you’re watching is consensual?) and reinforces the so-called “rape culture.”
He continued, “You don’t know what you’re consuming. So from an outside perspective — outside of Christianity — it’s just incredibly detrimental to the world and it’s contributing to a growing amount of evil.”
Broome went on to reference Scripture passages pointing to the sinfulness of pornography use:
- Titus 2:11-14, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say, ‘No,’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope — the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good” (NIV).
- Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (NIV).
“Because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, conforming us and convicting us, we can live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life,” Broome explained. “It’s our ability to desire and to be eager to do what is good. And if we do anything that is contrary of that, we’re just contributing to the wickedness and the deceit that’s in our heart. We’re in this continuous struggle, where my heart desires what the world promises to be satisfaction and then I have the Holy Spirit dragging me toward what is true.”
Ultimately, he continued, human beings are going to be conformed to what the world offers — what will give us instant gratification — “or I’m going to refute them and cling to what God says is best for my life.”
“If you don’t revere God,” Broome argued, “we’re going to be back in the garden [of Eden], trying to create our own autonomy: ‘I know what’s best for me. I know I can mitigate these desires I have. I’m not going to commit adultery if I do this.’ … I’m trying to play God when I do those things, and that’s idolatry and that’s gonna lead to death.”
Throughout the New Testament, when the Apostle Paul references sinfulness, he begins with sexual immorality, because those are the sins from which we cannot run. Those temptations originate in our bodies, which, upon salvation, become “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NIV).
“Sexual immorality is actually a sin against our own bodies,” Broome said. “Why would you commit sin to yourself? If we believe that sin separates us from God and progressively destroys us, why would you want to do something that’s separating you from a God that loves you and sent His Son to live a perfect life and die on a cross so you could be reconciled to Him? Why would you harm yourself and leave yourself in the opposite way from which God wants to take you?”
You can listen to our full conversation with Broome here.
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