Is Looking at pornography a sin

Pornography
in The word of God,


Matthew 5:28 "If a man looks on a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart."

Psalm 101:3 "I will set no unclean thing before my eyes."

Philippians 4:7, 8 "Keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus... Whatsover things are pure... if there be any virtue... think on these things."

The word "pornography" comes from the Greek porneia, porneuo, and porne. Porneia is translated "fornication" in the King James Version (Mat 5:32; John 8:41; Rom 1:29; 1 Corin 6:9,13,18; Gal 5:19; Rev 19:2; etc.). Porneuo is the verb "to commit fornication," as in 1 Corin 6:18. Porne is translated "harlot" in Mat 21:31-32; 1 Corin 6:15; and Rev 17:5.

Ephesians 5:5 "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

1 Timothy 1:10 "For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine"

Hebrews 13:4 "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."

Revelation 21:8 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Revelation 22:15 "For without are dog, and sorcerers, and
whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."

Many lustful sins take place in the dark, in secret, but nothing is hid from God:

Hebrews 4:13 "All things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

Numbers 32:23 "Be sure your sin will find you out."

More serious than other sins?
Pornography seems more disgusting than other evils.

1 Corinthians 6:18 "Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. "

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you ...? therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

'Just looking'?
Some would argue that looking at the naked human body is not evil, because God made it beautiful, and Adam and Eve were naked in the garden. However, that was before sin entered the picture.
"The eye is the window of the soul," as the saying goes. What we look at does affect us spiritually - and can cause us to sin. David "SAW" the woman naked, before he got ideas to sin with her. Jesus said that if a man "looks at a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart"; etc. The sin takes place even before the action is executed.
Scripture gives many examples of men being enticed by the sight of a woman. Shechem saw the woman before he raped her. David saw the woman bathing before he had sex with her. Judah saw the harlot before he had sex with her. It was the same for Samson, etc.

Genesis 34:2 "And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, SAW HER, he took her and lay with her by force."

2 Samuel 11:2-5 "Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he SAW A WOMAN BATHING; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, 'Is this not ... the wife of Uriah the Hittite?' And David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her... And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, 'I am pregnant.'"

Matthew 5:28 "but I say to you, that everyone who LOOKS on a woman to LUST for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Genesis 38:2-3 "And Judah SAW there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her. So she conceived and bore a son and he named him Er...."

Genesis 38:15-16 "When Judah SAW HER, he thought she was a harlot.... So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, 'Here now, let me come in to you'; ...And she said, 'What will you give me, that you may come in to me?'"

Judges 16:1 "Now Samson went to Gaza and SAW a harlot there, and went in to her."

Judges 14:2-3 "So he came back and told his father and mother, 'I SAW a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.' Then his father and his mother said to him, 'Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?' But Samson said to his father, 'Get her for me, for SHE LOOKS GOOD TO ME.'"

Visual stimulation is more common in man than in woman, however. There's just one example in Scripture of a woman lusting after a man by SEEING him:

Genesis 39:7-12 "And it came about after these events that his master's wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, 'Lie with me.' But he refused and said to his master's wife, 'Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?' And it came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day, that he did not listen to her to lie beside her, or be with her. Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. And she caught him by his garment, saying, 'Lie with me!' And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside."

How can addiction to porn be overcome?
Giving in to lustful desires is a sign of spiritual weakness. Ephesians 6 tells us what armor to put on, to be "strong" in spiritual battle.
If you don't want to get slaughtered in battle, don't go dancing in the minefields. Former alcoholics don't hang out in bars. Fill that free time with a positive activity: Read a book. Sing a psalm. Call a friend. Visit a nursing home. Pray. As the saying goes, "Idleness is the devil's workshop."
Christians especially should not practice such sins, as we will be held to a stricter standard:

1 Peter 4:17 "Judgment must begin first at the household of God."

Luke 12:48 "To whom much (light) has been given, much (responsibility) will be required."

Is it possible to overcome this sin?

1 Corinthians 6:9, 11 "...such were (past tense) some of you. But now...."

Being tempted is not sin (even Jesus was tempted) - but giving in to it, or seeking it out, surely is.

The answer to your question is an unqualified “YES.” The Bible condemns Pornography in many ways. First let me see if I can unravel the details in your question.

It is true that a 1970 commission, called the Presidential Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, declared pornography "therapeutic" and recommended the repeal of obscenity laws. What these guys were thinking, no one knows. Most scholars on this subject simply think they were influence by the pornographic lobby. Pornography is a $50 billion dollar industry (FBI statistic).

In 1985 President Regan ordered Attorney General Edwin Meese to appoint a commission to investigate the issues concerning pornography. They were ordered to "determine the nature, extent, and impact on society of pornography in the United States,and to make specific recommendations to the Attorney General concerning more effective ways in which the spread of pornography could be contained, consistent with Constitutional guarantees." Their findings linked pornography with organized crime, sexual violence and degradation, civil injustice, and other societal harms. The commission strongly recommended that laws against pornography and obscenity should be strengthened and enforced.

The truth is that Pornography is not a victimless crime. It is destructive to the core unit of the country, the family. It is a fact that today internet pornography is increasingly being cited as a cause for increasing divorce rates ( Edwin Feulner, The Naked Truth - Heritage Commentary 2002, The Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.)

I have here a picture of what many scholars believe to be the oldest example of pornographic material, this is a picture of the “Venus of willendorf.” This figurine is dated to several thousand years old (24,000 by some scholars) found in 1908 by the archaeologist Josef Szombathy near the town of Willendorf in Austria. This demonstrates that the problem of Pornography has been with us for a long time.

The word “Pornography” comes into English directly from the Greek word “pornographous” which meant writings about prostitutes (from the root words prone, “harlot,” and graphos, “writing.” The English word has come to have a broader definition to include all writings, photographs, or works of art that depict sexual activity, particularly illicit sexual acts or perversions.

1) PORNEIA (fornication, immorality, sexual vice) (porneia)
This is a generic word in Greek that covers all forms of sexual impurity. Originally, it meant "to act the harlot" and then "to indulge unlawful lust"

As used in the New Testament, we find it having at least four different meanings...
a. Pre-marital sex - 1 Cor. 7:1-2
b. A synonym for adultery - Matt 19:9
c. A generic sense referring to all forms of unchastity -

1 Cor 6:13,18
d. A specific sense referring to harlotry and prostitution - Rev. 2:20-21

2) AKATHARSIA (impurity, uncleanness, ) (akayarsia) ak-ath-ar-see'-ah
This word originally had reference to dirt or dirtiness in a physical sense. In the Greek Old Testament, it is used to denote ritual and ceremonial impurity which made it impossible for the worshipper to approach God (cf. Lev 22:3-9).

It then came to be used in a moral sense, of that moral depravity which disgusts the person who sees it.

There are at least two ides included in this word:

1. The quality of that which is soiled and dirty. Some people have a “dirty mind.”
2. An impurity where there is a repulsive quality that awakens disgust in those persons who are decent.

This word indicates a general defilement of personality which taints every sphere of life.

3) ASELGIA (lasciviousness, licentiousness, (aselgeia) sensuality) -as-elg'-i-a

In the NT it seems to be linked with sexual excess in a public way

a. It is wanton and undisciplined action
b. It has no respect for the persons or rights of anyone else
c. It is completely indifferent to public opinion and to public decency

The general idea is that this word describes the kind of shameless behavior exhibited by those with no moral restraints who are completely indifferent to public opinion of what is acceptable behavior.

1. Unbridled lust
2. Excessive wantonness
3. Shamelessness
4. Outrageousness
5. indecent bodily movements
6. Unchaste handling of males and females

Paul says that God gave the Gentiles over:
Rom. 1:24“in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.”

Paul commanded:
Rom. 6:12* Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts 13* and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14* For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

He Said:
Gal. 5:16 “Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.”

He wrote to the Colossians:
Col 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

Christians are to put away the lusts of deceit:
Eph. 4:22* that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit 23* and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24* and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Timothy was told to:
2 Tim. 2:22* ¶ Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Titus wrote
Titus 2:11* For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12* instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

Peter said:
1 Pet 2:11* Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

John said
1 John 2:16* For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17* The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.