Evangelical Fear Of Erotic Media

The paranoia of evangelicals is a powerful force that dictates many aspects of their lives, resulting in the shunning or demonizing of many things that the Christian god does not condemn, or perhaps even encourages.  Out of a fear of either somehow offending God by participation in nonsinful things or offending the petty consciences of other evangelicals, they often enslave themselves to extra-Biblical and therefore contra-Biblical moral ideas (Deuteronomy 4:2, 1 John 3:4, Romans 7:7).  They think these constructs have any power to prevent them from sinning, when Paul says otherwise (Colossians 2:22-23).  One such thing that they so deeply fear is erotic media.

Evangelicals tend to fear the internet precisely because some internet pages contain erotic content, even if that content contains no sexual sin and is made with the purpose of promoting healthy sexual expression on the part of viewers or readers.  This legalistic anxiety even influences evangelicals to overlook the fact that not all people, asexuals and non-asexuals alike, even have an interest in such media to begin with.  As a result, they often view people with suspicion, as if everyone (or at least every man, since they often erroneously deny or trivialize female sexuality) experiences a frequent, enormously powerful desire to enjoy erotic stimulation from the internet.

In their paranoia, some evangelicals treat the presence of electronics with internet access as if it is a pathway to inevitable sin--as if an inanimate device can override someone's free will, and as if there is anything sinful about all erotic imagery, videos, and literature to begin with!  On the contrary, the Bible is quite overt in its condoning and permitting of erotic media via its inclusion of Song of Songs [1] and its moral epistemology [2].  Evangelicals routinely overlook the blatant fact that if erotic media was evil on the Christian worldview, the very inclusion of Song of Songs in the canon would place Christian ethics in a major contradiction.

One of the most amusing parts about conservative Christians' fallacy-riddled crusades against erotic media is the assumption that people have a natural tendency to be revolted by their partners' use of erotic media and feel betrayed by it.  They sometimes treat consumption of sexual images or videos as if it itself is adulterous and justifies the dissolution of marriages.  Contrary to their petty assumptions, some people might eagerly encourage their significant others to use erotic media, perhaps because it arouses them to see their spouses (or girlfriends or boyfriends) excited by the sexuality of others, because it facilitates their spouses' arousal via the hurrying of bodily or mental reactions, or because it gives them a break from directly satisfying their spouses' sexual desires.

As an asexual person, I would prefer for my wife--if she happens to not also be asexual--to release her sexual energy through masturbation and the use of erotic media [3], whether she pairs them or enjoys them on their own.  Not everyone is offended by arrangements like this!  In fact, some might greatly appreciate it.  Many of those who are offended by the thought of such arrangements have, in all likelihood, merely internalized culturally constructed ideas about jealousy.  Evangelicals mistake these cultural constructs for objective moral obligations, and in doing so they contradict the very Bible they claim to honor, violating its commands to not add to its instructions (Deuteronomy 4:2) and misrepresenting Biblical moral epistemology (Romans 7:7) in the process.

As long as sexual expression does not contradict the exact commands of God, there can be nothing sinful about engaging in it, since sexuality is something God created and declared very good.  Instead of acknowledging this and finding peace about the matter, evangelicals, motivated by legalistic fallacies, tend to oppose all erotic media.  This delusion is rooted in neither reason nor Scripture, both of which refute the errors therein.  The internet is nothing to fear even though it features erotic content.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/10/ramifications-of-song-of-songs.html

[2].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/07/identifying-sin.html

[3].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-marital-benefit-of-erotic-media.html