Porn Is a Snare Because It’s Affordable

This post is part two of a three-part series. Pornography is a snare because it is:
Available | Affordable | Anonymous

There was a time when pornography was avoidable because it was unaffordable. Christian men like you and me had an easier time staying sexually pure because every form of pornography on the market, whether the open market or the black market, cost something. This made the battle for purity a lot easier because men never got snared by something they couldn’t afford.

The economics of porn in those days was simple: the harder the porn, the higher the price. So-called softcore porn, the kind peddled in convenience store magazine racks, you could get for a few dollars. But pornography that was illegal to produce, distribute and consume, that cost in the hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Ordinary Joes with a job, a mortgage, a wife and a few kids had no trouble staying away from porn because there was no room in the household budget for it.

Today, of course, this has all changed. Roughly 75% of all pornographic websites publish either some or all of their content free of charge. Visitors to these websites can watch porn 24 hours a day on any device and pay no price, not in this life, at least. And even the most vile of pornography, the kind that’s available only on the dark web, is often free. This makes pornography all the more attractive (and deadly), because the cost of porn, once a barrier, has now vanished. When a commodity is free, more consumers sample it.

If you are in bondage to pornography, I venture to guess it’s because you came across a filthy magazine or an X-rated movie at an impressionable age free of charge. Your first exposure to this pernicious sin wasn’t something you paid for. It was free, and so you explored. And now, perhaps, you are ensnared.

But this is not your fault. Your viewing of sexually immoral content today is sin, of course, and you are responsible to God for your sin. But you are not responsible for that first exposure you had to free porn. You are not responsible for the vast majority of online pornography being free to access and free to consume. The affordability of porn isn’t of your doing. You likely wish that porn was out of your reach financially. You are ensnared partly because most porn is no-pay-per-view. Porn’s affordability is partly why you are in the trouble you are in.

I’m not excusing your sin of watching porn. I’m just helping you understand why you are in your present predicament. Porn is a snare because it’s available, and because it’s affordable. If it was crazy difficult to get hold of and impossibly expensive to acquire, you would be free, and you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation. If you desire to be free of the snare of porn, you must tackle this affordability issue. One way is to pay a penalty every time you view something inappropriate. Get yourself an accountability partner, and agree with him on the fine you must pay whenever you view porn. Pick a number that hurts.