Book Review: The Death of Porn by Ray Ortlund

The Porn industry is a multi-billion-dollar corporation that is views by all over the world. What was just behind the cash register at the local convenient store can now be seen on our smart phones. If one is not careful, it can even be seen on social media. 

Men and women (yes, women too) have fallen into the trap of this scheme by the devil with the "look but not touch" mentality. There are many who think this is safe when it really it is not. Pastors have stepped down from the pulpit because of this issue. Marriages have fallen apart even when one spouse to trying to imitate what they have seen on screen.

In The Death of Porn, Ray Ortlund attempts to help his readers that they do not have to be in bondage with the sin of pornography.  In this book, he writes each chapter as a letter saying things such as you are royalty because Christ is in you and the woman you are observing on screen matters to God because she is made in His image.

The subtitle to this book indicates this is more for men than women. To say that pornography is only something men struggle with is short sighted. Granted men are more prone for all fall into than women, but women also can struggle with porn just as men can.

As I continued to read this book, there are some suggestions on what men should do in the battle against pornography, however, I did not see anything about holiness or even killing sin. You would think there would the famous quote from John Owen, "Be killing sin or sin be killing you." Colossians 3:5 which, in the ESV, says put to death with is earthly in you, is not even quoted in this book.

Ortlund does compare those involved in the porn industry are slave, which I do not disagree, which he states that this is a justice issue. Do not get me wrong, we need to persuade the men and women involved in make porn to abandon, not because they are slaved in this industry, but they are under the wrath of God, and he will judge them for their actions. This is something I did not get from Ortlund's book. 

There is not even the mention of holiness. You think a book on porn would have a chapter or two on holiness but there is not. Yes, there is being an advocate against the porn industry, but there is nothing about fleeing sin or being holy. Thabiti Anyabwile, who wrote the Foreword, said Ortlund knows that we can defeat the "porn monster" by standing against "the wiles of the enemy in the truth of Jesus's gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit." I do not disagree, but Ortlund did not deliver on that.

As I read this book, I kept thinking is this how helpful others books I have read on sexual sin are compared to this one. Even the beginning of the book made me want to be sure I got the right book because I felt I was reading something from Joel Osteen because Ortlund was telling us men that we are royalty. Even Thabiti said we can "regain" our sense of royalty because of Christ renewing us in the image of God. Sorry, but I do not see anything in the Bible that Christ is restoring us to our sense of royalty which has cause me to feel sick just writing that statement.

I know there are many pastors and teachers who want to stand against the Porn industry but the one thing that we need to do is fight the sin within us. The Death of Porn is a book that will not be very helpful in the areas of holiness and sanctification.

I received this book from Crossway in exchange for an honest review.

The Strategies of Sexual Temptation

The following is adapted from Proverbs: Wisdom That Works by Ray Ortlund:

My son, keep my words
and treasure up my commandments with you;
keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and call insight your intimate friend,
to keep you from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words. (Proverbs 7:1-5)

This is Old Testament language for what the New Testament calls being born again of the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-9). Something deep inside us changes. We start treasuring God’s commands from the heart. We experience the gospel as an intimate friend. We are not ourselves geniuses. We are just saying to God’s wisdom, “I want you more than I want any woman or man.” Here is why we all need God to give us new hearts like that. Look at the kind of world we are living in:

For at the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
and I have seen among the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man lacking sense,
passing along the street near her corner,
taking the road to her house
in the twilight, in the evening,
at the time of night and darkness. (Proverbs 7:6-9)

The father saw something. He wants his teenage son to see it too, so he can walk into adulthood fully alert. The father tells us three things about the strategies of sexual temptation: the approach of temptation (vv. 6-13), the speech of temptation (vv. 14-20), and the impact of giving in to temptation (vv. 21-27).

Who is involved? The man, in this case, is one of “the simple.” We have seen the simple before (Proverbs 1:4, 22). A simple person, a petî—related to the Hebrew verb meaning “to be open”—this person is keeping his options open, uncommitted, still “exploring life,” we might say. So this particular simpleton is feeling restless early one evening and takes a walk. He is curious. He has heard about a certain part of town—or certain sites on the Internet. So there he goes, probably thinking, “I can handle this. I’m strong. And I need to see these things for myself anyway.”

And behold, the woman meets him,
dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
She is loud and wayward;
her feet do not stay at home;
now in the street, now in the market,
and at every corner she lies in wait. (Proverbs 7:10-12)

“Wily of heart” means, literally, “guarded of heart.” She is unguarded in her dress, revealing much. But she is guarded in her heart, revealing nothing. There are men and women who do not know what a relationship is. They have never experienced it. They can role-play a relationship, but they do not give their hearts away. Sex they give, but themselves they guard. This young guy has no idea what he is walking into.

She seizes him and kisses him,
and with bold face she says to him,
“I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;
so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.” (Proverbs 7:13-15)

Back in those times, religious sacrifices could include a meal from the meat of the animal sacrificed. Eating meat was a luxury anyway. So here the woman is saying, “Not only am I caught up on my religion, but I also have a feast of extra-special food waiting at home. It’s a special occasion, like Prom Night or Mardi Gras. Come on, everybody needs a break. And you’re the one I want to share all this with.”

“I have spread my couch with coverings,
colored linens from Egyptian linen;
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.” (Proverbs 7:16, 17)

Only the rich owned furniture in their homes back in this world. So this guy thinks he is hitting the jackpot. A beautiful woman, a great feast, a luxurious setting, exotic experiences are all just waiting for him.

“Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;

let us delight ourselves with love.” (Proverbs 7:18)

The Hebrew here could be paraphrased and expanded, “Come, let’s saturate ourselves with love-making in all its forms; let’s enjoy ourselves with every act, all night long, slowly passing the night, no hurry.” But as one commentator points out,

To have a full sexual relationship with somebody is to give physical expression to what is meant to be a covenanted relationship—that is, stable, faithful, permanent. To say physically, “I am giving myself to you,” while emotionally and spiritually holding back from covenanted commitment is in fact to live a lie—a split in the personality which is ultimately stressful and destructive.

“For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home.” (Proverbs 7:19, 20)

“Nobody will ever know” is the temptation. But if she is willing to betray her husband, why does Mr. Dimwit think she will be fair to him? The offer of sin-with-no-regret is how Satan lied to us in the Garden of Eden. When (not if) a man or woman tempts you with the assurance that no one will ever know, that person is really saying to you, “God does not exist.”

But this young man, on an impulse, falls for the temptation: “All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter” (v. 22). Why like a dumb ox? Because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). They just are. We cannot change that by any amount of wishful thinking. We must not think, “What happens down in Mexico stays in Mexico.” It doesn’t. But by the time this young man feels the impact, it will be too late.

He is not the only one. History is like a battlefield, with casualties of sexual folly lying everywhere: “Many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng” (v. 26). It is no accident that Babylon’s most important female deity, Ishtar, was the goddess of love and war, because in this world of folly, sex and violence have long gone together. But Ishtar is a powerful goddess. In our modern world, studies now show that pornography rewires our brains with addictive power, taking us prisoner. But we can be wired back for intimacy with God and real relationships with others through God’s redeeming love.

It is not enough for us to know how foolish we have been. We also need to know how good it is really to be loved. Maybe you have noticed that something is missing from this entire passage here in Proverbs. The word “God” appears nowhere in this text. But elsewhere in the Bible we find out how good it is to be loved by God.

The Place of Marriage in Our Own Heart

Everyone who reveres the gospel has compelling reasons to champion biblical sexual ethics. It is falling to our generation to raise up a prophetic counterculture in the face of the sexual revolution’s direct attack on Christ and his marital appeal at the heart of the gospel. The fact that we too are sinners does not exempt us from taking this stand. Our own sinfulness simply means that we take our stand with humility and honesty. But we must not be silent. What is at stake in our sexuality is nothing less than the gospel itself. We need a massive spiritual cleansing coming down from above upon our generation, because a tsunami of sexual defilement has slammed us in the face. For example, every Christian man and woman who cannot stop looking at Internet pornography must have the humility to go to his or her pastor and say, “Pastor, I have a problem. I’m out of control. I am viewing, and thereby participating in, the violation of women and children. I am living in active denial of my Savior and everything he stands for. I love the Lord. But I can’t stop. I don’t make sense to myself. I need help.” As the Holy Spirit renews our vision of our own sexuality, married and single, men and women, and as the Spirit stirs our hearts to care more about the glory of the Lord than our own face saving, the pastors of our churches today will be wonderfully swamped with inquiries from honest sinners longing to be clean again.

The blood of Jesus God’s Son powerfully cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:7). But nothing will change until we get radical. Why not stop posing? Why not stop today? Why not face our sexual sins without a moment’s further delay and fight together by faith for the recovery of our integrity before the Lord? Again, it is sinners whom God wants to use in this generation. Sin as such does not disqualify us; it is only unconfessed sin that disqualifies us. But the blood of Jesus wonderfully cleanses away every sin that we will honestly confront within the community of a safe, gospel-centered church. When the world sees more repentance in our churches, our churches will see more repentance in the world.

If the Bible is telling us the truth about reality, then Ryan Anderson is not overstating the matter when he calls every one of us to rebuild in the present for the sake of the future, whatever the cost to us today:

The church needs to find a way to capture the moral imagination of the next generation. It needs to make the truth about human sexuality and its fulfillment in marriage not only attractive and appealing, but noble and exhilarating. This is a truth worth staking one’s life on.

If the Bible is telling us the truth about reality, then the time has come for all Christians and churches to pray for power, to think with clarity, to confess with humility and to shout with joy on behalf of God’s priceless, blood-bought gift of marriage.

And to God alone be all the glory forever.

Excerpt from Marriage in the World Today which is based on Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel by Ray Ortlund

The Place of Marriage in Today's Culture

There is more at stake in marriage than we ever could have known, without the mystery revealed in the Christian gospel (Eph. 5:32). So as we conclude this study of marriage, let’s think through some personal implications for our own lives. The implications are endless. But I will conclude with one momentous verse, relevant to all of us today: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Heb. 13:4). That was a countercultural message in the first century, and it is countercultural today. But it is one of the ways we offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe (Heb. 12:28).

The emphasis of the verse lies on the words “held in honor,” that is, prized, valued, esteemed. The New Testament never says, “Let money be prized, valued, esteemed.” But God has called us all to feel just that way about marriage. It is to be honored and lifted up and protected among all believers, not only among married believers. It is the God-defined institution of marriage as such, not only my own personal marriage, that I am to esteem. The gospel has shown us that every believer has something personally wonderful at stake in the sacred reality marriage, as it points beyond itself to the endless love of Jesus for us all. Now God wants all of us to translate that new awareness into the active hallowing of marriage here in this world.

The gospel, when it is allowed to make its own natural impact, creates a pro-marriage culture among God’s people. Not that unmarried people are second-class, for single people living for Christ gain strategic advantages over married people (1 Cor. 7:25-35). But marriage bespeaks ultimate reality in a way that the single life does not. It was designed to. Human marriage has always been intended by God to serve as a prophetic whisper of the eternal marriage. Every real marriage in the world today makes that statement, to some degree, however weakly, because that is what marriage is. Very few realities in our lives bear such a sacred meaning and deserve such special consideration.

All churches, therefore, have a gospel-motivated obligation actively to teach and honor and promote marriage, for the display of the gospel in our world of confusion and despair. If we love the preaching of the gospel from pulpits, then we will also love the display of the gospel in marriages. Churches must not be neutral or casual about what so rejoices the heart of God.

Yes, marriage also provides social benefits, which both believers and unbelievers can appreciate, especially the rearing of children for the next generation in a secure and stable environment. For that reason alone, the state has a clear interest in supporting and protecting the institution of marriage. Marriage is not the private property of the Christian church. At the creation, God gave marriage to the entire human race. But no one, and not even the entire human race all together, has the right to redefine marriage on its own terms. Nor can anyone, or all of us together, however broad and even unanimous our consensus, expect marriage to succeed if it is reshaped according to what it never was and can never be. If the state fails in its duty to preserve and protect real marriage, there will be a personal, social, and historic cost, a painful and heavy human cost.

The United States Supreme Court, in the landmark case Obergefell versus Hodges on June 26, 2015, by a vote of five to four, ruled that the US Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex “marriage.” Writing in the New York Times, Adam Liptak explained that in this and other related cases “Justice Kennedy embraced a vision of a living Constitution, one that evolves with societal changes.” (The reporter’s candor reminds us that college English and literature and hermeneutics courses might be shaping the future of our world as powerfully as political science courses do.) But as damaging as that Supreme Court ruling is, and as ominous for the future, the state has been injuring a pro-marriage culture for decades. In 1969 Governor Ronald Reagan of California made what he later admitted was one of the biggest mistakes of his political life when he signed into effect the nation’s first no-fault divorce law, with other states following soon thereafter. The state made it easier to end a marriage in divorce, and so it was. But even as the state foolishly continues to undermine a pro-marriage culture, our churches must work all the harder to build a pro-marriage counterculture, where faithfulness and beauty and lasting love point the way not only to a better human society but also, and far more, to the eternal love of Christ.

Divorce grieves the heart of God. God feels strongly in favor of solidly happy marriages. Marriage is precious to the Father and Christ longs for his own with all the romantic passion of his mighty heart. If that gospel is the true drama of human history, and it is, then how could God not hate divorce and every injury we inflict on his precious gift of marriage? God does not hate divorced people. He does not hate gay people. He does not hate Supreme Court justices. He does not hate you and me. Fortunately for us all, “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). But God’s people who have been divorced and gay and mistaken in many ways, that is, all believers in Christ—it is spiritual whores like us, having fallen exhausted and guilty into the arms of our bridegroom, who can now be compelling voices in favor of marriage. We know by experience the sorrows of every departure from God’s beautiful norm. Indeed, if Jonathan Edwards is right, if brokenhearted people make the best Christians, then we who have not lived up to God’s high standards for marriage and sexuality can serve best as advocates for those very standards. May our voices be humble but clear.

Hebrews 13:4 also says that the marriage bed must be undefiled, kept pure, its joys richly cultivated and its parameters strictly guarded. Why? We have seen that the biblical concern about sexual integrity is not a petty Victorian taboo, as if sex were dirty or even just beneath true spirituality. Just the opposite. Married sex, with its intimacy and desire and pleasure and intensity and adoration and satisfaction and rest, is a glorious metaphor of heaven. To betray our Lord’s sexual ethics, to drag his amazing gift into the gutter, is to deny the most sacred reality of all, the marriage of the Lamb, given his prophetic purpose invested in married sexuality. For God not to judge sexual sin would be for God to trivialize his own blood bought purposes.

Excerpt from Marriage in the World Today which is based on Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel by Ray Ortlund

The Place of Marriage in The Universe

If the Bible is telling us the truth about reality, then ultimacy is not cold, dark, blank space. Finality, in this universe we live in, is not cosmic emptiness going on and on forever, governed by no purpose, ruled by the laws of physics only, with no song, no poetry, no emotion, no laughter, no play, no love, no commitment, no sacrifice, no tears, and nothing humane and beautiful to live for and die for. If the Bible is telling us the truth about reality, then this horrible modern outlook is completely wrong, and the truth of our existence is the opposite of mechanistic nihilism.

If the Bible is telling us the truth about reality, then the universe we live in was created primarily with marital romance in mind. The heavens and the earth were created for the marriage of Adam and Eve. The new heavens and the new earth will be created for the marriage of Christ and his bride. The whole of cosmic reality exists as the venue for the eternal honeymoon of the perfect husband with his perfect bride in marital bliss forever and ever. This is the breathtaking claim of the Bible.

Excerpt from Marriage in the World Today which is based on Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel by Ray Ortlund

Around The Web-April 8, 2016

Fighting Lust with Lust by Erik Raymond

Loving Our Wives in Word and Deed by Dave Jenkins

The Darkness of Porn and the Hope of the Gospel by Denny Burk

Why Porn Kills Sex by Russell Moore

4 Images to Get You Excited About Church by Sam Allberry

This is Christianity by Ray Ortlund

Popcorn Theology talks with Cam Huxford from Ghost Ship

In case you have not seen it, here is the first trailer to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Around The Web-March 11, 2016

Albert Mohler on the Best Books for Preachers in 2015

Christopher Ash's new book Zeal Without Burnout is available

How Not To Teach Your Kids The Bible by John West

3 Reasons To Stay In A Church That's Not Cool Enough by Michael Kelley

Amswering Life's 8 Ultimate Questions by Bob Kelleman

Darrin Patrick talks with Zack Eswine on the Acts 29 Podcast

Ray Ortlund on what does it mean to be born again

Alistair Begg on knowing vs feeling in worship.

Why Does It Matter That God Is Our Father?

We call God, "Father." Jesus told us to begin praying by saying, "Our Father is in Heaven" (Matthew 6:9). Romans 8 tells us we have been given "the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" (Romans 8:15). Just as we have been given the right to become children of God because of our faith in Christ, we have been given the right to call God, Father.

Why is this important? Ray Ortlund explain in this short video:



Books by Ray Ortlund:

The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ

Supernatural Living for Natural People: The Life-Giving Message of Romans 8

A Gospel-Centered Church is Living Proof

By the power of God, the gospel contains something new in the world today...Gospel-centered churches are living proof the good news is true, that Jesus is not a theory but is real, as he gives back to our humanness. In its doctrine and culture, words and deeds, such a church visible the restored humanity only Christ can give.

Ray Ortlund, The Gospel: How The Church Portrays The Beauty of Christ

Around The Web-Janurary 2, 2015

How to Foster a Gospel Culture by Ray Ortlund

3 Ways Not to Use Greek in Bible Study by Justin Dillehay

4 Reasons to Use Goodreads by Barnabas Piper

Taking Aim at the Seven Deadly Sins by Brian G. Hedges

Resolved: To Read the Bible by David Mathis

When We Grow Passionate in Prayer by Jonathan Parnell

In Heaven, We Will Be A Community

The promise of the gospel is not about you going to heaven to be with Jesus alone; the promise is that all of God's people will be with him in glorious community forever. We will be a city, a new Jerusalem, the true and eternal dwelling place of God among his people.

Ray Ortund, The Gospel: How The Church Portrays The Beauty of Christ

Do You Withhold Blessings?

In many churches I have been a part of, I keep hearing people say, "God is blessing me." That is great and I rejoice with them. I have even heard preachers say that God is blessing our church, which is another reason to rejoice with those who rejoice especially if it is your church.

However, a disturbing thought came one day and that, why do focus on getting blessings without wondering if we are to bless others. We are so self-centered that we think we are the center of God's universe which is not true. Proverbs 3:27 says, "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it." If God has blessed you, you are suppose to not withhold it.

If God has blessed you financially, as Randy Alcorn puts it, it is not to increase your standard of living but your standard of giving. If God has blessed you with a talent, you are to glorify Him with your talent and display it for the benefit of others.

Going back to our verse, the Bible says we should not "withhold good from those to whom it is due." A footnote in the ESV says it literally means, "Do not withhold good from its owners." Ray Ortlund wrote, "If you have good you can do for somebody, then legally you own it, but morally they own it...We sin against each other not only by the bad things we do but also by the beautiful things we withhold...Jesus withheld no good thing from you" (Proverbs: Wisdom That Works).

I love what Ortlund said, that Jesus did not withheld no good thing from us. As Jesus not withheld an good thing for us, so should do for others. Whether it is love, honor, a ride, a word of encouragement, your time, or even a little bit of gas. About a couple of years ago, my neighbors were about to put gas in their van but they were to close to the bottom of the tank for the van to start. They asked if we had any gas, now gas near $4.00 at that time, and I said but it is not a lot. I went to get my gas can hoping this will be enough to get the van started so they can fill their tank up. Thankfully it did. I had a blessing and did not withheld it nor did I seek them to repay me.

As Christians, we need to stop asking God to bless us but to ask Him to bless others so we can be a blessing to others. It is a great way to show we love in deed not just word but also it can open the door to share the gospel with someone.