Sexcrimethink

Sexcrimethink

This weekend, I was listening to the
Way of the Master Radio
podcast. Way of the Master is a fundie scam ministry run by Ray “homoerotic banana” Comfort and Kirk “Growing Pains kid” Cameron. Todd Friel hosts the podcast.

In
this show,
they spent a lot of time with Rob, a 19-year-old who called in to say that he has a problem with pornography. It wasn’t said explicitly, but I suspect he also masturbates. Later, a woman called in to say that she, too, struggles with pornography, and that it’s not just a problem for men.

So what exactly was Rob’s problem? Was it that he was masturbating instead of having sex with his girlfriend (not just in addition to)? Was it that his girlfriend isn’t as physically perfect as the airbrushed models in Playboy, so he was enjoying sex less? Was it that it’s cutting into hobby and/or work time? No.

As far as these people are concerned, pr0n makes baby Jesus cry:

Rob: […] I feel as if i’ve transgressed against Holy God who’s seen this […]
Todd: […] It is a good thing that you’re sorrowful, because primarily it is a sin against God.

Todd:If you indeed are a Christian who struggles in this area, the encouragement I would give to you is this: here are some little teeny-tiny strategies. I don’t think this is going to cure your problem, but these are the things you’ve probably already done, Rob. You get the BSafe Online put on your computer.
Rob: Yeah, I’ve got XXXWatch.
Todd: Fine. Whatever you have. If you can’t afford it, get rid of your computer. If you can’t be in a house with a computer, then don’t be in that house. If it means changing your job because there’s a computer at work that allows you to look at pornography, then you need to change jobs, and whether or not you’re willing to go to the furthest extreme possible to get over it is another good sign that you’re a Christian.

Todd: Every time you get the urge to fire up the computer, grab yourself some gospel tracts and get out on the streets and do some witnessing instead.

I’m not going to try to argue that all porn is pure and good and yummy, with no ill effects for the performers, the audience, or society at large. I think we can all agree that kiddy porn is evil; that women should not be viewed as objects; that if you masturbate, it is your responsibility to mop up any spooge that drops onto the floor.

At the same time, the guy’s nineteen, fer cryin’ out loud! Of course he wants to look at naked people with well-formed sexual characteristics engaging in hot, steamy exchange of bodily fluids! And if God doesn’t like it, well, he shouldn’t have made people that way.

The modus operandi at Way of the Master, as with so many similar organizations, is to

1. Sell you the disease (sin, which leads to hell)
2. Sell you the cure (Jesus, who can be purchased at the WotM store at very reasonable prices)

They spend an inordinate amount of time telling people that they’re worthless sinners who, try as they might, keep angering God, nauseating him by their very existence, and who, by all rights, deserve to be cast into the fires of Hell to be tortured forever. That there’s nothing people can do about this; that they need Jesus (as revealed by Comfort, Cameron, and Friel). They keep hammering this message over and over and over.

And now here they are doing the same thing with sex. Not only that, but they keep harping on
Matthew 5:28
(“anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”), and thereby make people feel guilty about their very thoughts.

I felt sorry for Rob and the woman who called in later, because they were obviously suffering mental anguish, and were just torn up inside by this. And all because of a made-up problem. All you need to do is to stop defining pornography and masturbation as evil, and the “problem” pretty much goes away by itself.

The god these people profess to worship is a
petty tyrant.
How anyone can think that such a being is worthy of worship is beyond me. And turning simple human nature into a shameful crime is the height of either machiavelliannism or self-delusion. Can anyone say that religion is a good thing if it twists people inside like this?

I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
— Matthew 25:40