Floodgates of Pornography

Richard Hollerman

Yesterday’s newspaper ran an article about the early days of the legalization of pornography in the United States. The article was titled, “FBI Inquiry on Porn Film was Vast.”  The subtitle stated, “Newly released files reveal a wide scope of investigation into the landmark 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat.”

When the porno movie was released, the Federal Bureau of Investigation did a careful and thorough examination.  Records have come to light that indicate the FBI’s “sprawling and ultimately vain attempt to stop the spread of a movie some saw as the victory of a cultural and sexual revolution and others saw as simply decadent.”  The article continued: “Agents seized copies of the movie, had negatives analyzed in labs and interviewed everyone from actors and producers to messengers who delivered reels to theaters.” 

Mark Weiner, of Rutgers-Newark School of Law, remarks:

Today we can’t imagine authorities at any level of government—local, state or federal—being involved in obscenity prosecutions of this kind. . . . The story of Deep Throat is the story of the last gasp of the forces lined up against the cultural and sexual revolution, and it is the advent of the entry of pornography into the mainstream.

From this, it appears that apparently Weiner doesn’t like the opposition that the federal government made against the advent of gross pornography in America.  At any rate, we see, with regret, how illicit and lewd pictures, movies, and literature advanced in the American culture to the point that it is largely accepted in all sectors.  The article stated: “Deep Throat achieved fame unlike any pornographic film in history and become the most widely known adult film to reach a general audience.”  It stated, “The film was hugely profitable—made for about $25,000 and amassing hundreds of millions in receipts—and became a cultural buzz-word.”

In our day, pornography is accepted by large segments of the American public.  It is the leading or second-leading content displayed on the internet!  Nearly every deviated and devious graphic image is accepted and tolerated—except for child pornography that continues to have severe penalties.  Along with the gross immorality depicted in porno, general magazines displayed in the local supermarkets have openly become “semi pornographic” since they display so much flesh, seemingly without same or without opposition. 

It was the decade of the 1960s that opened the floodgates of pornography in America.  The movie mentioned above came out in 1972, when the government continued to vainly stop the spread of this immoral contagion.  Since that time, the government has surrendered to the multi-billion dollar porn industry that spews forth its filth into the living rooms of the nations and pollutes the minds and souls of children, teenagers, and many of those older.  It is partly responsible for premarital sexual activity, separation and divorce, blighting of conscience, the spread of sodomy and acceptance of it by the majority, the widespread breakdown of morals, the spread of AIDS and other STDs, and many other societal ills.

What is the end result of fifty years of moral breakdown—in this country as well as around the world?  We are reminded that this is not the first time in history for morals to fall to the ground.  Moses writes of the time before the days of Noah: “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).   This grieved the Lord in His heart (v. 6).  “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. . . . all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth” (vv. 11-12).  Peter writes of the deluge of water that God brought on the entire earth to destroy all flesh: “He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5).

Are we approaching such a condition today?  We know that God will not destroy the world with a flood of water again (Genesis 9:11), but “by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:6-7).  Fire will consume a world that is in rebellion against its Creator!  Contemporary man has rebelled against a God who lovingly and wisely established sexuality to be experienced in the bonds of a moral and lawful marriage.  It is entirely honorable—when it is kept pure, holy, and clean (Hebrews 13:4).  But man has degenerated to the point that every conceivable immoral and perverted thought and deed has contaminated holy marriage.  The pure has become impure, the clean has become dirty, the holy has become unholy, the normal and natural has become perverted (cf. Romans 1:18-26; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-7).

In the midst of this sex-saturated and porno-filled culture, the true and pure child of God must take a stand and refuse to be sucked into the immoral quicksand of perversion that has engulfed society.  The man and woman of God must be distinctive and maintain a wholesomeness when the world around them is pulling them down.  Paul says that some of the Corinthians had lived in immorality and homosexuality, but were washed, sanctified, and justified “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).  Beloved, let us maintain a holiness in this corrupt world—for only those who are holy will one day see God (Hebrews 12:14).