God is good and life is good!

I recently read Nobel Savages: Exposing the Worldview of Pornographers and Their War Against Christian Civilization, by R.J. Rushdoony. It was originally published in 1976 under the title The Politics of Pornography. Everything I've read by Rushdoony is so right on. In fact I found his world history lectures a great resource when teaching at Logos. You also see Doug Wilson all over the place. Or rather you realize he was there before you. In fact, if I were to assemble my American, Twentieth Century spiritual pedigree it would probably go, aside from my preacher grandfather of course, Francis Schaefer, R.J. Rushdoony, Doug Wilson. Those are my spiritual fathers.

The basic argument of the book is that looking at porn is an essentially religious activity. That is, people who succumb to it are engaged in a false religion and worshiping a false god. Pretty serious words. Having denied the One God and everything supernatural, modern materialists are left with nothing to provoke or inspire them except the primal drives, what Freud called the id. And so men being what they are, religious beings, who live not by bread alone, they begin to place their faith in those drives as the source of their vitality, when in fact, because the universe is governed by God's immutable law, this leads surely to death. Of course it is not sexual appetite, or any desire for that mater, which is the problem, but serving a particular desire with disregard to God's law.

I was struck by the truth that pornography is essentially a ritual, one among many perverse rituals, of the modernist religion. And that is why, for example, homosexuals are held in such high esteem. They are treated as a priestly caste which to denounce is to be guilty of blasphemy, conveniently called "hate speech."

And the frightening thing is that American Christians sit idly by, consuming much of the same filth as everyone else in our Philistine culture. We don't want to be prudes. But the point is that it's not just "filth," although it is that. It's propaganda. And how can we fight it if we don't speak about it. Men, speak up!

One thing I hope to never forget from this book is Rushdoony's description of two men, one who had not succumbed to this false religion and one that had:

Men in every age are largely shaped by the ideas that govern them and command their imagination. Men judge themselves by the standards of their day, and by its ideas of what constitutes life. Their faith has much to do with making life livable. An elderly immigrant, speaking limited English, was used to the patriarchal power common in the old country to the oldest man in a family. As that oldest man, the authority of the family was in his hands. Although bedridden for several years before his death, he ate with zest, ordered his family about with assurance, and, smacking his lips, raised with pride and pleasure his wine glass together with the assembled family, declaring, "God is good and life is good!" This immigrant's image of life and man was patriarchal and familistic, and he enjoyed it, despite his invalidism. In contrast, when a very much younger man, totally modern in outlook, found himself impotent, although otherwise healthy, he committed suicide (82).

In this example, to make the point most strongly, the one man is old and the other young; however, age doesn't really mater. There are men of all ages who whine and moan about the slightest hardships because they've succumbed to false ideas and inevitably false habits. To those men there is only one thing that can be said, if they can still hear it: repent or perish!

By the way, I'm proud to say that I use Covenant Eyes accountability software on my computer and I would recommend it to anyone. I now know several men I respect who use this service. It costs $8 per month, but it's well worth it to know that porn is not an option when you're online and its a much better service than the free programs.