Dez – Longer than I care to admit.

that it is natural to feel sexual arousal, and as long as any sexual expression is with our spouses, this is well within what we understand as Christian behaviour.

I agree 100%

D!

Dez!:Agrees

I am lucky, I suppose, in that I find most of the women on TV far too artificial and “sculpted” to find them attractive – I’d rather be with my wife any day of the week!

Best wishes!

Good post! really enojyed reading it while nodding in agreement and going “Hmmmm”. I appreciate the passion that comes through in what you have said.

Chris,
Thanks for your comment, but I have to admit I don’t agree with some of the things you said.

I do agree that Ian is fairly hard on himself when it comes to putting his wife first but I really don’t think that this is a bad thing by ANY standards.

Also, with the sex scenes, I agree with you that it is normal for a human (esp. male) to have his sexuality stirred by watching something like this, which is fine as it is the way God designed us. BUT I am also aware that martial unfaithfulness has to start somewhere and looking at “pretty” girls on tv that may be by the world standards better than our wife is as good a starting point as any.

My point is that no one sets out to cheat on their wife or disrespect her, but these things usually start with something aparently “harmless”.

Anyway, this is what I belive and I welcome further discussion.

Thanks Chris.

D!

Dez: Wonders how long Ian spent trying to work out a word to use for “ads” that starts with the letter “S”!

I completely understand where you are coming from… truly TV is the opiate of the masses. These days, I try to avoid watching broadcast TV; I download the shows that I have legitimate access to, so I can watch them without ads (or I buy DVD box sets, which I am happy to do).

Regarding the challenge of making your wife the sole concern of your sexuality – I feel you are giving yourself too much of a hard time. God has given us sexuality which we express with our spouses, but I believe it would be wrong to interpret feelings of arousal originating from outside the marriage as expressly sinful. It *would* be sinful if you cheated on your wife, but I know you wouldn’t do this.

A sexual scene in a movie (say) is a fantasy, it’s imagination – it’s not wrong to feel one’s sexuality stirred by such a scene, provided when it comes to actually expressing that sexual feeling you do so with your wife.

Or to put it another way: pornography need not be unchristian.

At least, such is my belief.

Best wishes, and good luck defeating the faceless television demon!

Chris.