Jesus upheld Jehovah’s standard of sexual morality. He said: “Did you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’? So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has yoked together let no man put apart.” (Matt. 19:4-6) Jesus knew that what we take in through our eyes can affect our heart. In his Sermon on the Mount, he therefore stated: “You heard that it was said, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone that keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:27, 28) Those who ignore Jesus’ warning are in reality nurturing the love of lawlessness.
Satan promotes sexual immorality by means of pornography. The present system of things is awash with it. Those who view pornography find it difficult to erase the immoral scenes from their minds. They can even become addicted to pornography. Consider what happened to one Christian. He says: “I secretly viewed pornography. I created a fantasy world that I thought was disconnected from the world where I served Jehovah. I knew that this practice was wrong but told myself that my service to God was still acceptable.” What changed this brother’s thinking? He states: “Although it was the most difficult thing I have ever done, I decided to tell the elders about my problem.” This brother eventually broke free from this degrading habit. “After I cleansed my life of this sin,” he admits, “I finally felt that I had a truly clean conscience.” Those who hate lawlessness must learn to hate pornography.
Music and its accompanying lyrics can strongly influence our emotions and, therefore, our figurative heart. Music itself is a gift from God and has long held a place in true worship. (Ex. 15:20, 21; Eph. 5:19) But Satan’s wicked world promotes music that glorifies immorality. (1 John 5:19) How can you tell whether the music you listen to is defiling you or not?
You might start by asking yourself: ‘Do the songs I listen to glorify murder, adultery, fornication, and blasphemy? If I were to read the lyrics of certain songs to someone, would that person get the impression that I hate lawlessness, or would the words indicate that my heart is defiled?’ We cannot hate lawlessness in word while glorifying it in song. “The things proceeding out of the mouth come out of the heart,” said Jesus, “and those things defile a man. For example, out of the heart come wicked reasonings, murders, adulteries, fornications, thieveries, false testimonies, blasphemies.”—Matt. 15:18, 19; compare James 3:10, 11.
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