Dear Brethren,
Let me begin by saying that I like Dennis Prager. He is intelligent, articulate, and—much of the time—on target. So, when he explained his views regarding pornography at a roundtable discussion with The Daily Wire’s Jordan Peterson, he shocked and outraged many. What did he say that set off a firestorm?
Prager told Peterson and the others at the table that, in his opinion, Judaism is “a behaviorist law-based religion. We care how you act. That’s why we don’t have a claim that if you look at another woman with lust, it’s as if you’ve committed adultery with her…. Looking with lust is not a sin in Judaism,” he says.
When Peterson asked how pornography fit into this view, Prager responded, “I always ask, if a wife calls me and says, ‘My husband looks at pornography, I found it on his computer,’ I have one question: ‘How is your life of intimacy with your husband? Is it good? In other words, is the pornography in lieu of you, or in addition to you?’… I know this is not a religious answer…. I’m not even giving a religious answer. I’m giving what I think is a moral and realistic answer. Men want variety. And if pornography is a substitute for one’s wife, it’s awful. If it’s a substitute for adultery, it’s not awful.”
Someone addicted to porn might feel justified by this rationalization, seeing it as permission to engage in the behavior, but that sense of justification is misplaced. Prager’s explanation misses the mark on multiple fronts. The most obvious is Christ’s statement in the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27–28). But what if one rejects Jesus as Savior and therefore dismisses His words and the New Testament?
Many people equate Judaism with the Old Testament, thinking that Judaism reflects the mind of God under the Old Covenant. But even a casual reading of the New Testament shows how far many in Judaism had strayed from God’s original intent for His people, even long ago. We find that the Pharisees of Jesus’ day had instituted many man-made traditions and regulations, meanwhile rejecting the law of God (Mark 7:6–9). And in a confrontation with the Pharisees and scribes, what law was it that Jesus said they were breaking? “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say…” (vv. 10–11).
If the Pharisees reasoned around the Ten Commandments in the first century, it should not surprise us that many in modern Judaism do the same. The God who thundered the commandments from Mount Sinai is interested in more than “a behaviorist law-based religion.” He not only cares how we act; He cares how we think! This is evident from His command not to covet: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Deuteronomy 5:21).
How is it that someone of great intellect and normally rational thought can state that looking with lust is not a sin in Judaism? We must wonder what kind of mental gymnastics one must go through to discount the clear teaching of the Decalogue.
Sinful Thoughts, Sinful Actions
The prophet Jeremiah speaks to our self-deceiving nature. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Solomon also warned against self-deception. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).
The Apostle Paul came to understand, whether as one of the Pharisees or after conversion, that what one thinks is just as much a sin as what one does. “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7:7, King James Version).
The half-brother of Jesus understood the connection between thought and behavior—how the latter follows the former. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren” (James 1:13–16).
Does this mean that lustful thinking always progresses to physical adultery? Many people have violated the Tenth Commandment and not progressed to violating the letter of the Seventh, but this may simply be a matter of opportunity. What we know from Jesus, James, and life experience is that sinful actions follow unrestrained sinful thoughts.
Crucial Lessons for Us
There are other lessons we can learn from this interview. One lesson is what Prager correctly stated: “Obviously, Christianity and Judaism are not identical religions.” Yet how many today try to blend Judaism and Christianity, wrongly thinking that the Jews practice the religion of the Old Testament? We keep the Sabbath, the Holy Days, and laws of clean and unclean meats not because the Jews do, but because these are spelled out in both Testaments by command and example. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). He kept the Sabbath and Holy Days, not paganized days (Luke 4:16). The Apostles and first-century Church followed suit (Acts 17:2; 1 Corinthians 5:7–8). Peter refused to eat unclean meats (Acts 10:13–17, 28) and we see that God still views certain birds as unclean (Revelation 18:2).
Another lesson we can learn from Prager’s mistake is that we must view all ideas through the lens of the Bible. It is human nature to follow heroes, celebrities, and those more articulate than we are. The late Rush Limbaugh articulated conservative values with a healthy dose of humor, making him an icon for many. On the liberal side of things, some watch the daytime American women’s discussion group The View and see Joy Behar as their heroine. And the list goes on: Bill O’Reilly, Rachel Maddow, Tucker Carlson, and more. Some people view Donald Trump as a near-messiah who does nothing wrong. Such a view is terribly flawed. You may like some of his policies, but he will not save the United States.
Prager is not the only one failing to condemn pornography for the sin it is. The Internet is filled with articles promoting its acceptance as long as one does not “take it too far.” But Jesus Christ was not ambiguous on the subject, and for good reason.
While the world debates whether it is harmful, those of us in the ministry have no doubts. We have seen its destructive work in the lives of children and adults, men and women. We’ve met those addicted to it, counseled married couples, and worked with tormented teens coming to us for help. For us, it is not debatable: Pornography destroys marriages and lives.
Dennis Prager uses human logic to articulate cultural and religious values. Some of his ideas agree with God’s revelation in Scripture. Others do not. A danger in identifying with strong personalities is failing to challenge their ideas in light of the mind of God as found in the Bible, His instruction book on life. We must not accept human reasonings just because they sound good or agree with our own thinking. Subtle deception is far more dangerous than deception that is clearly recognized.
We must not be naïve; “though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3–5).
