Stare at Jesus, Not Porn: 9 Ways to Fight Lust
My earlier post “7 Negative Effects of Porn” concentrated on the harmful psychological and sociological effects of pornography, and this post will focus on a biblical and grace-centered way to resist the temptation to view porn. Primarily this post is aimed at men, but I hope that there is some help here for the growing number of women who are addicted to porn and I hope that more Christian women will write on this hidden issue.
Leering at naked women online incites yearnings for more and more naked women, yet never gives ultimate satisfaction. On the other hand, the body of one’s wife is a garden of pleasures that leads to holy satisfaction.
The book of Proverbs gives the wisdom of a father to son: “Let [your wife’s] breasts satisfy you at all times”(5:18, 19). The body and breasts of your wife contain an intoxicating influence that no other body and breasts can bring.
If you don’t think they are satisfying or intoxicating, the problem isn’t her, but the fact that you settle for inferior and ultimately unsatisfying cravings. Why settle for cheap wine when your wife is a fine vintage.
Christians have always had a warped and distorted view on sex and sexuality. It's just built into the religion, part of a sick view propagated by early church fathers such as Augustine of Hippo for example. If one does research on good ole Saint Augustine he will find one sick mama-jamma. If it had been up to Augustine and many of the so- called church fathers the human race would have ceased to exist.
"It was Augustine who epitomized a general feeling among the church fathers that the act of intercourse was fundamentally disgusting," she wrote. "Arnobius called it filthy and degrading, Methodius unseemly, Jerome unclean, Tertullian shameful, Ambrose a defilement." (Sex in History, by Reay Tannahill, Stein & Day, 1980, p. 141)
Christian father Origen of Alexandria reportedly castrated himself in a traumatic display of faith.
When priests oversaw the historic witch hunts -- in which thousands of women were tortured and burned -- church writings reeked of revulsion to female sexuality. A medieval cardinal, Hughes de St. Cher, wrote:
"Woman pollutes the body, drains the resources, kills the soul, uproots the strength, blinds the eye, and embitters the voice." (Eros Denied: Sex in Western Society, by Wayland Young, Grove Press, 1964, p. 201)
When Puritans ruled England in the 1600s, death was decreed for adultery.
In late 19th century America, Anthony Comstock and his "Committee for the Suppression of Vice" pursued sex like a hunted animal. About 2,500 people were convicted on morality charges, and Congress passed the puritanical Comstock Laws. Margaret Sanger was jailed eight times for advocating birth control. Comstock even led a police raid against an art gallery which dared to display the naively innocent "September Morn" painting.
Police raid against an art gallery which dared to display the naively innocent "September Morn" painting.
Until recently, thanks to church pressure, nearly every U.S. state had Old Testament-style laws against "fornication" and "sodomy" and the like. It wasn't until 1972 that the U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled that all American couples have a right to birth control. The clergy's opposition to contraception is based not so much on a desire for limitless breeding as a desire to prevent people from enjoying the sexual freedom brought by birth control.
Today, the church's ability to imprison nonconformists has receded. However, every censorship effort, every attempt at sexual repression, still comes from religion. Do you hear that Mr. B.J. Stockman? I feel a new scekwel coming soon, “Men who stare at Jesus.”
Perhaps the most detailed and insightful answer came from none other than humanist Bertrand Russell, who said a "morbid and unnatural" attitude toward sex is "the worst feature of the Christian religion." And much of what he said applies with equal force to the other Western religions. He asserted that church aversion to sex is not only unfounded but harmful. Against the prevailing anti-sex views of religion, he argued that sexual pleasure is a positive good, and that religious objections are based not on reason but on dogma. But perhaps his most important argument was that religious anti-sexuality attitudes inflict untold human misery, especially on women. He observed:
"Monks have always regarded Woman primarily as the temptress. They have thought of her mainly as the inspirer of impure lusts." So the church has done "what it could to secure that the only form of sex which it permitted should involve very little pleasure and great deal of pain. The opposition to birth control has, in fact, the same motive." (Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization? - essay)
Strangely, Russell observed, the church doesn't seem to care how miserable its rigid sex laws make people. He cited this example:
"...An inexperienced girl is married to a syphilitic man; in that case the Catholic Church says, 'This is an indissoluble sacrament. You must endure celibacy or stay together. And if you stay together, you must not use birth control to prevent the birth of syphilitic children.' Nobody whose natural sympathies have not been warped by dogma, or whose moral nature was not abolutely dead to all sense of suffering, could maintain that it is right and proper that that state of things should continue.
"...The church, by its insistence upon what it chooses to call morality, inflicts upon all sorts of people undeserved and unnecessary suffering... because it has chosen to label as morality a certain narrow set of rules of conduct which have nothing to do with human happiness; and when you say that this or that ought to be done because it would make for human happiness, they think that has nothing to do with the matter at all. 'What has human happiness to do with morals? The object of morals is not to make people happy.'" (Why I Am Not a Christian - essay)
Ironically, century after century of holy hostility to sex hasn't dampened humanity's zest for it. A 1992 World Health Organization report estimated that more than 100 million couples around the globe make love in a single day. And people relish sexual entertainment as well. A recent issue of U.S. News & World Report was devoted to the astounding rise of the sex business in America. It said:
"Last year Americans spent more than $8 billion on hard-core videos, live sex acts, adult cable programming, sexual devices, computer porn and sex magazines -- an amount much larger than Hollywood's domestic box office receipts and larger than all the revenues generated by rock and country music albums. Americans now spend more money at strip clubs than at Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional and nonprofit theaters, at the opera, the ballet, and jazz and classical music performances – combined."
If Americans rent 665 million X-rated videos each year, as the report said, while conservative churches still say sex is "filth" or "intrinsically evil," someone is out of step with reality. And it isn't the billions of people who know, deep in their psyches, that lovemaking is intrinsically good.
Amen!
SOURCE: http://nudesforjesus.blogspot.com/2012/01/porns-most-popular-stars-dirty-dozen-of.html
Porn's Most Popular Stars The Dirty Dozen of 2012
42 year old Porn Star still rocking the Industry?
The AVN hall of famer remains a fan favorite.
True superstardom in the adult entertainment industry is a tough thing to achieve. And this year's Dirty Dozen certainly underscores that.
Just five of the actresses we listed among the industry's most popular last year make return appearances in 2012, as new faces have come along — and some veteran performers made a comeback.
With the industry's annual expo under way in Las Vegas Jan. 18-21, we've once again assembled a list of the most popular porn stars. This year, instead of basing the list on past and present award nominations, we've polled industry insiders — ranging from studio presidents to publicists to stars — to get a unique view of who's queen of the mountain. Their answers were based on several criteria, including which performers have the biggest fan bases, whose face on a DVD cover boosts sales and which stars have seen the biggest popularity increases in the past year.
That drawing power is more important than ever to the $14 billion porn industry. DVD sales have been in freefall the past five years due to piracy and competition from online content. Vivid Entertainment founder and co-chairman Steven Hirsch estimates income from DVDs has fallen 70 percent since 2007. (He said only 20 percent of the company's revenues come from DVDs today.) SOURCE:
Alexis Texas
Now entering her fifth year in the porn industry, Texas' star continues to rise. She's nominated for 13 AVN awards this year, including female performer of the year. And, like many performers on this list, she owns her own business, giving her a bigger cut of the $.
Sunny Leone
Born to Sikh Punjabi parents, Leone is an unlikely porn star, especially given that religion's conservative culture. She has not only thrived in the U.S. as an adult performer, she has also been embraced by India, which cast her in this season's "Big Boss" (that country's version of the CBS show "Big Brother"). She has since accepted a lead role in an upcoming major Bollywood film.
Jesse Jane
Jane is one of the most popular adult performers for fans and insiders. She's once again the host of the red carpet ceremonies at the AVN Awards, porn's equivalent of the Oscars, and has 10 nominations this year. She's also the most bankable star, working for Digital Playground.
Allie Haze
Allie Haze
Haze was signed as a contract performer for Vivid Entertainment in 2011 — a notable feat, given CEO Steven Hirsch's previously stated aversion to contract stars. She also signed a nine-film deal to play the French soft-core sex icon Emmanuelle (which will likely make her more familiar to Cinemax viewers).
Asa Akira
This Japanese-American porn star has become one of the most sought-after performers in the industry this year. She has earned critical acclaim in the industry, too. She's nominated for 20 AVN awards, and her films regularly top the Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network's most-watched list.
Tori Black
Black started as a Penthouse Pet, but has gone on to star in hundreds of adult films. What's noteworthy about her inclusion this year was her relatively low profile and the birth of a son in October. Still, her appeal, which has won her AVN performer of the year award for two years running, remains strong among fans
Chanel Preston
Preston has been porn's "it" girl for a while now, and in 2010, finally broke through to true stardom. At last year's AVN awards, she was one of the trophy girls, which basically consisted of bringing trophies on stage for winners. The role, a stepping stone in the industry, garnered her exposure to attendees and viewers on Showtime. This year, she has been in several parody films, including knockoffs of "Avatar" and "Wonder Woman."
Lisa Ann
This 39-year old performer/agent was the most commonly mentioned star among industry insiders — and she has had a busy year, signing a deal with novelty company Fleshlight, appearing in GQ, and leading the charge for performers who aren't in their early 20s.
She's best known to the outside world for her 2008 portrayal of Sarah Palin in a porn parody. And for two years running, she has been the performer of the year for the Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network.
Jenna Haze
A 10-year veteran of the industry, Haze is still a fan favorite and has won numerous awards throughout her career. For the first time in four years, she's not nominated for performer of the year at the AVN awards, but has still secured eight other nods, including one for the industry's hall of fame.
Julia Ann
At 42, she's the oldest porn star on the list, but this AVN hall of famer remains a fan favorite. She's a regular presence on AEBN's charts, and her face on a DVD cover automatically boosts sales. In her 19 years as a performer, she has worked as a contract star for most of the major porn studios.
Stoya
Stoya in some ways is the anti-porn star. She's taller and leaner than most. She has strong nerd-like tendencies, including a love of science fiction and gadgets. She's also a voracious reader and talented writer. And she designs her own clothes. She's also well respected in the industry, with four AVN nominations this year.
Joanna Angel
Angel is the owner of her own studio, making her not only one of the most popular women in porn, but also one of the most powerful. In addition to writing, producing, directing and starring in her films, she appeared in a mainstream cameo on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim program "Children's Hospital," where she played herself. SOURCE:
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