August
31, 2017
To the person watching the screen,
This is probably
the hardest of the letters to write. And it’s not primarily because it’s the
section that would preach most clearly to me, since I’ve often found myself in
this position over the past fifteen years. The reason it’s the hardest is because
I’m at a loss for how to best go about writing this. I could come with the
“you’re helping people stay enslaved in sin” approach, which if you don’t know
Christ doesn’t mean anything to you, and if you do know Christ just adds
unnecessary condemnation to your plate. However, I could also come with the
“Jesus loves you” approach, which if you don’t know Christ won’t change your
outlook on this sin, and if you do know Christ it will come across as, “cool, I
knew that.” So I don’t exactly know what to say. Except for this:
The Law of God is
divided into two portions. “Love God and love people.” This law is universal,
and not simply for believers. The whole world will be judged for failing to
live up to this law. And while the only way to truly love other people is by
being confronted by the life-changing love of Jesus (which I will hit on in a
second), the fact is that we are expected to love people—thinking of them and
their good before we think of ourselves and our selfish wants. In fact we were
preprogrammed to be selfless and loving, but when sin came in with Adam and
Eve, hatred, selfishness, and apathy entered—making love an almost impossible
reality. This is why everyone falls in and out of love so easily. We don’t know
how to think of others’ needs before our own.
So here’s my
conclusion: if you’re a believer, you’re called to love fellow believers, your
family, your neighbors, and even your enemies. In short, you’re called to love
everyone without question. No one should be exempt from your love. And this
love—believer, family, neighbor, enemy—must always be selfless love. Therefore
when you are gazing at a person/persons on a computer screen, you are
fulfilling your own selfish pleasure and not at all being loving. In which case
you are not fulfilling the basic requirement of being a Christian as described
in James 1:27, “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their
distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (emphasis added).
What are pornstars but very literally orphans and widows? By gazing at them and
enjoying what they’re doing, you are not looking after them, but looking at
them and doing nothing for them.
If you’re not a
believer, you more than likely don’t care about following God’s law. You don’t
care about truly loving others. You really want to just get what you can out of
this life—selfishly or otherwise. Here’s the thing though: as a nonbeliever,
you are judged by what you do. Revelation 20:12 makes that blatantly clear. If
you don’t love others as Christ loved, you will be judged for that. However, if
you turn to Christ and put your faith in Him, your imperfect love will be
placed on Him, and you will be judged by His perfect love. Everyone is judged
by what they do: if in Christ, you are judged by what Christ did, if outside of
Christ, you are judged by what you have done yourself. If, as most, you are an
unloving, selfish person, you will be judged as such. If you trust Christ, you
are judged as a perfectly loving person, even though you will occasionally, and
frequently, fall.
So let me explain
why I can say that Jesus is so loving. He came to earth—from God—as an infant.
God in the bod of a totally helpless babe. Selfless. He grew up, never
disobeying his parents—loving and compassionate—despite the fact that they
weren’t perfect parents. And then He started a ministry of love where He gave
hope to society’s outcasts: tax collectors, prostitutes, military rebels. And
then, to prove just how much He loved them, He died on the cross that we all
deserved. Three days later He rose to prove that His life was spotless, even
though He spent time with society’s outcasts. He never sinned; He loved
perfectly; and He is God Almighty.
I plead with you
to place your faith in Him and turn from your life of sin.
And if you already
believe, please recommit to Him and living like Him in this world!
I am on this road
with you. Let’s walk it victoriously!
Sincerely,
JW
Part 3: guy on the
other side of the screen
Part 4: person
behind the camera
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