# Do you believe in demons and is pornography sinful? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2025, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184 "2025-07-22T16:27:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/243 "2025-08-08T14:30:18Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > They were definitely pro pornography. They also loved, orgies, homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality, masturbation, threesomes, prostitution, getting high and getting drunk. In fact they would argue with me and say that they love the lGBT and support all those behaviors. Honestly if it wasn’t for the context I’d find it hard to know whether you arguing in favor of the demons or not. Most of those things are harmless, healthy, or minor indulgences; the only one of those I’d draw a firm line at is bestiality. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/244 "2025-08-08T14:37:52Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > These seem like some remarkably harmless demons. With the exception of the bestiality, they sound kind of awesome, frankly. ---
**Author:** ![a\_dudes\_thought\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a_dudes_thought_s)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/245 "2025-08-08T14:47:08Z")
The demons said they loved the LGBT and they also loved bestiality as well. I was not saying that people in the LGBT are into bestiality. As far as three some’s, orgies, getting drunk and high I am not going to say its a general practice for people of that community, but I have know a few people over the years who did engage in those activities. Heck I am going to go out on a limb and say plenty of people who are not in the LGBT engage in those activities. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/246 "2025-08-08T14:51:21Z")
It seems to me that you think anything you disagree with is “demonic”. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/247 "2025-08-08T14:55:57Z")
The main ploy these demons seem to have is distracting you from the things Jesus actually cared about, and forcing you to perseverate on irrelevant things. If they thought it’d work, they’d be talking instead about eating ring-shaped foods, or using too many words starting with the letter “j”, or singing songs in the key of C major. Anything to avoid focusing on violence against the weak, predatory wealth, hatred of strangers, and the like. Up to you whether you fall for the scam. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/248 "2025-08-08T15:17:33Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Heck I am going to go out on a limb and say plenty of people who are not in the LGBT engage in those activities. I’m not going to go out on a limb at all, and say that orgies, getting drunk, and getting high are enjoyed about the same by cishet people and queer people. Threesomes are maybe more fun for bisexuals? At least for two of the participants in a mixed-sex one, and presumably more fun for homosexuals if all three are the same sex? Anyway, it seems odd to even conflate these with LGBT. And bestiality is just off on its own. I seem to recall that Kinsey found it was mostly practiced by young straight men in rural areas who didn’t have better options, and was uncommon among older people of any persuasion. I think it’s pretty rare for people to actually have a sexual preference for beasts over humans. I don’t think Jesus wrote a lot about sex. The whole Bible doesn’t talk a lot about sex. Sure, you can find commandments about it, especially in the Jewish Bible, but there’s more text about what precious materials were used to construct the Temple than there is about sex. Also more about what is clean and unclean to eat, I believe. And Jesus mostly talked about social justice. I tend to agree with LHOD that all this demonic stuff about sex is meant to distract you from more important moral mesages. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/249 "2025-08-08T15:52:08Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The whole Bible doesn’t talk a lot about sex. Except the Song of Songs which is super erotic. Also I find a lot of Bible quotes that sound like they’ve got a BDSM or erotic flair, or at least very sensual. I mean mainly in how the faithful talk about God. It’s one half erotic fixation and one half abusive relationship. I have no ready examples but I had a friend who used to post Bible verses on Facebook all the time and it was usually either disturbing or racy. I’ll try to find examples of what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/250 "2025-08-08T15:53:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It seems to me that you think anything you disagree with is “demonic”. To quote Anne Lamott, “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/251 "2025-08-08T15:57:13Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > The whole Bible doesn’t talk a lot about sex. > > Except the Song of Songs which is super erotic. Oh, that’s true. But that’s not about rules, that’s about celebrating sexuality. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/252 "2025-08-08T15:58:10Z")
And that thing about donkey dicks and horse cum . . . not that that’s got any bestiality overtones. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/253 "2025-08-08T15:59:42Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I don’t think Jesus wrote a lot about sex. OTTOMH Jesus condemns adultery but that’s about it for sex-related views. Paul was a bit more prudish about it. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/254 "2025-08-08T16:37:52Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Given the rest of your story, you may have been right about this. Shit was so bad even my _Mom_ knew to get me the hell out of that church. I’ve been an atheist/Buddhist for twenty years now and I still worry about hell sometimes. I’m not particularly worried about demons, though. Just the idea of eternal damnation for something I have no control over. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/255 "2025-08-08T21:39:09Z")
Not so much “intriguing” as it was “crucial to my mental health.” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/256 "2025-08-09T18:06:58Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > I have see a few people say that seeing demons is a radical thing and no denominations experience that. What’s so radical about it when the bible Cleary says Jesus and his apostles regularly cast them out. One guy was running around naked in the dessert cutting himself. A child had a demon attempt to kill him many times according to the bible. > > The Catholic church still practices exorcism as well as The **Eastern Orthodox Church,** Lutheran Churches. > > What about the large multitude of people online who claim to have been under demonic influence and either went to a church for help or performed what is called a self exorcism? Uh, remember what I said about avoiding medical care? Demons are indeed afraid of Zoloft or music, do not ignore therapy, ignorance is harmful. > **['Spiritual abuse': Christian thinktank warns of sharp rise in UK exorcisms](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/05/christian-thinktank-warns-of-rise-in-exorcisms-mental-health)** > > Report by Theos warns that “astonishing” increase in exorcisms is doing harm to people with mental health problems > The Theos report – Christianity and mental health: theology, activities, potential (pdf) – does not reject the possibility of demonic possession. It says: “Certainly there is a biblical warrant for the dangers of demonic forces, and Jesus’ great commission to the disciples includes the explicit command to ‘cast out demons’. However, there is also need for serious caution.” > > One danger was “Christian over-spiritualising” – a “tendency to ascribe anything and everything to spiritual causes when other medical ones may exist”. Another was a possible overlap between “demonic possession” and mental health issues. > > One chaplain who described themselves as a “Bible-believing evangelical” told Ben Ryan, the report’s author, that “in all their experience with a mental health trust they had ‘never seen anything I would say that looked like demonic possession, but I’ve seen plenty of people who have been told that’s what they’re experiencing by other Christians’.” > > The report says: **“One of the frustrations of medical professionals with Christians comes from accounts and anecdotes of people with medical health issues going off their medication because they’ve been told that prayer is enough, and relapsing as a result”.** It is as if they willfully ignore that it is more likely that God gave us intelligence for a reason, and that gave us medicine to deal with old issues. It makes “demonic possession” to be a thing that can be resolved with modern treatments. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/257 "2025-08-09T18:17:26Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > It is as if they willfully ignore that it is more likely that God gave us intelligence for a reason, and that gave us medicine to deal with old issues. _Insert the “[Two Boats and a Helicopter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_drowning_man)” joke here._ ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/258 "2025-08-09T18:20:21Z")
🤫 Hush, that was going to be my next reply to him if he responded. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/259 "2025-08-09T18:48:23Z")
Or maybe, demons are real but have trouble bothering a healthy mind, and mental health treatments can reduce their ability to harm people. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/260 "2025-08-09T18:53:05Z")
Exactly like Body Thetans and E-meters! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/261 "2025-08-10T22:07:20Z")
My mother was mentally ill. Once my Aunt saw her in one of her, uh, states, and she said she immediately understood why people used to believe in demon possession. She was like another person. Tone of voice, facial expression, all of it radically changed, and this combined with her more violent demeanor could have probably freaked some people out in the days of the New Testament. Her brother, my uncle, was schizoaffective. I don’t remember him seeing demons, though. Just angels. Angels visited him a lot. (And aliens.) Though I will say when you look at culturally where mentally ill people have the best outcomes, it’s in cultures where the delusions and hallucinations merge well with those cultural beliefs. So in certain cultures schizophrenic people have special spiritual significance and are well taken care of by their communities. They are considered like prophets or soothsayers. The United States has one of the worst outcomes in the world for the seriously mentally ill because we detest anyone who can’t hold down a job. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/262 "2025-08-11T01:41:17Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > So in certain cultures schizophrenic people have special spiritual significance and are well taken care of by their communities. They are considered like prophets or soothsayers. Until they say the wrong sooth or do the wrong thing and get [themselves roasted](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc) or [send people to chase a comet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group)) or many other ways that probably schizophrenic influential people end. (Having some sort of mental illness probably accounts for the large majority of “prophets” that aren’t pretending for profit.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=14)