# 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:** 15
**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 14, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/283 "2025-08-14T17:14:57Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > About the Social angle, I do think that Jesus was crucified because he had figured out a way to do “disinvestment” against the taxes going to Rome. The Romans did not like it when “their” money and tax collectors were being compromised. I think another factor was that Jewish people at that time were awaiting a Messiah who would strengthen Israel and take over and be a really powerful king and leader. They saw the Messiah as someone who would depose existing leadership. In my opinion, Jesus was trying to reform Judaism. He had no interest in deposing leadership. But the growing crowd of followers expected him to be that guy. They started calling him “Son of God" and “Son of Man" which were names attributed to Caesar. This undoubtedly pissed off the leadership. Who does this guy think he is, going around calling himself Caesar? His growing popularity felt like a direct threat to power. Reading between the lines, I don’t think Jesus expected to get crucified. He was pretty upset when he realized the government was gonna come for him, but appeared to believe up until his death that he would be spared that fate by God. Jesus did not believe he was going to die, he believed he was going to be magically vacuumed into heaven before he died. Which completely explains why some of his last words were, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I don’t think his ministry went according to plan. ---
**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 14, 2025, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/284 "2025-08-14T17:41:03Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > In my opinion, Jesus was trying to reform Judaism. He had no interest in deposing leadership. But the growing crowd of followers expected him to be that guy. They started calling him “Son of God" and “Son of Man" which were names attributed to Caesar. This undoubtedly pissed off the leadership. Who does this guy think he is, going around calling himself Caesar? His growing popularity felt like a direct threat to powe I’m curious–I really don’t know–how seriously did the Romans take him? Like, for Christians, it was the pivotal moment in their religion, but for the Romans, it was Friday. Didn’t they crucify a _lot_ of troublemakers? Even on that Friday, in that town, they were busy crucifying a couple other dudes. ---
**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 14, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/285 "2025-08-14T17:46:43Z")
Yeah, I don’t think it was so unusual. I don’t know for sure, though. I would imagine that “this guy’s acting like he’s in charge, when he’s not" would be good enough reason that day, especially if Jesus was drawing a following. Squash the little resistance movement before it becomes a real problem. ---
**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 14, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/286 "2025-08-14T18:00:07Z")
A bit of poking around leads me to this site: > **[Messiahs in the Time of Jesus](https://jamestabor.com/messiahs-in-the-time-of-jesus/)** > > Josephus mentions a dozen or more “messiah” figures beginning with Hezekiah/Ezekias c. 45 BCE whom the young Herod defeated whom he variously labels as “brigands” (ληστής) or “imposters” (γόης)—tho… where he lists several other self-proclaimed messiahs in that time period. ---
**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 14, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/287 "2025-08-14T18:49:28Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > My not so learned impression is that there is not a very consistent message as to what “social justice” _means_, even with the more limited “New Testament” corpus. I mean, biblical social justice is that if your kid is too disobedient you have the tribe beat him to death with rocks. ---
**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 14, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/288 "2025-08-14T18:56:45Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’m curious–I really don’t know–how seriously did the Romans take him? Like, for Christians, it was the pivotal moment in their religion, but for the Romans, it was Friday. Didn’t they crucify a _lot_ of troublemakers? Even on that Friday, in that town, they were busy crucifying a couple other dudes. First, I’m not confident that there was a historical Jesus at all, so I’m not confident any of the reactions actually happened. But the Romans were serious about stopping r ebel movements. Remember, there was a real Jewish revolt around 30-40 years after the setting of the Jesus story. It did not end well for the Jews. So squashing potential revolutionaries is beneficial to both sides. ---
**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 18, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/289 "2025-08-18T16:49:29Z")
I think I already answered this, but here is my reply to this question again. Do you believe that Jesus is God? That would mean that Jesus in fact dictated all those laws in the old testament to Moses and all the other prophets. It would mean they were acting as his agents. Every time a prophet king or judge in the bible talked to God or got a message from God that would mean he was talking to Jesus or getting a message from him It would also mean that every thing that took place before, during and after his ministry was directly dictated by him. Jesus did not have to specifically talk about every subject because his agents covered all the stuff he did not directly talk about. ---
**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 18, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/290 "2025-08-18T17:03:11Z")
But that phrase may mean something different to someone else. ---
**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 18, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/291 "2025-08-18T17:05:28Z")
It would also mean that God waited thousands of years before He sent Jesus to redeem humanity from sin. ---
**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 18, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/292 "2025-08-18T17:07:24Z")
While and at the same time undergoing a severe personality change. ---
**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 18, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/293 "2025-08-18T17:10:59Z")
I blame Yahweh’s meat based diet and the constipation it surely caused. Why a god needs ~~a starship~~ tons of barbeque is a quandary. ---
**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 18, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/294 "2025-08-18T18:25:52Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Jesus did not have to specifically talk about every subject because his agents covered all the stuff he did not directly talk about. Of course. So why did he keep talking about protecting the poor and helpless? Do you think this never showed up in the Old Testament? He, like everyone, shows what he cared about by what he focused on. Acting like he was obsessed with sexuality because of a technicality is fundamentally missing the point. ---
**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 18, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/295 "2025-08-18T19:23:33Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Do you believe that Jesus is God? That would mean that Jesus in fact dictated all those laws in the old testament to Moses and all the other prophets. Again, no, but getting a bit biblical: I do think we are all part of God. And before Jesus was changed to something else to thanks to people like Paul of Tarsus, Jesus was not so in favor of that view that he was God. > John 20-21: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” We do realize nowadays that demons and sin are not what it was assumed before, so changes like that has taken place already. Denying those changes would then lead one to realize how inadequate a particular God is when in reality it was Prometheus who did save humanity hundreds of thousands of years (if not millions of years) before the Hebrew God decided to join the party. > **[Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of...](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3356665/)** > > The ability to control fire was a crucial turning point in human evolution, but the question when hominins first developed this ability still remains. Here we show that micromorphological and Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (mFTIR) ... ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/296 "2025-08-18T22:37:43Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Some expressions of sexuality have to be suppressed imo. Rape, sex with minors, polygamy, sex with animals, spousal rape. Have you read your Bible? Polygamy was just fine with god - all the patriarchs did it. Well, not Abraham, but he did impregnate Sarah’s servant. And of course the kings had harems. Sure, God changed his mind about this. He does that a lot. As for drunkeness, remember Jesus supplied the wine to a wedding. You sure no one got drunk? I’ll never understand why many of the most fervent believers in the Bible seem never to have read it. Well, maybe that’s why they are still fervent believers. ---
**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 18, 2025, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/297 "2025-08-18T22:49:21Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Have you read your Bible? Polygamy was just fine with god - all the patriarchs did it. Rape, too. Lot offered his virgin daughters to be raped, which was fine with God. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/298 "2025-08-18T22:53:39Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Rape, too. > > Lot offered his virgin daughters to be raped, which was fine with God. A woman in my critique group, a fundamentalist Christian, held up Lot as an example of morality in her book. I meant to say that spousal rape was a concept that would be totally alien to those ruled by the Bible. ---
**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 18, 2025, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/299 "2025-08-18T22:58:50Z")
It was alien to most people in the US until 1994. I think common sense demands that we stop looking to ancient books for modern morality but instead consider the experiences of people around us right now. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/300 "2025-08-18T23:01:00Z")
I believe that a lot of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is commentary on life during those times. Do I believe in demons? Yes, although AFAIK I’ve never seen or experienced one, although there have been a few situations that were awfully close. Is pornography sinful? It definitely is if there’s any non-consensual or illegal activity going on. ---
**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 18, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/301 "2025-08-18T23:06:01Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’ll never understand why many of the most fervent believers in the Bible seem never to have read it. If you are a fervent believer then avoiding reading your holy book means you can make up whatever dogma you want without having to deal with the cognitive dissonance of contradicting it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/302 "2025-08-19T01:16:42Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > It was alien to most people in the US until 1994. I think it is alien to some people now. Such a Bible following land we are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=16)