# 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:** 17
**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 19, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/323 "2025-08-19T19:13:21Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Lets not forget what the bible mentions of his teachings is not an exhaustive record of every thing he taught. The Bible acknowledges that Jesus said and did many things that were not recorded. Absolutely, which is why no Christian should drink blue raspberry Slurpies. Sure, Jesus didn’t talk about them, but who knows what he was preaching about when the stenographers were taking a break? C’mon. That’s absurd, and can rationalize any obsession. > [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Its a good thing I never made the argument that he was obsessed with sexuality then. Of course. Nobody is. The argument is that too many of his modern followers are obsessed with sexuality in a way that crowds out concern about the things he’s _recorded_ to have talked about extensively. > [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > However to say that he was not concerned with sexuality is a bad argument. _There is no textual evidence of his concern with sexuality_. The best you can do is his, “Oh yeah, I’m not disagreeing with all that unspecified stuff” proclamations. That’s hardly something you say about something you care deeply about. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/324 "2025-08-19T19:14:22Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come So the standard interpretation scanning a google search is respectfully telling mom that this is not the time for him to show his powers, which she is pushing him to do. But then why does he then do it any way? ---
**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 19, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/325 "2025-08-19T19:14:58Z")
That is not something I have ever heard. It seems to me that it is used pretty much the same way “servant” or “slave” is used- someone not worth mentioning by name because they are not really pertinent to the story. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/326 "2025-08-19T19:25:06Z")
Not something I have a direct cite for but AI google seems to support this, though also mentions that it does distance Jesus from Mary by not saying mother. I’ve heard Catholics claim that His use of woman was casting Mary as the new Eve. From AI: - **Cultural Context:** In the ancient Middle East, addressing a female as “woman” was a standard, respectful way to address someone, even one’s mother. It was polite, though formal, and did not carry the same negative connotations as it might today. - **No disrespect:** Mary’s reaction suggests she did not perceive the address as dismissive or rude. She instructed the servants to do whatever Jesus said. - **Theological significance:** Some scholars suggest the use of “woman” has deeper meaning, possibly referring to Mary as the “Woman” in Genesis 3:15, who would give birth to the Savior. **However** - **Distancing and Independence:** Addressing Mary as “woman” instead of “mother” might also indicate a shift in their relationship. Jesus was acknowledging his divine mission and independence from his family’s wishes, **[according to Christianity Stack Exchange](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/101879/was-it-rude-for-jesus-to-call-his-own-mother-woman)**. ---
**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 20, 2025, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/327 "2025-08-20T01:24:56Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > I will have to go back and check the reply I made, but I think I was specifically talking about modern day America rather than ancient Israel if that was not specifically indicated. Doesn’t matter. Why does a perfect god change his mind? Why is something sinful now but cool for people who talked to god directly? As for wine, one of the few blessings I remember in Hebrew is the one for wine, no doubt because you say it a lot during a Seder. Drinking wine is not only not a sin, but is required. Note there is no blessing I know of for eating bacon. That is a sin. Oh, it isn’t, because Paul wanted to recruit a Roman who liked his prawns. ---
**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 20, 2025, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/328 "2025-08-20T01:28:09Z")
Does a god ever change the rules _counter_ to governmental/societal pressure? ---
**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 20, 2025, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/329 "2025-08-20T01:32:23Z")
Not those reasons. I think it was more after a sales meeting where they found some of the stuff was keeping people out of the seats. Pork? Just fine. Circumcision? Right out. Keeping the Sabbath holy? Well, kinda. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/330 "2025-08-20T02:15:01Z")
“Why does God need a Starship?” _James T. Kirk_ ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/331 "2025-08-20T10:21:02Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > But look no more than King David, getting drunk, dancing with all his might in public, half naked - ‘onto the Lord’, and all the Lord had against him in the end was he murdered the man who’s wife he slept with and impregnated, but generally say he did Good and was a man after God’s heart. David was a man after God’s heart as a faithful poet conqueror who unified Israel, waged extensive wars, defeated their enemies, and captured Jerusalem all for the glory and purpose of God. Partying and so on seems orthogonal to his main thing, though it does bring to mind Samuel’s warning that if the Israelis wanted a king, they would get what they asked for. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/332 "2025-08-20T10:41:25Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Why does a perfect god change his mind? Obviously, She can’t. An Omniscient God already knows everything which will happen until the end of time, including all Her own thoughts about everything which well ever happen. She also knows which of us are sinners and which are saints, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Ever. Hopefully, if God exists, She isn’t perfectly omniscient, or it’s goodbye to free will., for us and for Her. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/333 "2025-08-20T10:45:14Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > So the standard interpretation scanning a google search is respectfully telling mom that this is not the time for him to show his powers, which she is pushing him to do. But then why does he then do it any way? The way I have heard it preached, Jesus tells his mom that it’s not yet his time. Rather than argue with him, Mary then just tells the servants to do whatever Jesus ask, which kinda puts him in a bind to have to do something. It’s often pitched as some sort of faith: Mary just acts like Jesus is going to do what she told him. I’ve also seen it pitched as him having to obey his mom, and that the previous lines were him trying get out of it. But Mary having faith and knowing her kid would do what she asked is the more common one I heard growing up. I had forgotten about this, and will look up other interpretations though. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/334 "2025-08-20T10:48:57Z")
I did find one interpretation: that “my hour has not yet come” refers to him not wanting to publicly perform a miracle, and that Jesus got around this by doing it in secret. The story does end with no one seeming to know where the wine came from, rather than Jesus using it as a way to start his ministry. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/335 "2025-08-23T16:38:01Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > > [@Voyager](#): > > > > Why does a perfect god change his mind? > > Obviously, She can’t. An Omniscient God already knows everything which will happen until the end of time, including all Her own thoughts about everything which well ever happen. She also knows which of us are sinners and which are saints, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Ever. > > Hopefully, if God exists, She isn’t perfectly omniscient, or it’s goodbye to free will., for us and for Her. I feel people are wrong on the free will issue. God knowing what decisions people are going to make doesn’t mean people aren’t able to freely make those decisions. I feel the same is true about predestination. People say that nothing a human can do can compel God to do something. That may be true. But God can set up a pathway and tell people “Those of you who follow this path will end up at this destination” and people can then choose whether or not they follow the path. This means humans are making choices but they’re not compelling God. What I feel is a genuine issue is the discrepancy between God’s actions in Genesis and the New Testament. The narrative, from a human perspective, is that God was angry when Adam and Eve defied him so he created eternal damnation. According to some fundamentalists this happened sometime around 4000 BC. Then a few thousand years later, God felt bad about this decision so he sent/manifested as Jesus in order to give people an opportunity to avoid eternal damnation. But God is omniscient. So wouldn’t he have already known in 4000 BC that he was going to regret the decision he was making and change things in four thousand years? And if so, why did he go ahead with the decision? Why didn’t he just immediately adopt the policy he knew he was going to eventually adopt? ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/336 "2025-08-23T18:59:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But God is omniscient. So wouldn’t he have already known in 4000 BC that he was going to regret the decision he was making and change things in four thousand years? And if so, why did he go ahead with the decision? Why didn’t he just immediately adopt the policy he knew he was going to eventually adopt? My point exactly. An omniscient god already knows everything She will ever do, and everything She will ever think; so She can’t change her mind about anything. I like to think that there are multiple possible worlds, and that _we_ can choose between them by exerting our free will; _we_ have infinite freedom of action, and can behave in any way we want, and every choice we make creates a new timeline. But this doesn’t give God freedom of choice; She will know everything that can ever possibly happen in every timeline; so She knows for sure that She can never change anything in any of those timelines, or Her omniscience would be faulty. ---
**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 23, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/337 "2025-08-23T19:13:23Z")
How much free will does Tom Sawyer have if you have already read the book? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2025, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/338 "2025-08-23T19:49:55Z")
I’m not sure “choose your own adventure” religion will sell real well, being churches place loads of rules, creeds, and out and out frivolous demands on their followers. You can’t really “choose” if rules block your way. Then we come to babies being born with devasting handicaps or disability. They didn’t get to choose anything. Seems a bit unfair and maybe evil. Yeah, “_She”_ ain’t helping me and my life At. All. ---
**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 23, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/339 "2025-08-23T20:03:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The narrative, from a human perspective, is that God was angry when Adam and Eve defied him so he created eternal damnation. Hell, as Christians and more to it’s origins Dante, describe it appears no where in Genesis. Cribbing from Google’s AI (which I am loath to do) this is Adam and Eve’s punishment for doing something they had absolutely no way to understand was wrong, **Expulsion from Eden** : God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life and living forever in their sinful state. {_Which contradicts the claim the ‘death’ entered Eden when A&E ‘’‘sinned’‘’._} **Mortality** : While they did not die instantly, they became mortal and were sentenced to “return to the ground” from which they were made. **Hardship** : God cursed the ground, requiring Adam to toil for food. He also increased the pain Eve would experience in childbirth. **Separation from God** : The act of disobedience caused a spiritual separation between humanity and God, which is a key concept in Christian theology. ---
**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 23, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/340 "2025-08-23T20:12:13Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I feel people are wrong on the free will issue. God knowing what decisions people are going to make doesn’t mean people aren’t able to freely make those decisions. But when do they make these decisions? God know their decisions from an infinitely long time ago. The test of a free choice in decision making is whether the person can make a different one. They could if they made their decision before God learns of it, but not after God knows it. God faces the same problem, actually. The point made about book characters is a good one. If they could think, they would think they are making decisions, but they aren’t, being controlled by the author. It astonishes me that theists list free will as an advantage of their position. ---
**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 23, 2025, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/341 "2025-08-23T20:14:43Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Hell, as Christians and more to it’s origins Dante, describe it appears no where in Genesis. Or in the entire “OT” (real Bible to me.) I went through years of Hebrew School and lots of sermons in shul without ever being threatened by hell once. It made my deconversion much easier than it seems to be for Christians. No Spooky Mormon Hell Dreams for me. ---
**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 23, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/342 "2025-08-23T23:12:42Z")
Yeah, same. There is no concept of hell in Judaism. And not much of heaven, either. We mostly focus on this life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=18)