# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/83 "2025-07-23T19:08:04Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Thank you, I didn’t intend to change the emphasis of your post by selectively quoting. I am a person of my time, and I think that current levels of exposure to sexual content extend from freeing to appalling. I didn’t think you had, I was just continuing the conversation. I confess, I hadn’t read the OP beyond a glance and I see it’s a little more esoteric than I had realized. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/84 "2025-07-23T19:14:01Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I confess, I hadn’t read the OP beyond a glance and I see it’s a little more esoteric than I had realized. Some walls of text are more … pertinent than others. 🙂 ---
**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:** [July 23, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/85 "2025-07-23T19:20:13Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > You are right that some homosexuality doesn’t prevent married couples from making babies. That’s why i also said: > > I agree that the aversion could have been the reason for the rule, but why the aversion? I think that in general, people find any sexual practice that doesn’t appeal to them to be icky. Just ask a six year old. On a fundamental level, sex (and eating) violate the boundaries between self and other, and so are prone to “ickiness”. Honestly, I think that if a particularly influencial leader set rules about “what’s taboo in sexual practices” it’s not that hard for those rules to be promulgated over time. 🤷 ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/86 "2025-07-23T19:20:45Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > One of the demonic beings even said they were not going any where as they had legal rights Ah yes, _lex succubi_. I believe it came up in one of Daniel Webster’s lesser known cases. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2025, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/87 "2025-07-23T19:28:27Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I am at a loss to identify a meaningful difference between this scenario and the possibility that (for example) watching celebrity chef shows will make one’s actual diet less satisfactory. Imagine you have a hat. You think it is a perfectly cromulent hat. You’ve never been bothered while wearing your hat. Then you start noticing that all of those celebrity chefs are wearing really big hats. Much bigger than your hat. You begin to wonder if there is something wrong with your hat. You become self-conscious about wearing your hat… ---
**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:** [July 23, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/88 "2025-07-23T19:32:08Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > Isn’t the same true about watching anything on TV or movies? > > No. Not remotely. But, as above, this probably isn’t the best place to discuss the differences. I feel that if a person starts losing the distinction between real life and the events they see in TV or movies, they have a problem. But I feel the problem originates inside their mind. It’s not something the TV or the movies are causing. More specifically, it’s not something that a particular genre is causing. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2025, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/89 "2025-07-23T19:34:22Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Do you believe in demons? Also have you had any similar issues from consuming pornography or engaging in any act that would be considered sinful or immoral? No. I’m not ashamed of my sexuality even if it’s a little off the beaten path, I don’t believe sin is a real thing, and I’ve never had problems with seeing demons. I’ll go to bat for anyone’s right to enjoy themselves however they happen to prefer - assuming all parties are consenting. But I’ve lived long enough to know some people heartily consent to things that are self-destructive and bad for them, and that’s always shadowing my thoughts when I think about this issue. That isn’t “sin.” It’s moral complexity. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/90 "2025-07-23T19:37:40Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Imagine you have a hat. You think it is a perfectly cromulent hat. You’ve never been bothered while wearing your hat. Then you start noticing that all of those celebrity chefs are wearing really big hats. Much bigger than your hat. You begin to wonder if there is something wrong with your hat. You become self-conscious about wearing your hat… Quite right. But of course the same thing applies to how much prettier the men and women on conventional TV are than the folks you see in your local walmart. And better dressed. And have more exciting lives with lots less work and lots more money. They certainly are better on all those dimensions than you are. etc etc etc. Yes, sexuality is very close the core of who we are as animals. It does occupy a privileged position in all this. But I’ll agree w @Little_Nemo 2 posts up. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/91 "2025-07-23T20:42:54Z")
Several food companies have informed me that various chocolate desserts are “sinful.” So it means something really good, right? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/92 "2025-07-23T21:00:39Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > What are people doing while watching cooking shows opposed to pornography? None of Yer Damn Business! Now, hand me that Spatula, Quick! ---
**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:** [July 23, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/93 "2025-07-23T21:28:03Z")
Wow, That’s some _hot_ utensils you have there? Ooh la la. Are they coated, perhaps? Easy to clean? Won’t melt in the oven? ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/94 "2025-07-23T22:02:13Z")
I don’t believe in demons, although I do believe in the demonic. It’s the potential we all have to cause harm to our fellow beings. I don’t see sin as specific acts, but anything that gets in the way of being our best selves. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/95 "2025-07-23T22:21:40Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’m not sure I agree with your premise there, Lou. > > We live in a golden age of porn. Any thing you want, any kink you have, anything you can imagine, there’s easily available porn. heck the internet is 95% porn, 2% cat memes, and 3% everything else. > > And yet, people hate each other with a fervor rarely seen. And it’s _still_ not as crazy as it was in the past. MAGA would not have stood out much historically; they are minority, not the norm. We don’t have wars anymore that are essentially just excuses for mass rape by men with no other sexual outlet, and who have been taught to look at women as demonic. We don’t have men getting their penises wrapped in wire to keep them from masturbating. Plus, I never said that denial of sexuality was the _only_ source of hate, and we have an entire media system and political subculture devoted to whipping hate up. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/96 "2025-07-23T22:45:22Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Where did you solicit help that _this_ was the “help” they gave you?? While I appreciate your zeal in decoding the human mind, my reply to the OP was an attempt to be helpful to them, to at least let them know that they are not alone in such experiences. This thread is about their experience with a demonic succubus, and not mine. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/97 "2025-07-24T00:07:01Z")
I was concerned for a while that I may be suffering from mental illness honestly. The being I was talking to seemed to have its own personality very different than mine. I am not an expert on mental illness, so I thought hey maybe people suffering from mental illness can have very intricate deep conversations with people who don’t really exist. I kept these experiences to myself out of fear that I could be cuckoo for coco puffs. I was glad I did not mention this to any one at that point. Two other people who I never mentioned this situation to actually saw this being. I had a guy at work and my manager ask me who the black woman in the break room was. My co-worker actually came in and said he saw a black woman sitting next to me when he was going into his locker. He turned back around and did not see her again. Later our manager asked me did I have a woman sitting next to me in the break room and where did she go? Another person briefly saw this woman for a short period of time before she vanished. I did not tell either person about this being. So, if it was just mental illness on my part, I fail to see how other people were able to see this demon pretending to be a woman. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/98 "2025-07-24T00:08:56Z")
Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/99 "2025-07-24T00:55:51Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > So, if it was just mental illness on my part, I fail to see how other people were able to see this demon pretending to be a woman. Unless of course you also imagined the interactions w your undeniably real coworkers. You definitely sound as if you could benefit from help if your ready to confront these experiences head-on. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/100 "2025-07-24T01:23:08Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I think that in general, people find any sexual practice that doesn’t appeal to them to be icky. Just ask a six year old. On a fundamental level, sex (and eating) violate the boundaries between self and other, and so are prone to “ickiness”. Honestly, I think that if a particularly influencial leader set rules about “what’s taboo in sexual practices” it’s not that hard for those rules to be promulgated over time. Well, all sex is icky if it is done right. However, if you read the less popular books of the Tanakh you’ll see strict rules for everything, very limiting, so strict rules for sex is right in keeping. However today you don’t see fundamentalists get their panties in a knot about ritual bathing. I think Paul chose only the sex part of the Bible to get upset about. We’re much freer than we were 55 years ago, and I don’t see a lot of attempts to restore parietals in secular colleges. Yet. In 50 years I think all this will seem as silly as a glimpse of stocking considered as something shocking. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/101 "2025-07-24T01:30:58Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > We live in a golden age of porn. Any thing you want, any kink you have, anything you can imagine, there’s easily available porn. heck the internet is 95% porn, 2% cat memes, and 3% everything else. Oh yeah, I wanted to mention we have not yet reached true porn equality. It’s a lot harder for women to find stuff. There are a few sites that cater to women but they aren’t very diverse in their interests and it’s still generally a boy’s club. Plus we have to _pay_ for it. Sometimes I wonder if the massive rise of erotica and fanfiction is written primarily by sexually liberated women who can’t find porn they like. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2025, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/102 "2025-07-24T01:36:55Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Another person briefly saw this woman for a short period of time before she vanished. I did not tell either person about this being. So, if it was just mental illness on my part, I fail to see how other people were able to see this demon pretending to be a woman. I have to agree with @LSLGuy, but with one change, it might be that just like my eye floaters, there was a black woman, but unrelated and the “vanishings” explained to distractions that took place at work and other places. Your brain is just taking one or more women as if it was a demon. As this religious minister points out, and my experience showed, it is not only medicine that has “demons” beaten, but things like common sense, music, or other things, items that show that in reality there is little to fear from demons even **if** they are a thing. > **[Are Demons Afraid of Zoloft? Toward and Evangelical Demonology - Credo House...](https://credohouse.org/blog/are-demons-scared-of-zoloft-toward-and-evangelical-demonology)** > > I remember in seminary Dr. Frank Minirth covering my class on pastoral counseling. He was an internationally know Christian psychiatrist who had a successful ministry in healthcare and had published dozens of books including Happiness is a Choice. I... > this was Dr. Frank Minirth, the psychiatrist who is renowned and respected around the world, by believers and unbelievers alike. What did he have to say about demonic possession? Well, the subject came up and here is how it went down: > > (Dr. Minirth placing a CAT scan of a patient on the overhead, showing the parts of the brain that change when he was depressed) > > Dr. Minirth: “The very chemistry of our brain changes when we experience depression.” > > Student: “Dr. Minirth, do you think we could attribute any of this to demonic influence?” > > Dr. Minirth: “Only if we grant that demons are scared of Zoloft!” > The entire class broke out in laughter, including me. Why? Well . . . because it was funny. With this laughter we demonstrated both relief (that we did not have to consider demonology when exploring mental illness) and our ability to advance with science. > But we get a view of the situation that speaks directly to our current issue. We see that it was an evil spirit. We see that David came and played music. And we see that it was the music that drove the demon away! > > Think about the implication and the principle that we can draw from this. Demons are affected by natural remedies. Was it that the demon hated the music? Was it that the evil spirit hated David, a man of God, playing the music? Or was it Christian music that David played (let’s hope it wasn’t!). I don’t think any of these are true. I believe it was how the music positively affected Saul that drove the demon away. > > If this is right (and I have no reason to think it is not), then this opens the door for all manner of natural means affecting the presence, possession, or influence of a demon. Think of how many things fit this category: > > ``` > Laughter > Beauty > Exercise > Medication > Surgery > Healthy foods > Vacations > Antibiotics > Reading a good novel > Sleep > Getting out of the house > Going for a drive with the top down (my favorite way to drive demons away!) > Zoloft > > ``` > > Are there times when a different type of spiritual intervention may be necessary? Maybe so. I just don’t know what that looks like right now. However, again, I don’t think we can or should separate the two so sharply. I know our battle is not against flesh and blood. But that simply means our enemy is a spiritual enemy. It does not say we cannot fight spiritual battles—particularly of demonic origin—with music or other natural means. Of course, I don’t think literal devils exist, but it does not mean that what you experience is just your imagination, real issues can make one see bad things. Hence the point to get some help as even real chemical or physical problems can misled one into “remedies” that can cause more harm than good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=6)