# 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:** 9
**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 28, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/163 "2025-07-28T15:04:22Z")
That sounds very specific for an hallucination doesn’t it though? If we are going that deep then how do I really knew I even made this thread and am replying to another human being. Maybe I am imagining that I am even replying to you right now and you don’t really exist. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/164 "2025-07-28T15:20:51Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > That sounds very specific for an hallucination doesn’t it though? Just a side note: my wife, while generally quite level-headed and down to earth, does occasionally seem to have a response to severe stress in the form of hallucinatory memories. Once or twice she has brought up events and encounters with people that I know for sure never happened. For example she will ‘remember’ being somewhere that I can document, from objective evidence, that we have never been. That’s more of a deja vu thing though, perhaps? ---
**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:** [July 28, 2025, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/165 "2025-07-28T16:33:29Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Maybe I am imagining that I am even replying to you right now and you don’t really exist. Maybe. But solipsism is a pointless dead end. ---
**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 28, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/166 "2025-07-28T16:44:14Z")
Not much any more. I started back reading the bible and praying, watching gospel films, listening to gospel music. Eventually Jesus Christ manifested to me. He told me to get on my knees and ask God for forgiveness. Jesus told me to not watch porn ever again or engage in masturbation. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/167 "2025-07-28T16:48:01Z")
But this goes beyond mere hallucination, where you imagine things that are feasibly possible to be real. ---
**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 28, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/168 "2025-07-28T16:56:21Z")
I believe abandonment is grounds for a divorce also. The Apostle Paul expands on Jesus’ teaching in [1 Corinthians 7:10-15](https://www.esv.org/verses/1%20Corinthians%207%3A10-15/). He emphasizes that marriage is a lifelong commitment and that divorce should not be pursued without serious consideration. However, Paul introduces another exception: abandonment by an unbelieving spouse. He states, “But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace” ([1 Corinthians 7:15](https://www.esv.org/verses/1%20Corinthians%207%3A15/)). ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/169 "2025-07-28T17:44:08Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > I believe abandonment is grounds for a divorce also. That biblically seems to be covered by what is sometimes called spiritual adultery (and thus is adultery), which is expressed in scriptures most clearly in Ezra chapter 10 where God commands a tribe if Israel to divorce their foreign (who worshipped other gods) wives and abandon their children. In the verses you cite, Paul is softening it with the command to stay married unless abandoned. But I would say if abandoned, it would be a form of spiritual adultery and yes that could be used to break such a spiritual contract. Though in the case of a demon, if the demon abandons you, it sort of solves the problem. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/170 "2025-07-28T17:56:59Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Eventually Jesus Christ manifested to me. We seem to be morphing into religion here. One might suggest that you have perhaps just exchanged one hallucination for another? But that would be unkind. And as a secular humanist and atheist with a scientific worldview, I don’t think I have any more to say. Except that if this is worrying you, it might help to consult a medical professional or a trusted religious advisor with a broad-minded view. I’m out of this thread now. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/171 "2025-07-28T18:05:09Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > He told me to get on my knees and ask God for forgiveness. Jesus told me to not watch porn ever again or engage in masturbation. OK, that does not seem like Jesus to me, but anyway… Did you get on you knees and ask God for forgiveness? If so, did Jesus actually empower you to accomplish that second part? If yes that’s Jesus, if no then I would question that, or you refused it could be either. ---
**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 28, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/172 "2025-07-28T18:33:23Z")
Were there any other symptoms or signs of these brain lesions? I feel fine, but it never hurts to get a check up. I have not been seeing these demonic beings as much. I did have a vision of Jesus Christ who manifested and told me to get on my knees and repent to God. Since then the dreams and open visions have drastically reduced. I do plan on going to see a doctor for check ups more often though. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/173 "2025-07-28T18:38:00Z")
Jesus told you not to masturbate, but didn’t mention anything about giving to the poor, helping your neighbor, or answering cruelty with kindness? Whoever that was, I don’t think it was Jesus you were talking to. Assuming supernatural entities, I think there’s some entity that’s extremely successful at imitating Jesus and subverting Christianity away from Jesus’s original message and toward being a sex cult, and has been doing so for centuries. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/174 "2025-07-29T01:44:08Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Not much any more. > [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > the dreams and open visions have drastically reduced. I do plan on going to see a doctor for check ups more often though. Both of these are good to hear. Do you plan on sharing your experienced demons with the provider? Would you be open to that doctor suggesting that a psychiatrist might help further reduce these experiences? ---
**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 29, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/175 "2025-07-29T14:33:14Z")
What makes you assume I don’t already do those things? I have been donating to different charities for years and giving to less fortunate people for years. In fact he did mention that one of the things he liked was that I try to help people when I can. I am not saying there is not room for improvement though. one of the things he did speak about was in fact responding to cruelty with kindness. I do struggle to not respond to aggressive people with aggressive behavior which is something I need to work on. I am not sure modern day Christianity could be defined as a sex cult honestly. Also the focus on sex is not something that just started recently. I know you want to just boil the bible or the belief down to only what Jesus taught, but that does not work Imo. Jesus often emphasized that he came to fulfill the Old Testament law and prophets, highlighting his role as the Messiah. Jesus quoted from the old testament many times. Jesus’s teachings are deeply rooted in the Old Testament, and he viewed it as an authoritative and foundational text for his own ministry and message. His disciples Peter, Paul and john also touched on themes of love, purity, and sexual conduct in their writings. If you say Christianity is a sex cult then it always was. You can not just limit the bible to Jesus only which makes zero sense as his ministry is founded upon what came before. ---
**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 29, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/176 "2025-07-29T14:41:23Z")
What would make it seem like Jesus to you? Yes I did. Yes he has been helping me. ---
**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 29, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/177 "2025-07-29T15:25:10Z")
Perhaps, but if I imagined that another worker came into the break room and briefly saw this demon disguised as an attractive buxom black woman while I was sleeping and that my manager later on asked me about having a woman in the break room with me while on lunch then any thing can be an hallucination. Come to think of it I have never seen you before offline. Maybe I have multiple personalities and am replying to myself without knowing 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:** [July 29, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/178 "2025-07-29T15:38:50Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > I’ve read about instrumental measurement of “arousal”, and what passes for arousal in women seems to me to miss what most of us consider the point of arousal. Indeed, it’s relatively common for this to happen to rape victims, and has been used as a justification for rape, because it’s a common misunderstanding (often proliferated in porn and erotica) that if a woman is “wet” she’s ready for/wants sex. > [@DSeid](#): > > Anyway. If schlock sells then schlock it shall be. But I doubt schlong will ever be the featured thing to call it! That’s fantastic. I love the Bad Sex in Fiction awards. I’m pretty good at writing it, and while I will write very explicit scenes, I will not describe a penis. It just kinda kills the vibe. Sorry, I respect them for what they can do, but they look kinda weird. I also tend to describe it based on how the POV character would, so lots of nasty slang from the more uncouth/sexually experienced, and relatively more demure description from someone who is more modest. Even though I write in third person. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/179 "2025-07-29T15:47:32Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Come to think of it I have never seen you before offline. Maybe I have multiple personalities and am replying to myself without knowing it. I’m sorry, but saying that because you believe that another poster exists that shows that your supposed demon exists only shows that you cannot differentiate between the extremely common and the extremely (to the point of there being no evidence to date) _un_common. ---
**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 29, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/180 "2025-07-29T15:57:30Z")
> [@a\_dudes\_thought\_s](#): > > Perhaps, but if I imagined that another worker came into the break room and briefly saw this demon disguised as an attractive buxom black woman while I was sleeping and that my manager later on asked me about having a woman in the break room with me while on lunch then any thing can be an hallucination. > > Come to think of it I have never seen you before offline. Maybe I have multiple personalities and am replying to myself without knowing it. Isn’t it possible that a black woman happened to be in the break room, and you mistook her for a demon? It’s not as if black women are rare and uncommon. ---
**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 29, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/181 "2025-07-29T16:24:35Z")
We had no black woman on staff on that shift, the other worker said he saw this woman for a few seconds. Once he looked away to get something out of his locker and looked back she had disappeared. Also he said she was not some one he ever say before. She was not on camera entering or exiting the building. ---
**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 29, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/182 "2025-07-29T16:25:32Z")
If you can hallucinate a person, you can hallucinate a conversation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=10)