Our hearts, pornography, and a love story

"Nothing is stronger than the will of the human heart"... Words famously spoken by Indian novelist Nalini Singh.

It might not surprise you to learn that Singh is a romance writer and a "paranormal" one at that. Cue the gags about "Men being from Mars and Women from Venus". (Sometimes these jokes just write themselves.)

Let me tell you, however, why I think she speaks more truth than she realises.

The heart of the problem... is the problem of the heart

One of the reasons I was drawn to Jesus when I first started reading the gospels was that no other voice in my world talked like He did. The world He described was the one I looked out and saw. The heart that He diagnosed for me was the one that I looked in and knew.

According to Jesus the heart is a poor compass by which to chart the course of your life. Deep down the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

One recent news story in particular has reminded me of just that.

As of 25 July, the some 6,000 sites allowing porn in the UK are required to check if their users are over 18.

The Technology Secretary Peter Kyle is quoted as saying that the UK's new rules apply "common sense" to regulating the internet. After all, you wouldn’t think twice about asking for ID from someone looking to purchase cigarettes and alcohol, so why not extend the same checks to the accessing of pornographic material? It makes sense.

However, within days of the law being brought into force, reports surfaced of the rise in downloads of Virtual Private Network (VPNs) apps on Apple's UK App Store. ^[1]

For those not technologically savvy (like myself) that means people are finding creative ways to bypass the requirements of the Online Safety Act.

I found myself pondering how I should be responding to all of this as a disciple of Jesus.

1. Firstly, let's celebrate the little wins for the Kingdom of light
   
   Praise God for His common grace. The fact that enough minds in the political top brass could see the holistic harm that unrestricted access to porn is doing to the minds of our young people, not to mention the way it continues to exploit societies most vulnerable, is a good thing.
   
   The figures that indicate that the number of people in the UK visiting the most popular pornography sites has decreased is a good thing. [2]
   
   I am so grateful to Christian organisations who I know have campaigned tirelessly for such a change.
   
   Let’s be thankful for measures that mitigate sin in our society and continue to abhor evil and cling to what is good (Romans 12v9) as a community conspicuous for Christ.
   
   
2. Secondly, let’s remember the deeper darkness of the human heart
   
   At the end of the day the human heart, by hook or by crook, will find a way to get what it wants - in a way that shouldn’t surprise us; we are created as creatures of desire after all.
   
   However, our deepest issue as human beings, as Luther famously put it, is that sin has caused us to turn in on ourselves. We worship ourselves and created things rather than the Creator. That is humanity's fundamental problem according to Jesus.
   
   That means that, as good as this law might be, at the end of the day, it is powerless to change the deepest desires of the human heart. Humanity has always specialised in inventing new ways of doing evil (Romans 1v30). Many of the doors off of the corridor of human history are testament to that.
   
   In the words of Paul to the Colossians, who themselves were tempted to move on from Christ and embrace new forms of spiritual experience as a means of growth, a purely external change lacks any value in restraining sensual indulgence (Colossians 3v23).
   
   In other words, the law might be able to bring direction to the heart but it isn’t able to bring a transformation of the heart.
   
   Change the heart from the outside in? May as well ask an apple tree to produce oranges.
   
   
3. Thirdly, embrace the expulsive power of a new affection
   
   The promise blessing of the New Covenant, ushered in by Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, is wonderfully inward: out comes the heart of stone and in comes the heart of flesh.
   
   A transformed heart, an intimate relationship with God, and complete forgiveness of sins are all ours through union with Christ. That is what Christ in us the hope of glory (Colossians 1v27) looks like.
   
   By grace and through the power of the indwelling Spirit, the sin that once looked and tasted delicious to us now smells odious. Conversely, the God who we once found repressive we now find entrancing.
   
   As William Cowper once observed, the obedience that once seemed a duty to us now becomes a joyful choice. [3]

Nothing is stronger than the will of the human heart. However, praise God that His grace is stronger still. The Father has rescued us out of the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of the Son He loves (Colossians 1v13).

It is only because of the Father who sent His Son, Who willingly came to pursue and die for His bride, that we see the darkness for what it is. Now that’s a love story.

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn72ydj70g5o
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c17n9k54qz2o
3. Love Constraining to Obedience, Williams Cowper