Has porn increased the prevalence of homosexuality?

Now I know how my teachers feel when I site Wikipedia for school papers. XD

 

Well, thank goodness this isn't an in-depth faith argument. Those are so exhausting.

After all,
"Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out." Proverbs 17:14
And my favorite verse of all time:
"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you. Live at peace with everyone." Romans 12:18

May you have many happy, PMO free days too! @Cleaning Colin

 

Haven't read the posts here, but wanted to respond to the heading.

Since being here, I've noticed a lot of straight guys mentioning that they found themselves viewing gay pornography. This led them naturally to question their sexuality. One possible explanation for this behaviour is that we have become androgenous today in our public life, we have all been reduced to economic individuals playing on a level socio-economic field. Our masculine instincts are stunted, finding no avenue for growth, and are distorted when they are thrown back into a private perversion [Latin... turn inward]... the viewing of pornography. Because our sexual instincts are confused, and the world is largely androgenous, it is little wonder that people start viewing all kinds of questionable matter.

 

Out of interest was this guy below born straight, turned to homosexuality, was exposed to too much porn or what according to Christianity.

 

The problem with this physicalist approach, which is no doubt the orthodoxy here, is that it may never really get to the root cause of the addiction. Brains have chemicals flying through them, but only minds feel emotions. You can look at the brain as a physical system, and then plan your strategy by that, or you could look at the mind as a real psycho-somatic substance, and plan your strategy on that. I think the second option is best because you are now dealing with intelligence, freedom, rational and irrational desire, incontinence etc... and it is this psychological phenomena that both drives you to overcome your addiction, and fuels your addiction.... it is not your brain. Where do we locate 'addiction' itself? The craving in the brain is only one side of it, where some behaviour becomes addictive, and we become addicts. We need to take our analogies from biology not physics here; an addiction is like a plant, it is rooted and grounded in the mind, and reveals itself, 'above ground' in the visible material world of the brain. Or architecture; the brain/material element of the addiction is like the super-structure, which rises from the immaterial mental base.

There is a strange dichotomy here... almost schizoid. On the one hand, we are all very lucid in analysing the objective working of our brains, thinking the brain central. We see the problem as outside and over there in the brain from our first person perspective [God's eye view/ rationalism]. Yet, if we really want to get to the cause of the addiction, the root, then the first person perspective needs to be turned onto itself. Here we are looking at our very psyche made up of the ego, passions, and influenced by various histories and discourses... now we are taking a more subjective as opposed to an objective approach. This kind of thinking, which is like a self-diagnosis, is I believe central to any authentic recovery worthy of the word. Because we are learning to take back rational control of our passions.

Isolating the brain from the mind, as some self-contained system, leads to a dichotomy. This dichotomy in thought can just further reinforce the notion of a divided self, where the rational self will bemoan the fate of an irrational self [brain, and its determined processes] situated on the other side of an inseparable gulf. A mind/ body dualism. Yet, that gulf is only in the mind. As we think, so we are.

 

Perhaps it could have made a person interested, but we should be carefull with what we watch and think.

 

Of course, there are many different environments that can influence people's sexuality, at many different ages. Not being a psychologist and so not knowing much about the details of the topic, my views are mostly based on scripture.

 

I haven't read the whole thread, and maybe I already mentioned it, not sure if I've posted in this thread as it's pretty old?

However, I will mention. Single mothers. I've in my own experience noticed that the vast majority of gay guys were from single mother homes. I believe that there are statistics that show this as well that the majority of people who identify as gay were raised by a single mother.

P.S.. Not trying to hate on single moms. You got a super tough job, just trying to add objective information to the discussion.

 

To me... it is clear where your curiosity comes from...

You have stated that as a christian you are called to love everybody with no agenda. Do you love yourself?

In zen one of my favourite koans is.

http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/14muddyroad.html

The message behind this may not resonate with yourself right now, but over time you will come to understand its meaning.

 

But what will you do when YOU act on it? Hmmm?