Concerning Pornography

I am not going to write much about this unhappy and destructive subject myself: only that I believe that it, both on the Internet and in the abusive format miscalled "sex education," are responsible for enormous damage to the souls and bodies of men and women, I think more than anything else. Most men (homines) are damned on account of sins of impurity; but that is the price of unlimited "freedom of expression."

I link to this article. I was surprised, and gratified, to learn that the American Psychiatric Assocation "may add sex and pornography addiction to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) used by psychiatrists to recognize disease and treat patients." The article states that this is a disease of the body, since the use of pornography effects changes in the brain. That it is a disease of the soul goes without saying; but that is the province of the priest rather than the doctor. Nevertheless, man is one entity of body and soul, and body and soul being made for each other, it is hardly surprising that this sin, in which the body very obviously co-operates, harms not only the soul but the body also.

Gentle Reader, I implore you in the name of Christ, if you have this sin, go to confession, hiding nothing, and receive communion, as soon as you can. The best remedy for this that I know of is to receive the Sacraments.

The connection between mental health and religion is without doubt most interesting. The health of the body and the health of the soul are, I think, partly related in some ways. God created body and soul; and the healing of them both belongs to Him. I think theology and medicine are perhaps the two noblest disciplines; theology greater than medicine, as the soul is as it were superior to the body.

I hope both disciplines develop fruitfully; and I do not see why they cannot learn from each other.