The Hugh Hefner on High

if skimpy bathing suits bother you... don't watch this. 

Strip clubs are one thing.. But Art Lovers have been looking at naked bodies for years.. Somehow the appreciation doesn't translate well in the faith world however.

But there is a middle way.

I've never quite felt comfortable with an anything goes approach to art ie... stuff like child pornography.. (Again.. see Rapha House and Black Box International to help sexually exploited children).. but I've never liked a "bubble-type" definition of what pornography is either.

Again... the Holy Book is filled with graphic and shocking descriptions of all kinds of things.

That said.. Nakedness is not porn. Nakedness is someones Vulnerability becoming something else...

What's the difference between describing a lovers naked body in an Ancient text.. and showing it as a piece of art on canvas.. in a photo.. or on film?..

..(or even the sexuality associated with it for that matter??).

on the other hand... PORNOGRAPHY ISN'T as much an image... As it is a mindset.. or an attitude.

PORNOGRAPHY itself IS MORE LIKE graphically taking a shotgun and blasting someones humanity...

words used to describe what porn looks like are words like..
exploiting
graphically dehumanizing
degrading
obscene
profane
each of those words require strict definition..

it can be confusing at times as some things that appear as porn aren't actually porn at all... and being able to successfully identify porn as porn is sometimes directly proportional to our awareness of our condition

example: the art may be (relatively) shocking but the artists intention may be the absolute opposite of say.. someone who.. for practical purposes.. is in the business of graphically killing people.
again.. pornographers degrade and exploit..... artists (sometimes) shock for a greater purpose.

on the other hand.. other things that seem benign (perhaps because of our callousness) are actually a major offense to human-kind and we never even realize it.

example: The 1915 film "The Birth of A Nation" portrays the KKK as a group of heroes to a Southern culture. It was well received (and artistically respected) as a major motion picture of its day... There is no nakedness or sexually explicit material in the film at all. But does it actually fit the usual porn criteria?...
..Exploitive? Dehumanizing? Profane? Obscene?

Wise people know the difference between literature like Lolita.. and child pornography.

Beyond that though.. only God above... (or the Hugh Hefner on High)... can truly identify pornography.. because pornography happens in the heart..

...and strictly speaking.. for legal purposes.. God doesn't seem to be speaking.