Babylon?

The name Babylon means 'gate of the gods', and it was an opulent city in ancient Mesopotamia. For centuries, scholars and readers of the Bible have mused upon the symbolism of Babylon in the book of Revelation. If you are unfamiliar with this, have a look at Revelation 14, 16, 17 and 18. It is not meant to be the actual place, of course, though for the Israelites it would have had negative connotations. It was the place to which the Judahites were deported in 597, 586 and c. 582 B.C., where they were away from the temple and, whilst allowed a fair amount of freedom to live their lives normally, were not truly free, as referenced by the wailings of the prophets at this time.

There is much said in Revelation about the fall of Babylon and the wrath of God against it as a corrupting influence. Revelation 14:8 speaks of the city as "Babylon the great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries". The word translated as 'adulteries' there is porneia, which can also mean sexual immorality or sexual sin. Adultery is very much an aspect of pornography, given what Christ says about married men looking on women with lust (Matthew 5: 27-30).

Whilst I know that Babylon is a metaphor (though some think it's an actual reference, or refers instead to Rome) for things antithetical to the morality of God, I am very aware of the potential to appear to have taken some of the symbolism literally, with the talk of porneia. I think both can stand at the same time. In Revelation it is representative of earthly pleasures. It trades with merchants and makes them rich. Revelation 17:5 calls it the "mother of prostitutes and the abominations of the Earth". Babylon represents the hedonistic things of this world, the materialism antithetical to God, the unhealthy commerce and wealth, and, as such, pornography is a facet of this. Perhaps that prostitute image stands for the refuge and satisfaction we think we can find but actually need to seek in God, such that it encompasses not solely pornography but it could be gambling, alcoholism, heroin use…or any other behaviour that leads us away from the source of true spiritual…and therefore mental and indeed physical health.

Babylon is also described as "a dwelling place for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit". I have heard service users talk about how deeply unclean they felt after watching pornography...and these are not people of faith necessarily, but people who are aware of something that they don't like about what they have been doing. They are not, as some researchers have postulated, people who are full of faith-based guilt, but people who are self-aware enough to know that they have done something antithetical to their sense of health and goodness.