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"Spiritual Pornography" is a term used by International Churches of Christ (ICC) leadership for material critical of the Movement. The notion is that material criticizing "God's church" is obviously from Satan, and should not be viewed.
I remember when an article about the church ran in the New York Times in November 1994. One member said to me, "Yeah, I read the article. Wasn't it terrible?" The member had a point it wasn't as well-written as it could have been, and it seemed to suffer from a lack of perspective on the Movement. However, surprisingly to me, another member in the same zone told of someone sending him a packet of writen information from a cult awareness organization, which he threw in the garbage without even opening. Interestingly, I later learned that the cult awareness packet contained nothing but newspaper and magazine articles just like the one in the Times! What was the difference, I thought to myself, that one should be read and the other thrown away? Was it that the packet said the word cult on the outside? (If the envelope was what made it "spiritual pornography", throwing it away would do no good he had already read the outside!) Or was there a fear that the envelope contained something worse than it really did?
When I was undergoing the ICCs Counting the Cost Study, I was told that joining the church meant that I would never read a book critical of the group. To do so would be sin. For clarification, I asked what the difference was between a book critical of the church, and some other form of criticism. I was told that the difference was one of intent; anyone who would write a book about the church would be doing so out of malice, as an obvious attempt to ruin the faith of church members. I had difficulty in understanding why a book critical of the church would automatically be considered "spiritual pornography." Furthermore, it made sense that someone in leadership would have to read a specific book in order to declare it spiritual pornography. Was that leader in "sin" for reading the book, or was it okay because he did so unknowingly? Something didn't add up.
The next day, I asked about this again, and scriptures were quoted which did not seem to apply. Philippians 3:18 said that "many live as enemies of the Cross of Christ" but it didn't say that anyone who wrote criticism of the ICC was automatically an enemy of the Cross!
I Timothy 6:3-5 "If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. . ." did not seem to apply because the cult awareness packet contained press articles, not statements of doctrine.
II John 7-11 "Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. . ." seemed not to apply, because the divinity/humanity of Jesus was not the issue.
II Thessalonians 2:3-12 was quoted, but this passage seemed to be an obvious reference to one man, the Antichrist.
II Timothy 3: 14-15 did not apply: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it." If I had followed this scripture's advice, I never would have listened to the ICC to begin with!
As I continued my quest for Biblical commands which applied, I could find none. For example, Titus 3:9 said, "But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless." But "spiritual pornography" had nothing to do with genealogies (Biblical accounts of descent) or quarrels about the law (Old Testament Mosaic Law)! Furthermore, I didn't believe that the controversy over whether the ICC was a harmful or beneficial group was a foolish one.
I came to understand that the concept of "spiritual pornography" did not come from the Bible at all. Rather, it came from leaders who wanted to steer their members away from criticism of the group. It was information control.
As an appeal to any current ICC members reading this, I would say that, first of all, there is no scriptural reason to avoid reading criticism of the group. Rather, the biblical model for evaluating the ICC would seem to be the Bereans of Acts 17: 10-11. When the Bereans checked to see if Paul's word's were correct, it was seen as a sign of their "noble character"!
In time, ICC leadership will probably call the material on this Web site "spiritual pornography." However, keep in mind that this writing will make no attempts to discourage anyone's Christian faith, and it will make every attempt to present information that is factually correct.
Copyright © 2001 Dave Anderson. All rights reserved.
