Welcome to Douglas Wilson's Blog and May Blog, presented by Canon Press.

Portchip and sexual baggage, Wednesday, September 14, 2022.

Dear Darla, so it is very good that your father is putting trance through his paces.

I take it that apart from the central question of your last letter, everything appears to

be going swimmingly.

So let's get to it.

As to that central question, you raised the issue of his past porn use generally,

and as it happens, your dad filled me in a little bit more on the phone last night.

Your question is, does porn use in the past disqualify a suitor?

That was your father's question also, and the answer is no, it doesn't.

At the same time, another answer would have to be, sometimes it can.

There are two issues involved in this.

One is the question of repentance, forgiveness, and sanctification in the Christian life.

The second has to do with whether the past behavior is any indication of likely future

behavior.

A woman has every right to stay far away from the kind of man whose enslavement to porn

would be dragged into the marriage.

Nobody needs that.

How you settle this will come down to what kind of man you believe Trent is.

Most young Christian men believe that the Christian life consists of getting victory over sexual

temptations.

For many of them, that is the only temptation they're even really aware of.

...