Mother of Harlots, Revelation 17:5

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And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (Revelation 17:5)

It struck me recently what “mother of harlots” meant.  Mothers teach by example and explanation.  Who teaches people to be prostitutes?  Pornography.  Pornography teaches men to treat women like sex objects and to hurt them, and it teaches women to act like sex objects and that they should expect to be abused.

Here are facts from the organization Morality in Media about what pornography does.   See how it fits the epithet “mother of abominations.”

·      Perpetrators and pimps often use adult pornography to instruct prostituted children, as well as act out what they view in adult pornography with the children.

·      Pornography is used as a “tool” to train young children and women so that they will “know” what to do in performing sex acts. 

·      Pornography, which portrays women deriving pleasure from physical abuse, tends to enable men to foster attitudes more forgiving of violence against women and to become more comfortable with the “idea” of rape.

·      There is an abundant amount of evidence that shows viewers of pornography often seek to find ways to perform in real life the same certain sex acts that they saw on the films, magazines, and online. 

·      Consumers almost always graduate from common to more deviant forms of pornography as their usage increases over time. This is largely because familiar material becomes unexciting as a result of habituation. These consumers move to more violent and degrading materials as they become invested more in pornography.

I don’t think that pornography is the only part of Babylon, but clearly it is a major part.