After three seasons and twenty-six episodes, the HBO series Euphoria officially ended last night. According to Wikipedia, the show is “an American psychological teen drama television series” that “follows a group of high schoolers in the fictional town of East Highland, California.”
The article reports that Euphoria is the fourth most-watched HBO series since 2004. It has received twenty-five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and nine wins. Tellingly, it has also been nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series for “excellence in media portrayal of LGBTQ people and themes.”
And it has been widely criticized for its pervasive nudity and pornographic content. The Parents Television and Media Council reported that its first season contained “child rape, graphic nudity, pornography, drug use, [and] explicit language.” Common Sense Media similarly warns viewers that the show “features lots of boundary-pushing content related to sex, drugs, and sexual violence.” Both articles contain descriptions of scenes that are too graphic for me to repeat.
At this point, I hope this topic seems so irrelevant to you that you’re wondering whether to continue reading. I would feel the same way if I were you. Since HBO carries such immoral content, my wife and I don’t even have a subscription. I know that Euphoria and shows like it are absolutely off limits for Christians.
Upon reflection, however, I realized that this topic is highly relevant—for me, for you, and for everyone else—for a reason I had not considered prior to writing this article.
The Talmud forbade “the sin of looking”
We are familiar with Jesus’ warning, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). He spoke these words as part of his Sermon on the Mount, which was delivered to his disciples and to the crowd of Jews that gathered to hear him.
In their culture, looking at sexual images was strictly forbidden. In the Talmud, the tractate Shabbat 64b warned against those who “nourished their eyes from nakedness,” described as “the sin of looking.” In Avodah Zarah 20a, the Talmud similarly forbade looking at women in ways that might lead to sexual arousal.
As a result, Jesus’ warning was not directed at pornographic content because such content did not exist in his Jewish culture. When Christianity advanced into the Roman world, where erotic art was prevalent, the New Testament applied Jesus’ warning by commanding readers to avoid “sexual immorality” (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:18; Colossians 3:5), translating porneia, the word from which we get “pornography.”
Here’s my point: even if you and I treat sexual images as if we were first-century Jews, Jesus’ warning against lust is still relevant to us.
Why is this?
Three facts about sexual sin
According to our Lord, a person who looks at a woman lustfully “has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” We can understand his logic: they have broken their marriage vows in their thoughts, though not in their actions.
But why is this so dangerous?
One answer is that sinful thoughts inevitably lead to sinful actions: “Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). Every adulterous act began with adulterous thoughts. Divorce rates double when people start watching pornography, devastating marriages and families.
A second fact is that pornography and lustful thoughts often become addictive and even damage brain function. They are a mental, emotional, and spiritual cancer that always metastasizes (cf. Numbers 33:55; John 8:34).
A third factor relates to our witness: If others see us watching sexual content in a movie, television show, or online, they will likely question the sincerity of our faith and will see our sin as endorsing their own.
A question I had not considered
You probably knew all of this prior to reading this article, as did I. Here’s a question I had not considered before today: Does sexual sin damage people and society more pervasively than any other sin?
Of the sins forbidden by the Ten Commandments, murder and violent crime are obviously the most deadly. However, according to the US Department of Justice, 2.3 percent of Americans were victims of a violent crime in 2024. By contrast, 73 percent of US teens have seen porn online, and 58 percent of adults have watched pornography as well.
Considering the other Commandments, it seems likely that more people steal, lie, or covet than commit sexual sins. But do theft, deceit, and coveting devastate families and society as broadly?
Tomorrow we’ll discuss biblical responses that lead to victory over sexual temptation. For today, let’s admit that this sin is in fact poisonous to our minds, marriages, families, and souls.
A counselor friend of mine once noted that Satan is a great economist. He loves to tempt us to commit sins that will cause the most damage to the most people, like a rock thrown into a pond that produces ripples touching every shore.
Is sexual sin such a rock in your life today?
Quote for the day:
“Peace of heart is the natural outcome of purity of heart.” —Spiros Zodhiates
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