Why Is Prostitution Immoral?

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."-Jesus (Matthew 22.37-40)

Elliot Spitzer's fall from grace last week has caused a lot of discussion, some of it asking the question as to why prostitution is illegal. Some are pointing out the very open laws regarding the act in some European countries and the need to have the same kind of policies here. The Today show even interviewed a "high-end escort" who gushed about the money and great life she was able to live because of her prostitution.

Emily Bazilon, not a Christian to my knowledge, stated the argument for the illegality of prostitution this way: "The case for making it against the law to buy sex begins with the premise that it's base and exploitative and demeaning to sex workers. Expanding legalized prostitution…also helps pimps, fails to protect women, and leads to more back-alley violence…". I also found out last month that prostitution feeds the sex slave trade, and thousands of girls are being kidnapped and smuggled into the U.S. Prostitution, therefore, has many direct and indirect consequences. It is more than just using something you have to get something you want.

We have a wanting nature. We're born wanting and to some extent never grow out of it. We have parents, laws, authority figures, religion, and faith to curb some of our wants or to realign them. Some wants are good, but we're willing to do anything to get them. Some wants are good, but we're willing to settle for a cheap imitation. Other wants are as destructive for us as a flame is for moths. But try telling that to the moth.

At its heart, prostitution is what a person is willing to do to get what they want. The prostitute and the "john" do it to get something they want or believe they need. There are lots of types of prostitution. Whenever we sell our selves or values to get what we want, we prostitute ourselves. In the Old Testament, bowing down to other gods was described as prostitution. You sold out to get something you wanted or needed from a god other than God. Drug dealers, corporation executives, and many televangelists have prostituted themselves to get what they want. The principle is the same-the methodology differs.

Prostitution, sexual prostitution in particular, is immoral because it is contrary to loving God and loving our neighbor. If I use a prostitute, I have not loved God because I am misusing the sexuality He gave me to enjoy in a marriage relationship and only in a marriage relationship. I have not loved the prostitute, my "neighbor", because I have encouraged or reinforced her sinful lifestyle. She has not loved God or me for the same two reasons.

Now you may say, "Shawn, a lot of people don't care about loving God or loving their neighbor, so doesn't that make prostitution right for them?" Absolutely not. The Bible says we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account for the way we've lived our lives (2 Corinthians 5.10, etc.). It doesn't matter if we think prostitution's right or moral or not. If God says certain things are wrong and certain things are right, that's the standard that will be used to decide whether what we did was wrong or right
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Sex is good and holy when practiced within the boundaries God has set. Those boundaries are set because they protect us from loneliness, disease, unwanted pregnancy, poverty, drug abuse, crime, violence, adultery, immorality, and a host of other issues. I'm glad God gave us sex, and I'm really glad He told us how to enjoy it without guilt, fear, or life-damaging consequences. Let's enjoy what God has given us in the way He teaches us to enjoy it!

~Shawn