Watching porn is sin. But is it a sin to watch obscene scenes which happen to be there in almost every movie?

Watching porn becomes sinful not because you have watched something that falls under the label ‘porn’ but because what you have watched triggered disordered sexual feelings, imagination, desires  (objectifying the human body) and it led you to sinful actions. 

As you know we sin in thoughts, words, and deeds. Obscene visuals could well be present anywhere from newspapers, advertisements, websites, movies to magazines. As long as your mobile phone is with you, we can say you literally carry these in your pocket and they are just a click away.

Just as watching a good movie about a Saint’s life triggers good and positive feelings, imaginations, desires and actions, the opposite is true of movies that show scenes that evoke sinful sexual impulses within. 

Jesus while warning about adultery of the heart (Mathew 5:28) confirms that we can commit grave sins in our imagination. In the book of job, he says ‘I have made a covenant with my eyes’ (Job 31:1). Your eyes are a window to your soul. Guarding your eyes from anything obscene is prudence. In order to discipline your disordered soul you must train your will with the virtue of prudence and temperance. Discern what is good, avoid what is evil and that which leads you to sin. If you are in a situation where you cannot stop or skip what you are watching, quietly take your focus off the screen and let the scene pass. Say prayer asking God to protect your heart from all impurities. Do this with great humility. If the movie itself is bad, avoid it for the sake of your soul. 

St Paul says, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. “Everything is permissible for me”–but not everything is beneficial. … The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body”. (1 Cor 6:12).