Captured by a Better Vision

Captured by better vision - definitely

 I don't quite know how to review this book.

I am familiar with Tim Chester's writings explaining passages from the Bible in the quarterly Explore magazine. I know that the subjects of sexual immorality and pornography appear in passing those writings and when I discovered that he had written an entire book on the subject, I was intrigued.

I would be a liar if I were to say that I have never owned pornographic material or looked at it on the computer but I would never consider myself to be 'in thrall' to it. From a secular perspective, I would say that excessive porn use would indicate frustrations within one's marital relationship and for single people, it emphasises loneliness i.e. its a bit 'sad'. With this in mind, it would seem healthy to avoid porn as much as possible.

Tim Chester says all this and much more in the book. He tells about the fakery of porn, the corruption of the industry and the insidious hold it has on users. He is uncompromising in stating that porn use is adultery of the heart and is as much an act of betrayal as any actual physical act of adultery. He provides statistics indicating the size of the problem as he sees it and shows that people who are avowedly Christian are likely to be as prone to use pornography as anyone else.

Rather than simply telling people to avoid using porn, Tim Chester asks his readers to embrace a Christian life in full so that the sheer beauty, scale and completeness of God's creation provides a fuller and more glorious experience than porn could ever do. I feel that this book has expanded my religious faith and understanding is many ways completely unrelated to a simple avoidance of pornography and for that, I am extremely grateful.

Tim Chester quotes G K Chesterton, "Every time a man knocks on the door of a brothel, he is is calling on God". It suggests (to me anyway) that in the depths of sin and despair the path to righteousness may begin.