"Break the Skin" Explanation

Pornography has become more and more "normal" over the years. It presents a huge temptation for many men and women, myself included. It's extremely accessible and now easier than ever to produce and distribute. Many are making way more money selling images and videos of themselves online than they could possibly make at any regular job, which has made the idea even more appealing to a great deal of people, particularly young women.

I often see believers trying to engage with this issue while doing everything they can to be veiled and indirect, presumably to avoid being perceived as condemning or judgmental to those engaged in either the consumption or production of this kind of content. While I can appreciate that in a sense, I also think there is a time to speak boldly and directly about certain things, regardless of how it may make some people feel. This is such a significant issue for so many people, including believers, that I think we need to make sure we're extremely clear on the matter.

In the age of reason, no secrets now remain

The all-knowing god of self be praised

Consign to obsoletion all sacredness and shame

And yield your body to the plague

Verse one is an immediately-sarcastic description of our current culture in relation to sexuality and pornography. I believe our advancements technologically facilitate an assumption in many of us that human beings are more enlightened or rational now than at any point in history; so rational, in fact, that we can rationalize almost any choices or behaviors we want to. You can do whatever you want and then just twist words and reason to argue that not only is it not a bad thing, it's actually a good thing. Like how looking at pornography helps relieve stress and provides a harmless outlet for sexual desire that might otherwise manifest in worse ways. Like how producing sexually explicit content increases the supply so that less people are likely to be forced to produce it against their will or in less safe circumstances. See, it turns out we like porn because we're good and it's actually good for humanity.

No.

Ideals like sexual purity are portrayed as silly and outdated. "Shaming" anyone for perversion or for making their money by selling their bodies for someone else's pleasure is ironically one of the few things we seem to view as shameful anymore. We're already facing many of the consequences of abandoning a Godly view of sex, whether we want to acknowledge it or not. But I suppose such has been the nature of humanity since the fall. "God's way is fine and all, but our way is what would really make us happy. Sometimes you just have to wade through a lifetime of perpetual misery to prove it." (I don't say this in condescension, as it's often unfortunately every bit as applicable to me as to anyone else.)

This is a condemnation

An unrepentant vow of hate

I want to convey this message in no uncertain terms. This song is a blatant condemnation of pornography, sex work, and anything that commodifies sexuality or human beings. Lust is sin. Selling naked pictures of yourself to people online is wrong. Consciously feeding into the depravity of your fellow man for financial gain is evil.

Is it enough that the flesh survives

When the soul inside it fades and dies?

These lines have a dual meaning, for me. What I imagine is the most obvious interpretation is this: Is it worth making money and taking care of your material needs to sacrifice your spiritual well-being? What's the point in having millions of dollars when you're miserable inside? Or, as Jesus Himself put it, "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" (Mark 8:36) But these lyrics also speak to a specific way of thinking I've observed in myself. Especially when I was younger, I always felt like God was going to punish me immediately if I did something wrong. I think it's very easy for some of us to subconsciously tie whatever our current condition migtht be to some sort of "justice" from God for our own morality. So when we do something wrong and don't receive any obvious and instantaneous repercussion, we might feel like we're getting away with it. In relation to that idea, these lyrics are meant to say something like: "Even if you're 'getting away with it', is it worth the fact that you're feeding the darkness inside of you and shutting out the light; that you're jeopardizing your inner man and your future self?"

Death waits at the door and you let it in

Break the skin

The wages (the eventual, logical outcome) of sin is death. Here I'm comparing someone willingly engaging in something they know to be immoral to opening the door of their life and inviting death in. If we could see with spiritual eyes what's taking place when we indulge in these sorts of things, I believe we would be terrified.

The vermin that vex you, the predators on which you prey

And all the power you think you hold depends

These lyrics are about the absurdity of many women detesting men for viewing or treating women like objects, and then deliberately feeding into that objectification just to make their own lives more comfortable in the short term. So many despise the exact kind of men that their "business" is catering to. In my estimation, building everything you have by appealing to the people you hate the most in your society makes you arguably as despicable as they are. It's also bizarre that anyone would genuinely refer to selling your body to people who view you as an object as "empowering". It actually seems pitiful to depend on the people you think are the scum of the earth to give you your "power".

This cycle of destruction, that fleeting sense of fame

A game of life and death that no one wins

To any honest person who is or has been addicted to pornography, it is unmistakably a cycle of destruction. It can destroy your outlook on life. It can warp your perspective of other people. It can ruin your relationships. It can make you hate yourself. And on the other side, the side of those actually creating pornographic content, the success and fame is almost invariably short-lived, and comes in exchange for a sense of regret and shame that often endures a lifetime. The enemy and the world never present these things as they are. They only market the benefits, the momentary pleasure, and they do whatever they can to hide the pile of bodies and suppress the sea of voices warning of the inevitable aftermath. The transactional relationship between the consumer and producer in this situation is mutually exploitative, and one in which there truly is no winner.

This is a condemnation

An unrepentant vow of hate

Not for you, but the world you create

I wanted to stress that while pornography should absolutely be condemned, I am NOT condemning those who view it or those who create it. The action is evil, but those engaged in the action are created in the image of God Himself, and Christ's love for them is so great that He shed His blood on the cross in order to reconcile them to the Father. Romans 5:8 reads, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." If you are still breathing, no matter what you've done or how long you've spent doing it, God is eager to give you freedom and forgiveness if you will repent and believe in Jesus. This song is not meant to accuse or belittle anyone, but to be bold and honest about the realities of this sin; a sin with which I have struggled greatly myself.

Never again

This final line is a call to myself and to anyone else never to return to the sin of lust and pornography. You can be free. What Jesus has for us is infinitely better. He is worthy.