The Ruins of Sexual Immorality: Hugh Hefner Is No Friend
By Paul J. Bucknell
Hugh Hefner wounded me in his attempt to steal my soul and destroy my body. I do not celebrate his life nor glorify his celebrity, but I shamefully compare his name to those of those who killed millions like Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, and Stalin. People during Hitler’s era rose up against him because of his senseless mass murders and executed him accordingly, but our generation stays blind to Hefner’s deadly game, allowing him to live to 91 and leave his 100 million dollar estate to others.
Hefner’s main evil was not in making porn accessible or trying to normalize public nudity, though these dark marks remain, but in profiting from a philosophy that romanticizes evil and seduces millions. I don’t want to speculate on his motives, but the fact that his toxic life philosophy could reach so many hearts and homes, inciting adultery and causing disease, fornication, and sexual conflicts, clearly shows his determined purpose. The ongoing pain and death caused by his actions are truly shocking.
“We will never recapture the importance of Playboy in the ’60s and ’70s,” he told The Washington Post in 2003, “because we changed the world. We live in a Playboy world now, for good or ill.” — Hugh Hefner1
The false hedonistic prophet aimed to destroy the old and reshape the world, but we, the people and victims, still lack the ability to recognize and reject the evil and curse of his message, leading to a continuous flow of destruction through our streets and hearts. Purity, fidelity, and true love have been replaced with greed, selfishness, and sensuality, leaving only a few people seeking God’s higher way of true love.2
Contentless, the curse of the modern world continuously mocks any personal effort to remain pure while it boasts of its seductive, dark philosophy, infecting hundreds of millions worldwide without any end in sight. Here are some devastating effects of this now openly accepted global philosophy:
- The sacrifice (think abuse) of children, women, and even men has become normalized so others can satisfy their personal pleasures, and though they wear a mask of love, it is wickedly selfish and evil.
- Adultery is seen as a personal choice rather than breaking a marriage vow, encouraging reckless lusts that override commitment and lead to loss of love and devotion, ultimately ruining marriages and families.
- Divorce is seen as a normal alternative to marriage rather than a betrayal, leading to deep-rooted and unresolved generational anger, pain, poverty, and isolation.
- The degradation of humans behaving like animals, lacking any sign of God's image, tearing apart sexual intimacy for selfish lies and exploitation.
- The lack of self-control is now seen as normal and helpful, tearing apart the fabric of our society by favoring personal and indulgent desires over the value of others, leaving long-lasting, damaging effects on our community and relationships.
- Doubting that marriage is holy, sacred, and glorious offers little hope for those seeking a good marriage—even though God’s design of marriage is vastly superior in every way (Gen 2:18-25).3
- Although abortion is not generally seen as directly immoral, it is nevertheless a tragic consequence when people no longer see children as part of the sacred purpose of marriage.
Each of the concepts above, when embraced, leads to daily decisions that contribute to pain from physical disease and broken families, all at an inestimable cost. Our world has forsaken God’s best, preferring to argue over condom use and how to discard unwanted babies, rather than seeking pure and holy marriages that lead to families built on virtue, marriage, and true marital joy.4
This poisonous sack of moral corruption, flowing from Hugh Hefner’s huge legacy, has harmed the unaware world, enticing them into slavery to their lusts and making them blind to the good ways of God.
Hugh Hefner’s name will someday be linked to the pain, disease, hatred, and immorality in this world, but for now, the world remains deluded in celebrating their murderer and cheerleader as they head toward hell. Hefner said, “for good or ill,” but there is truly not a shred of goodness in his efforts, only an eternity of evil.5
What would the world be like if we didn't stop Adolf Hitler's monstrous plans to create a pure race? Fortunately, we don't have to think about it because many soldiers fought in the war to oppose such evil. But where are the soldiers fighting this war against this devilish philosophy of immorality? Do we not have any generals willing to lead troops to fight and destroy this evil even worse than Hitler’s?6
Maybe some think I have heightened the sense of evil linked to this wave of pornography because of my pain and struggles. I don’t believe that’s true. For every one of me who can show their scars as proof of how they fought this evil with resilience, there are countless millions who continue blindly serving this giant money-making industry, willing to sacrifice people for their own gain.
2. “I show you a still more excellent way” (1 Cor 12:31). “But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13).
3. Only pure marriages can nurture the tender expressions of sexual intimacy and genuine love where life is cultivated.
4. The philosophy of individualism no doubt allows immorality to piggyback on its shoulder, allowing our commitments to others to be secondary.
5. He evidently suspected the inherent evil himself.
6. How does a person measure evil? Is it by the pain, destruction, costs, loneliness, or broken marriages it causes? Even if we only consider the killing of unborn children by separating purity from marriage, in the United States alone, about 1 million children are sacrificed each year, resulting in far more deaths than during WWII.