Christian Perspective of Prostitution

Basically, if we talk about the Christian perspective on Prostitution, the Church is strongly against on it because it does not jive with the moral teachings of the Bible. God guides us to a right perspective through his written word. The Bible teaches that sex is a good gift from God to any heterosexual couple who in love and law promise enduring and exclusive fidelity to one another. Sex is God’s gift to every bride and groom, to be unwrapped on the honeymoon and enjoyed throughout the marriage. In short, scripture highly approves of sexual intimacy between a man and a woman for the purposes of pleasure, love and procreation, provided they have committed themselves to one another in the covenant of marriage. When we appreciate what the Bible approves concerning sex, we can anticipate what it disapproves. Take prostitution. If scripture teaches that the only right context for sexual intimacy is marriage, then we can deduce that prostitution is wrong because it involves sexual intimacy outside that right context. And if scripture teaches that one of the good purposes for sexual intercourse is the expression of love, then we know implicitly that prostitution is bad because it deliberately disunites the sexual act from that good purpose.

However, the Bible does not merely imply that prostitution is wrong. It openly condemns the practice since the morality of the concerned is not safeguarded nor protected. The Bible warns against women engaging in prostitution. Leviticus 19:29 states, “Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute”. Prostitution degrades women. This is one of the reasons why the Church is against prostitutioin. It is written in the Scripture that man is an image of God therefore man should maintain a dignified image. The ten commandments specifically on the 8th states that “thou shall not commit adultery”. It is very clear that the bible does not allow prostitution. The Scripture declares that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Certainly, on the female side, the love of money is the root of prostitution. She wants easy money, big money, the type of money that cannot be earned by proper means. “Every prostitute receives a fee” (Ezekiel 16:33). That is why she does it: that is her motive. And that is why she is such a predator: the more men she has, the more money she gets. The apostle Paul offers profound insight into the damage caused by prostitution (and all sexual immorality) in 1 Corinthians 6:13-20: The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. He who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own.

The Catholic Church has assumed a pastoral responsibility to promote the human dignity of persons who are exploited through trafficking and slavery, and to advocate for their liberation and economic, educational, and formative support.