Friday, May 9, 2014

Is a Little Porn Harmless?

 















My teenage brother is a great friend.  I appreciate how the Lord has blessed our friendship and how He allows our conversations to be God honoring, informative, helpful, and a source of accountability.


I'm sure parents or mentors of youth can understand the burden I feel for my brother, the importance of him remaining pure and maintaining his purity, and hearing the meaning of sexual "terms" or asking about any questions he might have pertaining to sex first from my parents or I, instead of other kids at school who are gaining their perspective of sexual acts either from the media or from porn.


As I have my brother read different articles from Covenant Eyes, watch webinars from XXXchurch, or bring up crucial topics periodically, I realize how important it is to keep up to date with what is happening in my brother's life, what is going on with him at school, and what the people around him or his friends at school discuss.


I care to be very diligent with being a support system and source of genuine accountability for my brother and am grateful to God that I can share personal experiences (with discernment!), any wisdom I have gleaned, and the knowledge I continue to gain through my studies about sex, pornography, relationships, etc.


I was thinking recently how pornography affects us, even when we only view it sporadically.  It entices us at first through our eyes being drawn to such airbrushed "beauty", it stirs up excitement in our hearts, intrigues our minds which often leads to fantasy and masturbation, and trains our bodies to respond to what we see in pornographic images or videos - which in time, lessens our ability to become aroused through every day correspondence with real people or our spouse.


But the question remains:  What if I only view a little bit of porn each week?  Or watch one or two videos twice a month?  Or merely look at images to my heart's content (after all, simply being aroused by photos and viewing actual videos is much different, right?)


I would propose that each new exposure we have to pornographic material lessens our ability to think clearly, stirs up an insatiable longing in our hearts for sex (which is why we keep going back to seeing porn even if only once or twice a month), and trains our minds to lust after what is unattainable because porn is fake sex and the images we view and sounds we hear are all exaggerated and airbrushed.


As pleasurable as viewing porn might be, it profits us not.  All it leads to is longing for more porn, an addiction to masturbation and lack of self-control over our thoughts, and a thought process of which the countless images and videos we have seen over time haunt us and bring shame and true regret when we finally do repent and yet can't seem to shake all of the perversity we have "stamped" on our minds through all the previous times we have viewed this filth.


What excuses do you use for giving in to porn?  What reasons can you think of which are valid enough to fully abstain from porn and not go back?  How has viewing porn (no matter the frequency) affected your relationship with God?  How has it affected your witness?  How has it affected your prayer life, thoughts, and view of others?  How has it distorted your view of sex and what is attractive?


If you would like resources on how to overcome sexual addiction, check out XXXchurch or Covenant Eyes.  If you struggle with homosexual desire or actions and want help overcoming this, Joe Dallas has a lot of great resources available.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is very good!

Mrs. Murphy

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