Children Bombarded by Porn While Watching Disney!

Whether an accident or not, it is absolutely unacceptable. Repairing what has just happened in these children's lives, in a matter of minutes, is beyond the abilities of any court, company, or counselor.

I remember images from when I was 9.

FOX Carolina 21

This should remind all of us to be in more diligent in protecting our children from adult content. There is probably nothing this mother could have done to protect hers. Sometimes evil is unavoidable, and we are simply left to handle its consequences.

You can read the full article here.

Pornography Harms is another great site that I frequent often for news, updates, and ways to be active in fighting against this wicked industry.

How I Personally Fight Against Porn in My Own Life

While the article referenced in yesterday's post was excellent in describing the slavish effects associated with pornography, it was void of any tangible ways a person may win their war against it. That doesn't make the article less powerful. Its purpose was to be more descriptive than prescriptive. And that's why I am writing this post - to be more prescriptive than descriptive.

I fight the war often. It is something I despise about this fallen world. There is a battle around every corner; an unknown, imposed image under every rock, that threatens to introduce, yet again, something my heart should desire more than God. Pornographic images have the ability to lead us into the abyss of passionate irrationality. We know it doesn't make sense, but we love it anyway. We all know it will bring guilt and pain, yet we watch anyway. When we feel the wave of temptation, our hearts begin a ravaging quest for the justification of immorality.

I know the battle too well. I know what it's like to lose it. I know what it's like to watch my wife weep after she hears I have looked upon another woman lustfully. But, I also know what it's like to win it. Beyond all of my previous expectations, I know what it's like to live without fear of being condemned with shame and guilt tomorrow. I never thought I would see a day when I would feel freedom. 

I also know, however, that this dragon does not completely die (yet). There is something to the AA line - once an addict, always an addict. It is not uncommon for me to speak of victory only to have the war waged all over again soon after.  

Here are some ways that I continue to fight my war against pornography:  

I take every precaution I can to keep "triggers" out of my life. I have removed the Safari, Google, and other internet browsing apps from my phone. I simply cannot access them. I have found that if I do not have access, I am less tempted. 

I have the "delete apps" option disabled in my restriction settings (which are passcode protected). That way if I decide in a moment of weakness to download a browsing app, I won't be able to delete it. My accountability partners know to check my phone often. If they find this type of app, they smell blood and quickly go in for the kill. 

Covenant Eyes has a browsing app that is pretty good. I really miss Safari on my phone, but CE is sufficient.

I don't watch television very much at all. Anything I cannot control, I steer away from. Netflix is a good option. I simply got sick of being bombarded with half-naked women on regular television. 

I typically don't go to the beach or swimming pools either. This is a real inconvenience for my family, but it is a sacrifice that my wife is willing to make. I will usually go to these places when I know they are "under control." I will go to private pools and beaches early on week days. I simply cannot go to a place where it is completely acceptable for women to wear underwear. This is no judgment at all - it is just the reality of my situation. I wish it wasn't so.

I avoid being alone during vulnerable times. This is less of a problem for me now that I am married with four kids. But should my family go out of town, I stay at a friend's house or Starbucks until I am ready for bed. Even then I am in communication with my wife over the phone. When I go home, I go to bed. 

Being tired, bored, and/or lonely is a breading ground for pornographic temptation.

I look down a lot. Too much of what women wear these days is completely immodest. So, I fight to bounce my eyes. When I see immodesty I simply drag my eyes the other way. A woman's flesh is a magnet for a man's eyes. Women should know that low and tight clothing attracts visual attention. If I see it, I will immediately look away. Sometimes this is easy. Sometimes its not.

Removing triggers really does help. But it doesn't solve the issue completely. 

I have personal accountability in my life who love me enough to dig around. My wife and three other men make up my accountability team. If I struggle, I tell them. They all get my Covenant Eyes report on a regular basis and are faithful to call should something look fishy. By the way, if you are someone's accountability partner, always call if you see something fishy. If I feel as if my reports are not scrubbed, I am more tempted to go to sites.

If I should fall, they are there to address my fallenness redemptively and in a Christ-centered way. They love me enough to be hurt by my actions. And they love Christ enough to talk to me about him while they are hurting. 

These tangible experiences have been, by far, the most redemptive in my life. They are tangible representations of grace, forgiveness, justification and the cross. They hurt, but they heal. The Holy Spirit is necessary for both as one struggles to confess while the other struggles to forgive. Grace is sufficient.

I regularly receive counseling. This helps me know my own heart. I have people in my life who search me out, who ask tough questions, and who are skilled to handle the mess of my life. Find these people and commune with them often. 

I wish I could say that Scripture memory has helped, but it hasn't all that much. This is something that I am working on. The Scriptures are sufficient for this though, just not in that way (right now). They have been sufficient to lead me to Christ. Understanding his Lordship in my life has broken the chains that previously bound me. 

Entrusting myself to his control has been the most helpful. Pornography was my way to gain control of my life. When things get chaotic, it get tempted. But now, when I am tempted, I meditate and reflect on Christ's Lordship - his control, his presence and his authority. I also reflect on his sacrifice on my behalf that makes it judicially possible for the Father to smile upon this mess of a man. When I ponder his smile, I am less tempted to sin.

I hope this post has been helpful for you. The battle must be won through faith and repentance on a daily basis. The battle must be fought in community and not alone. It is not a matter of going from sinful to sinless - from lustful to "lustless." He does wash us, but we cannot simply stop our hearts from going after other gods. We must cling to him daily. Sanctification is a process. The Lord is faithful to slay this dragon through many episodes of wounding and healing. There is hope. There is freedom.

Here are some other posts that may help:

How Women Can Help in the Battle Against Porn 

How a Woman Set Me Free from Porn

Putting Porn to Death (A 3-Part Series I wrote for Holy Culture)

Poem Written by a Wife Devastated by Her Husband's Porn Use

The Gospel and Porn

One of the Best Articles on Pornography I Have Read

This article by Lauren Dubinsky of the Huffington Post is one of the best articles I have read on pornography. When you take the time to consider the weight of what she is actually doing -- openly and honestly speaking about her addiction to pornography and its effects in her life -- you cannot help but appreciate her sacrifice, courage and transparency.

The parts of the article that I found most profound were:

"Pornography was easy, and I never exactly knew why it was bad, particularly since I wasn't actually having sex. To me, it was just something dirty that you probably shouldn't have anything to do with. But "probably shouldn't" never stands up against loneliness and boredom."

"Even while I wasn't "addicted" to watching pornography, I always wanted more. It existed as a guaranteed time-filler and pleasure-bringer, and when you get an hour to yourself, that's an easy default. An easy default activity that establishes a heavy precedence in what you do with your next bad night."

"I wish someone would have told me that the kind of pornography you're most turned on by is usually linked to a corresponding hurtful event in your life, further injuring your brokenness."

"I wish someone had talked about how women watch it too, so I wouldn't have had to spend years living under the shame that comes with being "the only one" and thinking there was something wrong with me."

The heart behind this article is far more important than its actual words. We all have heard or read similar things before. The rarity is found in the writer. And as more and more people begin addressing the issue with honesty and transparency in a gospel-centered way, I believe we will see more and more victories of faith, hope and love.

You can read the entire article here.

The Current Trend In Pornography: From Adult to Children

I heard these numbers once from a very reliable source – that the top three grossing industries in the world were the trafficking of drugs, firearms, and humans.  Yes, that’s right.  Humans.  We also understand that these humans are being trafficked, for the most part, against their wills; and that a large percentage of them are children.

What is even more troubling is that the production and distribution of child pornography is not necessarily considered human trafficking.  If it were, human trafficking may very well take one of the top two spots as a top grossing industry in the world today.

Today, Public Discourse put out an article entitled End Child Pornography: Enforce Adult Pornography Laws.  The article is extremely informative and posits a credible and viable option for cracking down on the distribution of child pornography.  They propose, along with other experts, that we should direct more of our efforts and resources toward adult pornography laws.  The reasoning is simple. 

Margaret Healy stated in a paper titled “Child Pornography: An International Perspective” that “with the emergence of the use of computers to traffic child pornography, a new and growing segment of producers and consumers is being identified.  They are individuals who may not have a sexual preference for children, but who have seen the gamut of adult pornography and who are searching for more bizarre material.”

In a similar line, Guillermo Canovas makes this profound observation, “Thousands of people are constantly looking for pornography on the web…as their stimulation threshold rises, they feel the need for stronger and stronger material until their search leads them to child pornography.” 

I remember driving into New Orleans one day and observing a billboard next to the Superdome that was advertising a club called Barely Legal.  I remember thinking how outrageous this was, that the owners (Hustler, I believe) were aiming to feed the dissatisfied appetites of pornographers with women who were barely legal.  Their motive and strategy is obvious.  The authorities, however, seem handcuffed when it comes to prosecuting motives and strategies.

The article also states that “since President Obama took office, the Department of Justice has not initiated one adult pornography criminal case.” The investigators are overwhelmed by child pornography cases.  Ironically, these same investigators are reporting that the consumption of adult material leads to consumption of child pornography. 

But we must not fall into the trap of looking to our government to completely stop this heinous crime.  Human emptiness and desire, as history has shown, is stronger than government regulations.  Prohibitory laws mean little to those who are wickedly hungry.  Stopping the behavior is absolutely needed; but aiming at it alone is simply ignorant and inadequate.  The only way to stop wickedness from feeding on children is to overcome it with Christ.  The power of the Gospel is sufficient for this. 

And this is our hope – that Christ both has and will overcome.  He will bring an awful Sword to those who abuse children.  He will bring redemptive healing to those who have been abused.  And, He will offer forgiveness to those who have, in faith, cried out in repentance for mercy.

How Women Can Help In The Battle Against P0rn

Many of you know my story.  That for many years I fought to be liberated from the slavery and tyranny of pornography.  Counseling helped, sometimes.  Strategies also kept me clean, occasionally.  But it wasn't until I saw the light of the gospel of Christ through the brokenness of my wife (2 Cor 4:7-12), followed by her active and continual willingness to bear my burdens, that I finally felt freedom.  I wrote about this process here.

This post is primarily directed to the married women in the church.  It will consist of both correction and admonition.

First, the correction.  It has been my experience that many [if not most] wives are oblivious to their husband's struggle with pornography.  I guess the assumption is that their husbands are not "one of those guys." And they may very well not be.  But I can assure you of this, that they fight not to be.  In an over-sexualized culture, visually stimulated men are under constant attack.  To remain oblivious is the equivalent of leaving an outnumbered soldier to fight by himself in a very intense battle.  It won't be long before he falls.

It has also been my experience that many wives who are aware of their husband's battle make the decision to have him deal with it on his own.  There could be many reasons for this.  Either women do not feel equipped to help, or they may be too hurt to help, or maybe they are to repulsed to visit the subject any further.  The hope is that their husband will get over it (quickly) so that it will never come up again.  While this would be nice, it is simply not reality.

For the longest time, I would have agreed with those who say that wives cannot help because they just don't understand.  Not any more.  It's a lie.  I can think of no better person than my wife to help me.  She is with me more than any other.  She knows me better than any other.  She loves me more than any other.  And she is committed to me more than any other.  Why in the world would wives not be on the front lines of this battle field?  Perhaps our pseudo-mochoism has gotten in the way.  Women, contrary to popular belief, are very good soldiers.

Now for the admonition.  If you are a wife who is either alarmed, convicted, and/or motivated by what you have just read, here are some practical ways that you can fight for and with your husband.  I also understand that wives are not immune to the pornography trap - so, husbands, this is for you too.  We must fight together against a sin that, by nature, would have us die alone.

First, wives must understand that, while pornography is something that he struggles with, it is not merely his problem.  In marriage two become one.  There is a way in which sin is no longer addressed at his or hers, but ours.  I am not saying that wives are guilty of their husband's sin.  But I am saying that our spouses should never fight their sin alone.  If one spouse sins, the whole family suffers.  Therefore, the whole family must take responsibility and go to war.

Second, women should talk to their husbands frequently and openly about sexual sin.  Walking in light is the liberating way.  Often times, indulging in pornography is the result of a sequence of frustrating events. Confessing and talking about those things helps so much.  The ultimate solution to pornography is not canceling the internet service, but rather confessing and discussing struggles, pains, frustrations and sorrows to someone who cares and who is prepared with the gospel.

It is so liberating to know that when I am having a rough day, I can call my wife and tell her that I am tempted to think about or look at bad things.  It is during these moments when the gospel has been applied to the most wounded parts of my life.  My wife has provided a marital environment that promotes walking in light, especially during times when we are tempted to run into darkness.

Third, the environment must be saturated with both justice and mercy - yes, the Cross of Christ must be center.  Indulging in pornography is sin that deserves an eternity in hell.  It deeply hurts those who love us and are committed to us.  It communicates to women that they are unloved, un-pretty, and unfit to give us physical, emotional and sexual gratification.  Pornography strikes at the very heart of our wives existence.

Wives, you should never undermine the severity of this sin, nor should your pain be ignored or suppressed.  Pornography is adultery, and in a very real way gives you a judicial/biblical reason for divorce.  A man needs to see and know this.  He needs to see how his sin hurts others.

Wives, you should also know that this is precisely when and where mercy shines most.  When a sinner does not get what he knows he deserves it humbles him.  And when a sinful husband sees his wife bearing the pain of what he has done, while embracing him in love, this changes him.  This shadow of the Cross changes everything.  This is my testimony.  I have never been the same.  My wife has never been the same either.

Forth, wives should be more concerned with the "sin underneath the sin."  Indulging in pornography is not the ultimate problem.  It is only a symptom; and just as a symptom pales in comparison to the actual disease, so does pornography pale in comparison to the sinful heart that will not run to Christ in the gospel.  Your response to his sin should not be to merely say STOP!, but rather, to ask him why he cannot stop.  In other words, don't give him a stop sign, give him a Savior.  Heal the heart and the symptoms will simply go away.

Finally, women must walk in light as well.  As a husband should openly confess his sins to his wife, so should the wife openly confess her sins to her husband.  When one spouse is not confessing sin, the other is more inclined to hide.  The repentant environment in the home must flow both ways.  Husbands should not be the only ones who are graced with the ability to repent and place their faith in Christ.  A wife who knows the forgiveness of Christ will be more liberated to offer the same forgiveness to her husband (and vise versa; cf. Lk 7:47). 

Women, this will also protect you from falling into temptation.  Bearing burdens is a dangerous task when attempted by "perfect" people (cf. Gal 6:1-2).  However, when sinners bear the burdens of other sinners, somehow we "fulfill the law of Christ."  This is amazing grace.

My corrections and admonitions are intended to bring healing to our lives, through faith and repentance, and in obedience to Christ alone.  In a world that is so enslaved to this awful sin, I believe that gospel-saturated women are vital to our victory.  Women cannot remain oblivious, but must relentlessly march, armed with the gospel, into the battlfield of their husband's heart.  Soon and very soon we will have no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun.  Wives, get your husband to heaven.

When Does P0rnography Disqualify You From Ministry?

This is a good video that at least addresses the issue.  I am not sure it answers it completely, or, if the question can be answered in such an objective manner.  I will propose, however, that the question must be answered and addressed on a regular basis.  To avoid the issue is like avoiding cancer - it doesn't just cease to exist because we cease to think about it.

Those of us in the ministry must not be so naive as to think ministers are not struggling with at least a regular temptation in this area.  Some may not have an issue at all; but to assume that most do not is a grave mistake.  I want to be clear.  I am not saying that most ministers have a p0rn addiction.  I am not saying that most ministers are currently struggling with regular p0rnography use.  But I am saying that to keep the issue strictly a secular matter, or one that only our congregants deal with, is prideful and dishonest.

Ministers are not immune to lust.

But here is the catch.  What if a minister is struggling?  Can he say anything about it to his fellow elders or ministers?  What will they say - or do?  Will they insist that he step down from ministry?  Can he lose his job or credentials?  The fear that accompanies the answers keeps strugglers in the dark.  And that is the rub with ministry and p0rn.  If I confess, I may lose my job.  I better not confess.  The only problem is that lust thrives in the dark and, if left there, will quickly grow to the status of addiction.

If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know that I have a testimony closely related to the issue.  During seminary, I was graciously counseled by a good friend (who was a counselor) on a regular basis.  I needed to know the answer to the question at hand.  With good, gracious, godly, and courageous accountability (that is still in my life today - wife included), the question was answered. I am walking in light, and my conscience is clear.  There simply is no other way.  We can trust Christ.

The issue has to come to the light.  The questions have to be answered.  If we stay silent, people will die.


Pornography and Ministry from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo.

How A Woman Set Me Free From Porn

It was about five and a half years ago.  I sat on the couch looking at my wife.  I had something to tell her.  I felt as if there was a war going on inside of me.  I would almost vocalize when every involuntary protective measure retaliated, full-force, to stop me.  It was awful.

For the first year of our marriage, I took great pride in my ability to wake up early, before she did, to study my Bible.  Day after day, I read and read and read.  But there was a wall.  My prayers were seemingly hindered.  I had something to tell my wife.  It was like the Lord was telling me to leave worship to make things right.  I resolved that day that I would.  Again, it was awful.

So, we were sitting there, after dinner if I remember correctly.  Inside, however, I felt as if I was standing on the edge of a great confessional cliff.  There is fire down there you know.  One more step and I was sure to take an eternal plunge.  My death by exposure was inevitable.  At first, I could only cough.  But it was enough to get her attention.  She asked me if I had something to say.

This was the most dreadful moment of my life.  My affair with pornography, though secretly kept from her eyes, was producing noticeable fruit in our marriage - strife, frustration, condemnation, lack of sexual desire, and a host of other things.  Dragging this sin out of its dark closet was more strenuous than I could have ever imagined.  But His grace was sufficient for me.  I told her just how awful I was.

For the next hour, she wept.  Her voice was filled with righteous anger, hurt and sorrow.  I had never seen another person hurt so much because of my sin.  I had stepped off of the cliff.  I was falling to the bottom.  But I didn't care.  My apparent death paled in comparison to the dying that I was watching right in front of me.  She felt awful.

And then it happened.  She came and sat close to me.  As she looked at me, my falling went into slow motion.  And when she embraced me with tearful forgiveness, I felt safely broken.  Because she wept, I could tell that she loved me.  And because she forgave, it was obvious that she loved Another.  That was the first time I physically felt justification by faith.  It was amazing.  I will never be the same.

My deepest sin was keeping me from understanding the deepest love.  At that moment I finally understood what it felt like to be fully accepted.  Christ, through my wife, showed me His redeeming love.

I write this because it is my testimony.  That night I saw the militant love of Christ, in my wife, murder my sin.  That night pornography lost its life line, and my love for it has been withering ever since.  Katie has been the single most important instrument in this war.  She continues to provide an environment where confession is safe and where the gospel is center.  She doesn't treat my sin as if it doesn't matter.  And she doesn't give me what I justly deserve.  Rather, she helps me by bearing with me.  She helps me take my sins to Jesus - to the Cross.

As pornography continues to ravage our world, it is imperative for wives (and women) to understand they can make a difference.  I am living proof that women do not have to be objectively distorted by men; but that they can be redemptively deliberate in setting men free.

Thank you my love.  Because of Christ, in you, I am a new man.


 

Putting Porn to Death (Part 3 of 3)

I was watching this documentary on steroid use the other day.  One of the guys was being interviewed said something to the effect of, "It's my body and I am willing suffer the repercussions."  I was very intrigued by the comment given that he was both a husband and a father.  The individualistic bend of what he said is only indicative of the self-centeredness that infects all of humanity.

The truth is that his body is not his; and if steroids affects him negatively, others will also suffer the repercussions.

In Part 3 of Putting Porn to Death, I discuss how individualism is one of the pillars of porn-addiction.  As long as a person remains convinced that porn only affects his/herself and that he/she alone is able to overcome it, porn will continue to have its way in their life.

Read more about this here on HolyCulture.net.  You may be directed to the home page with this link.  If so, click on "content" then on "articles" - you will find it there as well.

Putting Porn to Death (Part 2 of 3)

I believe C.S. Lewis wrote that the enemy will gladly take your cold to give you cancer.  In this post, part 2 of Putting Porn to Death, I talk about how many of us put the idol of porn down only to pick up another.

See the article here on HolyCulture.net

Poem Written by a Wife Devastated by her Husband's Porn.

Bonhoeffer once said that there is no sin so secret that does not affect someone else.  I believe what he said.  I believe it is Biblical.  And I also believe that there are many wives who are being devastated by their husband's addiction to porn.  This poem was written in a comment to one of Tim Challies' posts on the subject.

Men, we have to read this.  We have to understand that what we do in secret affects those who love us very much.  I have to say that these words, coming from this perspective, are much needed in a world where women are constantly viewed and postured as condoning pornographic habits.

Here is the poem:

I Looked For Love in Your Eyes

I saved my best for you.
Other girls may have given themselves away,
But I believed in the dream.
A husband, a wife, united as one forever.

Nervous, first time, needing assurance of your love,
I looked for it in your eyes
Mere inches from mine.
But what I saw made my soul run and hide.

Gone was the tenderness I’d come to know
I saw a stranger, cold and hard
Distant, evil, revolting.
I looked for love in your eyes
And my soul wept.

Who am I that you cannot make love to me?
Why do I feel as if I’m not even here?
I don’t matter.
I’m a prop in a filthy play.
Not an object of tender devotion.

Where are you?

Years pass
But the hardness in your eyes does not.
You think I’m cold
But how can I warm to eyes that are making hate to someone else
Instead of making love to me?

I know where you are.
I’ve seen the pictures.
I know now what it takes to turn you on.
Women…people like me
Tortured, humiliated, hated, used
Discarded.
Images burned into your brain.
How could you think they would not show in your eyes?

Did you ever imagine,
The first time you picked up a dirty picture
That you were dooming all intimacy between us
Shipwrecking your marriage
Breaking the heart of a wife you wouldn’t meet for many years?

If it stopped here, I could bear it.
But you brought the evil into our home
And our little boys found it.
Six and eight years old.
I heard them laughing, I found them ogling.

Hands bound, mouth gagged.
Fisheye photo, contorting reality
Distorting the woman into exaggerated breasts.
The haunted eyes, windows of a tormented soul
Warped by the lens into the background,
Because souls don’t matter, only bodies do
To men who consume them.

Little boys
My little boys
Laughing and ogling the sexual torture
Of a woman, a woman like me.
Someone like me.

An image burned into their brains.

Will their wives’ souls have to run and hide like mine does?
When does it end?

I can tell you this. It has not ended in your soul.
It has eaten you up. It is cancer.
Do you think you can feed on a diet of hatred
And come out of your locked room to love?

You say the words, but love has no meaning in your mouth
When hatred rules in your heart.
Your cruelty has eaten up every vestige of the man
I thought I was marrying.
Did you ever dream it would so consume you
That your wife and children would live in fear of your rage?

That is what you have become
Feeding your soul on poison.

I’ve never used porn.
But it has devastated my marriage, my family, my world.

Was it worth it?

You can read the rest of the article here.

The Gospel and Porn

No, I won't "shut it" about porn.  I am quite aware that even bringing up the subject can cause some to wonder down the porn path.  That's how enticing it is.  But I must keep communicating the dangers of this horrible medium.  WE must speak up.  The snowball is rolling downhill fast.  It has been gaining exponential speed ever since pornographic material was invited into the home with the simple click of a mouse.

It seems that the only ones communicating honestly about the abuse of sex are the secular artists.  With their words, images and expressions, they reach down into our innermost beings and call our sinful flesh to feast at their table.  And they are good at it.  While at the gym the other day, not only did I pass by the front desk with an issue of MAXIM magazine in full display; but I also found my head bobbing to the lyrics, "I kissed a girl and I liked it..."  WHAT THE HECK!

Again, the snowball is rolling fast.  And its getting larger.  It is difficult to go anywhere or listen to anything without getting bombarded.  Sure, there is Christian television and radio...but I don't want to go there.  Most of it, though "clean" is only superficially so.  We go there only to find that the pendulum has swung to the other side.  This get's us nothing but a new Pharisaical friend.  What we really need is the gospel, which powerfully embraces the entire clock with redemptive arms.

The gospel is not afraid of sex - nor is it afraid of porn!  It, like the secular artist, is honest.  In other words, both the gospel and the secular artist are not afraid to say what is really going on!  Notice that I did not say that they (the gospel and the artist) agree on what is right (or wrong) about what is going on.

The gospel praises the pleasures of sex, but never the distortion of it.  The gospel exposes the fact that, yes, indulgence in pornographic material is exhilarating, pleasurable and intense; but it does not leave the individual in the slums.  The artist sinfully feasts in those slums and calls others for company.  When the song is over, however, all the guests are left with no artist and with dirty faces.  Let the guilt begin.

The Krispy Kreme donuts are gone, now everyone sits around trying not to puke.

The gospel, on the other hand, goes to the slums and calls sinners to a superior pleasure!  Again, porn is the horrible distortion of something that is gloriously good.  Porn feeds the human appetite for pleasure and sexual intimacy with something less than glorious.  The gospel doesn't call for an extinction of the appetite, but rather a redirection of it.  A lion who is foolishly addicted to oatmeal should not be encouraged to stop eating; but rather, he should be redemptively redirected to eating steak! 

Here's the only dangerous part - bringing the gospel to pornographers requires taming lions.  But here is the glorious part - the gospel tames lions.  And tamed lions live powerful lives.  As Christians we must live the gospel.  Christ died to set us free.  He tore down the wall that kept us from our Superior Pleasure - God.  This is forgiveness.  This is fulfillment.

Here is the truth...The gospel targets sinners.  Yes, even pornographers.  And when it hits them, it powerfully changes them.  Porn, though tempting, is no longer appealing.  The lion looks at the oatmeal and smirks.  By grace, I am living proof.

Slave Master: How Pornography Drugs & Changes Your Brain

Salvo Magazine: Slave Master: How Pornography Drugs & Changes Your Brain - Salvo 13

This is a very interesting article on the topic of pornography and addiction. Though I am careful and reluctant to say that pornography is merely a physical addiction; I do agree with the studies which show that it does affect the brain in physical ways.

Drugs are coping mechanisms we use to fill a need only Christ can meet.

Porn is devastating to say the least. There are many who hate it, but can't seem to stay away from it. It imposes itself on our families - even our children. And to be rid of it takes more power and work than a simple, "Stop that!"

We must know the gospel. We must preach and share the gospel of Christ. There is simply no other remedy. And we must be there, with imposing lives, embracing broken us-like sinners, bearing with them, with forgiveness, patience and love.

Pornography provides a far inferior pleasure to knowing Christ our Lord.