I am sure we are all pretty familiar with the saying, You are what you Eat, which underscores that what you eat will have an effect, one way or the other!  The same, in many respects, can be said for what we put before our eyes, as what we will look at will become fodder for what we think about!

With this in mind, we should take note of the recent study by the Family Research Council on…

THE EFFECTS OF PORNOGRAPHY ON INDIVIDUALS, MARRIAGE, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY.  

Here is how Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D., introduces this study…

Pornography is a visual representation of sexuality which distorts an individual’s concept of the nature of conjugal relations. This, in turn, alters both sexual attitudes and behavior. It is a major threat to marriage, to family, to children and to individual happiness. In undermining marriage it is one of the factors in undermining social stability.

Social scientists, clinical psychologists, and biologists have begun to clarify some of the social and psychological effects, and neurologists are beginning to delineate the biological mechanisms through which pornography produces its powerful negative effects.

Here are some of this study’s main findings…

Pornography use is a pathway to infidelity and divorce, and is frequently a major factor in these family disasters.

Both spouses perceive pornography viewing as tantamount to infidelity.

Pornography viewing leads to a loss of interest in good family relations.

Pornography is addictive, and neuroscientists are beginning to map the biological substrate of this addiction.

Users tend to become desensitized to the type of pornorgraphy they use, become bored with it, and then seek more perverse forms of pornography.

Pornography engenders greater sexual permissiveness, which in turn leads to a greater risk of out-of-wedlock births and STDs. These, in turn, lead to still more weaknesses and debilities.

Many adolescents who view pornography initially feel shame, diminished self-confidence, and sexual uncertainty, but these feelings quickly shift to unadulterated enjoyment with regular viewing.

The main defenses against pornography are close family life, a good marriage and good relations between parents and children, coupled with deliberate parental monitoring of Internet use. Traditionally, government has kept a tight lid on sexual traffic and businesses, but in matters of pornography that has waned almost completely, except where child pornography is concerned. Given the massive, deleterious individual, marital, family, and social effects of pornography, it is time for citizens, communities, and government to reconsider their laissez-faire approach.

I would encourage you to read right through all of the main findings, HERE, and to download the study these findings are based on.

To download this study, you can do a couple of things.  (1) You can click HERE, which will automatically download it … or (2) You can go to the Family Research Council HERE, where you can also download it… or (3) You can go to Ed Setzer’s blog (who gave one the heads up) HERE, where you can download it and join in the discussion with Ed.

This really is a serious issue in our cultures around the world, and as this study affirms, the viewing of pornography is not some harmless-right-of-passage-activity that, as a perception of culture, boys, go through for a time in their lives!

It is literally ripping the very heart out of our humanity on both sides of the sexual spectrum, and right up and down the age range, and should it be viewed as anything but toxic in its effect, those who have such a perspective, and act out of this in reality, will be left to reap the whirlwind!

If to exemplify this in our youth, I read this from Mark Driscoll on his Facebook page.  This is what he affirmed…

“Sex”/”Porn” in top 5 Google searches for kids under 18

If you have children, growing up in this saturated with sex culture, no matter what factors you perceive that make you believe, Jimmy wouldn’t do this… you need to wise up to reality, and be pro-active in the fight… You could start by reading this post on Parenting for the Heart, which outlines the sexual habits of “Evangelical offspring.”

Also, take note of the following words in a University Study, which Justin Taylor has affirmed…

Researchers were conducting a study comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users.

But their project stumbled at the first hurdle when they failed to find a single man who had not been seen it.

“We started our research seeking men in their 20s who had never consumed pornography,” said Professor Simon Louis Lajeunesse. “We couldn’t find any.” (Emphasis Mine)

If one was to combine the results of both studies, with the first pointing out the disastrous effects of Pornography, with the second, affirming how rampant this is in our culture, taking into account the Google statistics, affirming how easy it can be for teenagers to get their hands on it… Houston, we have a problem!!!

Given these figures and the impact in our culture, what are some steps we can we do about it?

Here are Some Practical Steps!

1) You could make use of the FREE resources on this page HERE, which provide some resources from quality sources!  While you are at it, you could also consider buying a copy or two of the books highlighted.

2) You can download and read through Mark Driscoll’s Free e-Book, Porn Again.

Here is how he describes the context and motivation of this book…

I became a Christian at the age of nineteen, started doing ministry as a Bible study leader almost immediately, and planted Mars Hill Church in the fall of 1996 at the age of twenty-five. Prior to my conversion, I had been sexually active and looked at porn. These were the first sins I remember being deeply convicted of as a new Christian and by God’s grace I have been able to walk away from those sins and to Jesus.

Over the years, much of my ministry has been to men in general, and young, single men in particular. The least likely person to go to church in virtually every nation, including my own, is a single man between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four. These guys are a priority for me. As our church began growing, I started pulling these guys together for “boot camps” to speak to them off the record with plain speech about real issues of being men. The guys were responsive and very few had a dad, let alone a Christian dad, and they were clueless about why God made men.

… To help these guys, some years ago I sat down and in one day wrote a small booklet about male sexuality that we published in-house. Since then we have gone through thousands of copies and literally cannot keep it in stock. I asked some Christian publishers if they wanted it, and they said it was too hot to handle and so they declined.

So, I decided to just put it online and give it away for free…

You can read the whole introduction HERE.

You can download the e-Book HERE.

3) If this REALLY is a PRESENT TENSE issue for you, you need to have the courage to confront it.  While there may be consequences as a result of you speaking the truth about this issue, the details of the study affirmed in this post underscore that this things will invariably only get worse if pornography has a hold of your life.  Don’t let it steal anymore of your life!

Therefore, dependent on your context, please have the courage to speak up…

4) If this is not a present issue, be diligent with how you use your eyes… Remember, the mighty have fallen, even those who are described as being an individual after God’s Own Heart!

Finally…

No matter if this is an issue for you or not, O reader, the following is a video by an individual, who was caught in this web, who by the grace of God, was brought out.  It is really worth your viewing, and you can find it… HERE!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin