Ok, I have a few issues if this article and there are a few things I like. I'll start with what I like.
The cardboard butterfly illustration is good. Its accurate in my opinion. If you're simple trying to understand
what porn actually does...its a good description.
Also... this part "
Let’s say, for example, that you just got done with a 10 mile run on a hot day. You come inside and there are two glasses of water on the kitchen table. One is regular water from the tap; the other is salt water. Both look the same. Both are water. But while one glass will hydrate your body, the other will leave you more dehydrated than before. And over time, while regular water will keep you alive, drinking only salt water would kill you faster than if you drank nothing at all." this...it good.
For me its a very accurate description of what pornography did to my life. It was salt water. And it nearly destroyed my life. According to some people, it did. Well, porn and the promiscuity that came along with it.
NOW...Since I've been positive for a little but I'm going to come out with the negative
For starters "porn" is a broad term. I don't really think a lot of people realize how easy inappropriate images are to access.
Never in my life have I sat down and watched a porn flick start to finish. But I couldn't even begin to number the images that I've accessed. If you're a parent and your kid has snapchat, delete it
There are other programs similar...I've personally used snapchat and kik to avoid texting and having a traceable trail. Its also super easy to hide apps and lock down images on nearly any smart phone. Computers aren't as easy to me because that wasn't what I used.
And secondly, as long as I can remember I've heard people who were "shocked", "horrified", and over all condescending
(NOT directing this at the OP, at all...this is a generalized statement) about this "problem". I've heard everything from
just don't look, look away, lock the internet, don't let the internet in your home (directed at parents), and my personal
favorite...Always know what you teen is doing! If you watch them enough they cant get into "trouble".
While most of these ideas are generally well meaning they are really way off base. Personally, as a parent I will ALWAYS
restrict what my kid can access online. I'm not diminishing that idea at all. But...over sheltering TEENAGERS
isn't going to work when in reality a lot of kids are well on their way to addicted or are addicted long before their teen years.
My first porn experience was before my 8th birthday. I was addicted (as in DAILY usage) before my 11th birthday.
My mom found it. Put on internet filters, had my grandpa put the flat out fear of God in me, acted insanely horrified,
had mortifying long talks about it over the next 3-4 years...but nothing really did any good. Because nothing changed.
Her filter did nothing. In the moment I assured myself and usually whomever cornered me...it would NEVER happen again.
But there it was later. I don't say this in a bragging "Look how smart I am" way...its just reality. Most of your kids can predict passwords, and out technology you. If that sounds disrespectful I honestly and totally do NOT mean it to...I'm just being honest.
Anyways, the cycle of "NOPE never happening again" and failing led me to a point where I didn't care.
I decided that obviously I wasn't really capable of stopping and the shocked and (usually) condescending attitudes of people trying to "help" left me feeling unfixable. Totally unfixable. And unlovable, unforgivable, and unworthy. I had a couple accountability buddies, I got grounded, I TRIED...in my power to fix myself (while hearing how TRYING is a cop out...just do it). But while I tried to fix it...it just kept eating at me. It became my gateway to sex...because porn stopped being enough. And it took control of almost every area of my life.
Until God convicted me. It went beyond the "this is wrong and I shouldn't do it" feeling and went to "Oh God...I'm going to vomit, cry, and maybe die now". Once He took me there I looked for help. I looked to the Bible, I dodged every image I could, I broke up with my girlfriend, I worked on me and I prayed my heart out when the temptation came my way....and still...I was there. I wanted to stop but I didn't, I hesitate to say I COULDNT but it was just so easy to get to
and I didn't. My late night attempts to avoid online porn actually brought me to CC and some pretty awesome people and in a random threaded on porn I learned about the book Willie promotes obnoxiously (his words note mine
).
That book, along with praying, getting closer to God overall, and some awesome people God brought into my life, brought me to a point of understanding WHO I am and what I, through the power Christ gives me, am honestly capable of.
Because God offered me grace...I can live without constant guilt, I can exercise self control, I realize that on a daily (or maybe hourly..heck on a minute by minute) basis I can take my thoughts captive and I OWN THEM.
I don't have to run around looking at the ground, snap a rubber band on my wrist, or pray I just see no females.
I am far from perfection...but for really the first time in my life I feel capable of emotion and love. I feel capable of looking at the heart of a person and seeing more than a body that is attractive. The last pornographic image I looked at...all I saw was her eyes. And how sad they looked. I see my girlfriend in an entirely different light. She is worth loving. She is worth protecting.
Annnnnnnnd I said ALL that to say this...You can scream diversion, you can tell people not to look, you can lock down anything and everything...but..until you honestly get people to understand that Christ died to provide grace that allows us to live a victorious life you aren't SOLVING anything at all.
sheesh...that was a really huge giant wall of text
Sorry for the thread spam but I really felt like I should post that.