This book is turly a breath of fresh air. I believe that pornography is one of the most damagnig things in our society today due to its secretive nature and its incredibly widespread viewing and as such needs to be adressed more vocally. Admitidly, I am anxious to get to the chapters dealing with the nuerology of pornography consumption as well as some of the means to rewire your brain. Thus far, the bulk of what I have read details the ways that pornography can rework your thinking and ruin you for intimacy. I have had to be very intentional in taking these chapters in because frankly, I have experienced much of it firsthand. Like so many nowadays, I was exposed to pornography at a young age while with a friend on his family computer. It then became something that gripped me very firmly and began squeezing the life out of me until Jesus began working it out of me my first year in Chi Alpha. By that point it had become a full blown addiction and took a lot of Jesus and a lot of exposure and determination to break. Excitingly though, this month marks my third full year pornography free!
Something that I am learning that is very important for whoever reads this blog is this: Do not think that if you are a female or have never fallen captive to pornography that this book is not for you. I would recommend it to anyone because if you are not dealing with the harmful effects of pornography in your own head, it does not exempt you from dealing with its negative effects that effect many of those who you interact with in the world on a daily basis.
In addition to this I had a few other things stand out to me as I read. The first was simply a sobering glance at just what my life would have likely become if Jesus had not helped me to confess this sin. One of the parts in the book so far discussed how the content often becomes more and more disturbing as we become desensitized to the images shown to us. By the time that Jesus set me free, I had already began the shockingly rapid decline into more and more disturbing things. I would finish veiwing things and wonder to myself for hours how I could have ever gotten to a point that I was aroused by the types of things that I had just viewed...only to suprise myself again the next day or week. I praise God for setting me free! Another disturbing thing that I have noticed in regards to pornography research (I did some similar research to this book my senior year as a way to bring this sin to the light for my classmates) was that a large portion of it was done by secular femenist researchers. I found myself wondering: WHERE ARE THE MEN WHO WILL STAND UP FOR HOLINESS AND STAND AGAINST THIS EVIL! We need a generation of college age men to go directly and noticably against the current of the society we are in on this campus. It speaks volumes when there is someone who fits the porn addict mold (i.e. a 18-24 year old male) who is willing to stand up in a class discussion and tell the class that pornography is an abomonation and that we should be seeking to be set free from it instead of making jokes about it.
Lastly, I would like to invite any guy who is still caught in pornography to come and talk with me about it. I know that I felt dirty and hopless when I was held slave to it but my victory came through confession: to my brothers, to my pastor, to my dad. I am totally available to help you as someone who knows what it is like.
Side note: Forgive me as I am still figuring out how in deapth to share about my struggles in this area. I have been chewing on Ephesians 5:11-12 for help in knowing whether to "bear it all" and expose what my life looked like or whether to not shamefully mention what I did in secret as a man disobedient to Christ. Any commentary on those verses that you deem helpful for good discussion are welcome as comments below!
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