“You may not be looking for porn, but porn is looking for you.” That is a line I read a while ago that seemed to epitomize the problem. Whether you are parents or not, you can install filters, limit screen time, and restrict the use of screens to common spaces and it is likely this will still fail to prevent porn from finding you. There is no sure fire way to prevent access except to shut down all the screens. Even then, the mind will continue to explore when the screen is blank.
AI, the connection between violence and porn, the normalization of every perversion, and the problems of the body images porn portrays as normal -- they all combine to make it far worse than the glimpse of the forbidden. Furthermore, the goal is to turn the watcher into an addict and the means to this goal are no less sophisticated for the porn provider than it is for the video game industry. The similarity between porn addiction and other addictions, especially drugs, is high and this alone ought to make you concerned.
Coercive, non-consensual, dehumanized, aggressive, violent, and harmful acts are normalized in porn and those who watch it learn over time that these are regular and even routine. The role of porn in all kinds of violence and aggression is well documented -- especially among teens. Porn has replaced parents, books, and peers as the primary source of sexual information for adolescents. It exposes children to the world of predators who exploit and abuse children even further. What is worse, it is often free and freely accessible to those whose bodies and minds are just being developed and maturing and what porn does is to corrupt and distort this development. In many cases, it effectively prevents the normal maturation of both desire and the sense of what is moral and right.
Age verification is a start but before it will reduce the availability and consumption of pornography, the media will have to stop marketing soft porn in the form of TV shows, movies, and online subscriptions. Even then, what it stops among the minors in our society is still available to those who are above legal age. Could it be that porn is at least partially responsible for the decline in marriage and family? Could it be that the loneliness so abundant today across age groups is also a symptom of our world of porn and how it shapes and corrupts the expectation and desires of our people?
The sadder reality is that porn has also captured Christians in its web. This is a health care crisis for the nation but it is also a problem for the Church. Porn has become normalized in the minds of our people -- young and old. It has become so normal that we do not take seriously the dangers of porn to our faith and our identity as children of God. The porn agenda is not to expose you to its perversion but to addict you to it and to seek you out wherever you are to capture your imagination in its maze of sinful desire. Once captured, those who watch and especially those addicted will find it nearly impossible to admit nor to seek out help for this problem. While that is true across the board, it is especially true for the Christian.
1 comment:
Indeed, widely available now, pornography is spiritually and mentally destructive and pernicious. As you said, it is not just people seeking it, but pornography seeks viewers. It is all over social media and the internet. Since people are using social media in record numbers, pornography has increased. The best approach is to place secure settings on devices, and also limit or eliminate time spent aimlessly scrolling through Tik Tok or similar apps. As Christians, we need to guard our hearts, because spiritual warfare is constant and unrelenting. Psalm 119:133, “Order my steps in Your word, Lord, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.” Soli Deo Gloria
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