Generation Porn 07 & 08

In this series I am sharing a workshop that my wife and I conducted at a Summer Camp at the end of 2014. In it we gave 12 reasons to stop looking at porn, and once again, acknowledge Tim Chester as the writer of the book which was most helpful in our preparation.

So far I have shared six reasons to stop looking at porn. They are:

1. Porn wrecks your view of sex.
2. Porn wrecks your view of women.
3. Porn wrecks women's view of themselves.
4. The porn industry abuses women.
5. Porn is a sin against your wife.
6. Porn wrecks families. 

Before I start on the next section, it is worth noting that reasons 1-6 focus on the impact of porn on other people, while reasons 7-12 will focus on porn's impact on us and our relationship to God and his people.

So, with that in mind, here are reasons seven and eight.

7.             Porn is enslaving (p32)

“Death and destruction are never satisfied, and neither are they eyes of man” Pr 27:20

There is NO truth to the saying ‘it doesn’t hurt anyone.’ It hurts you.

“I kept resolving not to do it again”, says Ahmed, “only to be out buying porn the next weekend. It felt like I needed to do it to relive he desire and get it out of the system.”

Here’s a statement from one bloke who chose to give up porn:

“I feel like the next Sir Isaac Newton or Leonardo da Vinci!

Since I quit a month ago, I've literally: started a business, taken up piano, been studying French every day, been programming, drawing, writing, started managing my finances, and have more awesome ideas than I know what to do with. My confidence is sky high. I already feel like I can talk to any girl. I’m the same guy who took 2 and a 1/2 extra years to graduate from college - because of procrastination and depression.”

Gary Wilson “The Great Porn Experiment”

Porn promises so much, but it can’t truly deliver, so it leaves you wanting more – more quantity and more extreme activity.

Chester writes: Recently I heard of a Christian leader who was caught looking at child porn in an internet café. The police were called, and no he faces a prison sentence. His marriage is wrecked, perhaps irretrievably. He has been in Christian ministry for more than thirty years. You don’t think this could be you? He never thought porn would take over his life. He never started out with an interest in child porn. But porn gradually drew him deeper and deeper in.

8.             Porn erodes your character (p34)

King David didn’t decide one day to commit murder. He was on the roof of his house and let his eyes wander. And then his heart wandered. At this point he had no thoughts of murder, but sin was desensitizing him.

When you first use porn, you have to push past your conscience. Your conscience screams at you to stop. But you block your ears and close your heart . . . Gradually you’ll find it easier to use porn, as your conscience becomes a dull echo in the recesses of your heart.