It is a cardinal rule of my life to try to help make life easier for those within the circle of my influence. To this end I have felt it part of my mission to raise the voice of warning to any who might be persuaded to heed it when I see something seriously amiss in the lives of those I love and care about.
Today I add my voice to those prophets and physicians, philosophers and historians, broken-hearted wives and bewildered children, as I decry the terrible blight that pornography has brought upon our generation.
What is happening may be the ‘overflowing scourge’ that prophets in holy scripture say will bring down a people, a nation, even a civilization.
Years ago, historians Will and Ariel Durant, in their book The Lessons of History, concluded that civilizations have fallen because of unbridled or pervasive sexuality: “[A young person] will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restrains if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group” (pp. 35-36).
In my recent experience as a Church leader I have found that many, perhaps most, of the young men (age 18-30) under my stewardship had been negatively affected by the scourge of pornography. And these were good Christian boys. Some were also young women. Sadly, some of my charges were strongly addicted.
Recent surveys indicate that 90% of college age young men are regularly exposed to pornography and 30% of young women view, or more often, participate in pornography through chat rooms or similar media (Jason S. Carroll, et. al., “Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use Among Emerging Adults,” Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 23 (1) 2008, p. 6-30). They are being badly damaged by it, and it will get worse with them.
In addition to being an isolative, anti-social, and depressive influence for the participant, it produces extremely harmful effects on marriages, families, and normal, healthy and developing heterosexual relationships between people. Plainly put, the behavior of the pornography participant changes for the worse.
Playing with pornography is a relationship with fantasy of the worst kind. It produces a fracturing of trust with spouses and with spouses-to-be when it is found out—and it is always eventually found out. Guilt and shame are concomitants of the practice of viewing pornographic material as is a progressive desensitization as the practice quickly moves toward addiction.
Pornography is highly addicting. An addiction is a phenomenon that actually changes brain physiology and structure. As medical doctor Jeffery Satinover, M.D., reported to a Senate committee in 2004, it is a drug “injected directly into the brain through the eyes.”
Addiction is pathological learning that damages nerve cells and affects neurotransmitter production. It causes changes in brain circuitry and a shrinkage in the control and pleasure centers of the brain. When viewing pornography the brain produces a large amount of adrenaline (epinephrine) and the excitatory neurotransmitters dopamine and oxytocin. Because oxytocin causes a bonding to the stimulus that liberates it, it is believed that a transference to a preference for pornography over real people and real and natural sexuality occurs. And with the repeated over-stimulation of dopamine production that participation with pornography generates, these nerve centers become damaged and soon put out less dopamine in the normal state causing the person to be depressed and less functional except when on a short-lived porn ‘high’ when dopamine kicks in.
The addicted person is no longer living in a real world, but a false, an artificial ‘virtual world’ that sooner than later lets the hooked person down hard but with no natural relief. With the addicted person a craving supplants normal sexual rhythms and the person becomes totally focused on his unrequited appetite. He is now dysfunctional with all the negatives that accrue to it—as are all addicts.
Recovery, as with all addictions, is very difficult but possible. Without help, however, I would say that it cannot be done by one so entrapped.
A valuable book for helpers, professionals, or one so ‘hooked’ is: “He Restoreth My Soul,” by Donald L. Hilton Jr., M.D. (Forward Press Publishing, LLC, P.O. Box 593499, San Antonio, TX 78259; or www.ForwardPress.org).
As with involvement with any vice, the victim pays a huge price. The only winner is the one profiting financially from the destruction of its victims.
‘Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy the kind of misery you prefer.’ (author unknown)
1 comment:
Well Put Ron. think of all the 'social diseases' that have killed and are killing people by the millions in Africa and elsewhere. And what is the 'social cure'? "Have careful sex", just like the alcohol companies advertising "Drink responsibly". Hah. Elder Packer said it so well, "We need to build fences at the top of the cliff rather than provide ambulances at the bottom.
Dave Shipley
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