The porn industry makes over $13 billion per year; that is more than the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. 90% of children first viewed porn as 8-16 years old, mostly while doing homework! The average age children first view porn is 11. ELEVEN. This is a serious issue.
It is no secret that I am a member of the LDS Church. I absolutely love my faith and embrace its teachings. The Church recently released this video:
It is fantastic! It is geared towards children, but we really should embrace it ourselves as adults! It gives the following advice in order to avoid the evils of pornography:
1. Call it what it is.
A lot of times we won't recognize fully what we are seeing. We can lie to ourselves and say a pornographic image is justified because it's human, it's a part of a movie and I don't want to miss any part of the plot, or even "it makes me feel good, and I am still a good person after watching it. Why should I change when I'm stronger than that?" In reality, yes, we have our free will to act for ourselves and to control our actions and even our thoughts. However, the truth is we are always affected by our surroundings regardless of how "strong" we are. When we learn to call pornography exactly what it is, we are that much closer to beating it.
2. Turn it off or turn away.
Like the children in the video describe, these images can make us curious, even if we know it is bad. We are human, simple as that. It takes a lot of courage to shut our laptops down, turn off our phones, turn off the TV, and walk away. The faster you decide to do this, the easier it will get for you. Make the decision before it even happens to close out and walk away. Go as far as deleting apps that frequently give you pornographic images or blocking certain websites.
3. Talk to a trusted adult (spouse, friend, parent, Church leader like your Bishop)
This might seem silly to adults. Maybe we feel ashamed that we were put in that situation. Maybe we even think we are fine because we did the first steps. Josh and I make a point to avoid pornography in every sense of the word. We have turned off movies before because of a sex scene or even a scene that eludes to something inappropriate. It's so important to us as a couple to be pure and faithful to each other that we don't take this lightly. If you are married, talk to your spouse about a plan and what actions you will take to avoid these situations. If you're not married, make a list and commit to yourself what you will do when that time comes.
I can't emphasize enough how important it is to kill pornography before it kills us from the inside out. You may think it's nothing to be concerned about, but it is real, it is scary, and we need to take control of our lives.
What else can we do to avoid allowing porn into our lives?
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