Steve Fetrow, a respected spiritual leader, resigned his position as a youth pastor in 1997 due in part to his use of pornography. Fetrow isn't alone. According to a recent study commissioned by Focus on the Family, there is no statistical difference between the number of Christians and the general population who view pornography on the Internet.

Fetrow got help at Stonegate Resources and today he is the counseling director for a Church in Wichita, Kansas where he helps pastors and laymen with their struggles. "I don't think the answer is behavior modification." Fetrow said, "It's surrendering to Christ."

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things." (Philip. 4:8 NASB)

To discover how to protect your family from Internet pornography, visit http://www.freshministry.org/articles/trash.html

Just what is so awful about pornography? After all, it is just pictures on a page, or images on a screen that don’t hurt anybody. According to Tony Woodlief the entire purpose of porn, whether it is the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue or something more intense, “is to cast images that are unforgettable.” Whether it is the sexual or the violent or the sexually violent version, the creators and their profit-seeking marketers want you to remember what you’ve witnessed.” They create images not just on paper or screen, but on the mind, where they are not so easily disposed.

--“XXX Unforgettable” World, June 19, 2010 p. 99. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

God’s provision for us is to keep our minds focused on what is pure and good. Nothing is better than a mind that has concentrated on those things that are pure and good.

Philippians 4:8 (ESV) “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Tony Woodlief, writing in World Magazine explains what is wrong with pornography and why we need to be protecting our young sons from its perversity. “I remember discovering my stepfather’s stash of pornography as a child, and the heart-thumping realization that here was something secret and forbidden. There’s no regaining your innocence once you’ve looked upon obscenity.”

--“XXX Unforgettable” World, June 19, 2010 p. 99. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Woodlief goes on to argue that the sophisticated who declare there is nothing wrong with looking at beautiful women in stages of undress are simple-minded. The boy who learns to view women as items of sexual consumption will be forever changed.

Until recently, obscenity laws have been our method for helping our children guard their hearts. “The eyes and ears of children must be guarded,” Woodlief says. “This is wisdom garnered over centuries and across civilizations. Only recently has it been cast aside.”

Luke 21:34 (ESV) “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.”

Dayton Moore is the general manager of the Kansas City Royals. He is battling to educate his young players on the harm pornography does both to the players themselves and to the women they love. Surprisingly he is getting pushback, not from the team but from people in the porn industry, some sports journalists, and some scientists.

Moore uses Fight The New Drug (FTND), a nonreligious anti-porn organization to help educate the younger players about “the harmful effects of pornography” and the need to honor women, respecting them as human beings and not as sexual objects.

In an era when powerful men are falling from grace due to sexual misconduct toward women, the church needs to stand with Moore, teaching young men how to view and treat women properly. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

In some places, men are becoming more open about viewing highly explicit material in public. On buses, trains, subways, just about anywhere men are opening their cellphones and watching hard-core pornography. In England, a parliamentary committee recently concluded that porn is as damaging to society as smoking. Journalist Sarah Vine, writing in the Daily Mail, says “actually, internet pornography is worse: It has “stunted the emotional well-being of an entire generation.” —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-6309367/SARAH-VINE-men-watch-porn-bus-sink-lower.html

1 Corinthians 6:18 (CSB) “Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.”

Christians have been fighting pornography for a long time. Many times they have been ridiculed for their beliefs that pornography is evil. Now, non-Christians are discovering the harm it causes. Gail Dines is a self-described radical feminist who wants pornography stopped. She speaks with the fervor of a tent-revival preacher, proclaiming a message that resonates with Christians, but the Bible isn’t her handbook.

Dines, is a part of the Boston porn-fighting nonprofit, Culture Reframed, and is part of a growing secular movement to eliminate violent, degrading sexual images, especially on the internet. Feminists, medical professionals, and legislators are working together, sometimes alongside Christians, in a multipronged attack on porn. Christians like Patrina Mosley of the Family Research Council appreciate the help. She highlights FRC’s partnering with secular organizations to correct and clarify app ratings to better protect children from online porn. The efforts of these strange allies have convinced 15 states to declare porn a public health crisis. Having porn designated a public health crisis helps legislators introduce stronger laws against porn, and it gives activists ammunition to confront corporations and public libraries to block porn.

Pornography has become a crisis and parents need help. Dines helps parents. “Many parents don’t have a clue their kids are accessing porn, don’t know how violent it is, and have no idea how to talk to kids about it.” Sometimes in our war on behalf of morality others discover the societal dangers of immorality. –Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

Philippians 4:8 (CSB) “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.”