Posted on 11/27/2012 5:09:42 AM PST by IbJensen
November 26, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - It was in the mid 90s that we began to hear a whole lot about this new thing called “the Internet,” which could answer all of mankind’s deepest questions. At around the same time I hit puberty and began to spend my time moping about pondering the age-old riddle of what, exactly, women look like underneath their clothing.
Evidently at some point I put two and two together and punched the appropriate keywords into the prehistoric version of Google, with spectacular results. So far so good, and if it had stopped there, the experiment might have been innocent enough. But there was a catch. Like most who have played the peeping Tom with porn, I found that my curiosity wasn’t satisfied. On the contrary. I had only learned what this woman looked like. But what about all the others? Obviously I needed to see a few more examples.
And thus was an addiction born.
For the next ten years or so, I would fight a sometimes-desperate fight with this devil – for devil it is – with occasional successes, and more failures than I care to remember. And but for the grace of patient and loving parents, the influence of a remarkable woman who is now my wife, and a resurgent relationship with an all-merciful God, I shudder to think down what dark paths it might have led me.
I confess that it is not easy for me to make this admission. The most enthusiastic evangelists of the sexual revolution are wont to argue that the solution to shame and guilt is to speak more openly and casually about sex, as we might about the weather, or our health. Never mind that no one is convinced, because in our heart of hearts we know that sex is not the weather, is not our health – that it is something infinitely more strange, more powerful, more beautiful, and that no amount of chattering about it will ever completely deaden that sense of shame that comes from abusing it for our own selfish ends.
However you slice it, a porn habit is a rotten thing.
But there is a kernel of truth in the lie. Shame, when buried in our psyches, can become as a worm in the core of an apple, eating away at us from the inside. For many years, I believed that I was essentially alone in this fight, that I was one of a rare breed of villainous good-for-nothings who was so enticed by this forbidden fruit. It was only much later that I learned that I was but one of millions of my generation who had unwittingly stumbled upon the magic lamp and summoned the evil genie, with the power to grant us our most private fantasies, and who demanded nothing in return but our innocence, our self-respect, our freedom, and our happiness.
We all know the figures, and so I will only mention a few of them: that the average age of exposure to hardcore pornography is now 11 years old; that around 25% of all internet searches are for pornography; that 70% of men aged 18-24 visit porn sites in a typical month; that pornography use among women is growing astronomically.
And the problem is only getting worse. With the Internet creeping even into our pockets through our smart phones, and with porn increasingly spilling over into mainstream culture, it has become more and more difficult to drown out its siren call. Truly, there is, in the whole history of the world, no precedent for what we are now witnessing – the ready availability of explicit, hardcore pornography, with all of its vicious and violent perversions, on demand, in private, even by children.
In such an atmosphere silence is fatal. My generation, and the generation just reaching adolescence, cannot afford to receive their information on sex exclusively from those who stand to profit from their addiction. And when addiction does strike, they cannot afford to feel that they are fighting the battle alone, or, even worse, fall prey to the lie that there is no battle, that porn is “normal,” even “healthy.”
And so, we who have fought and are fighting this fight must slough off the natural embarrassment that surrounds all things sexual and speak up: not, as the pornographers may hope, in order to normalize our addiction or rationalize it away, but in order to provide encouragement to one another and to affirm this truth: that pornography is a plague upon our generation, a devil in our veins, and that it must be exorcised before it reaches our heart and destroys our capacity to love once and for all.
Naturally, I had to look up ‘silicone dog toys’...boy, you had to look pretty far down to find anything repulsive.
Almost every married friend of mine 30-45 yo range is in the same exact boat. And we are really good dudes - no cheating, supportive, etc.
Its always the same old bs excuses and after awhile its the only option for those who refuse to cheat or divorce for whatever reason.
Let's see: I would bet a very, very, very small potion of the female population thinks a "train" is a fun night with the boys...?
Is that even considered "sexuality"
For something to be "debased" it has to have a baseline...as our culture descends into lower and lower standards, that baseline gets lower and lower..
Hard to believe at one time not very long ago, TV censorship did not allow people to sleep in the same bed or mention being "pregnant"
At what line do you draw to say we have gone low enough?
Well to be fair, search results can vary over time, so whatever the original person found awhile ago really could have been top dog (ha ha) at the time.
Its always the same old bs excuses
************
Yep.
As long as some do, then it is an aspect of sexuality, right?
I don’t draw lines for others, I leave that up to the individual and their relationship with God.
So what is a guy to do if he does not want to cheat / have an affair or get divorced and nothing else works?
Besides, it results in healthy behavior and some say reduces the risk of prostate troubles.
True, but the adult part in the search results is pretty telling...
Im not saying watching porn all the time is good or ok. But i certainly understand it in terms of an outlet where a person cant get any “assistance” with his significant other and does not want to cheat or divorce.
Leaving that one alone. ha ha ha ha
Hair shirts, baseball stats, saltpeter, cold baths and cat-o-nine tails applied whenever necessary...
I agree
Don’t you believe that a self-obsessed man-child in an adult body is a shameful thing?
A man who uses porn is not a man. Control yourself. Don’t be a pitiable wretch.
I think it would be difficult to distinguish a porn site from a (left-wing) political site... Free Republic excluded of course.
Human beings have physical impulses and desires that take over even the most dedicated people.
I agree whole heartedly! Just last night I was watching the tube when an ad came on for an online underwear store. It showed a beautiful teenage girl modeling their bra and panty while jumping around and stretching and rolling on the floor. How far we have fallen!
Everyone is self-obsessed to some degree. There is very little that I consider shameful, this topic is not one of them.
Why is he not a man?
You like it?
It’s okay to snuggle up with your camel though.
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