Straight talk about porn

[notice]A fortnightly column by Elfrieda Fleischman, Concerned Young People in SA (CYPSA). [/notice]Many find themselves in the grip of porn. Maybe you yourself have fallen into its trap. You were not looking for it…it just came your way, as you were opening a website and now the thoughts remain.

You feel shy, you feel embarrassed and guilty. You have difficulty looking people in the eye… and yet these pictures haunt you, they follow you through the day, as you open your study books, as you close your eyes. You try to concentrate on the teacher, but before you know it, the process has started… You feel filthy and defiled.  You feel aggressive towards your parents,  at a loss of words when you want to pray. Just the other day as you opened your Bible, the internal video started to play, you felt the feelings…and realised you have been caught – you are not in right standing with the Lord.

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Because more than 90 per cent of modern day youth struggle with porn (most are too shy to admit it), we as the Concerned Young People of SA want to give you the full facts, the facts that you did not know. You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free..

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Facts that you were not told:
What is Porn?
The word “pornography” comes  from the Greek words, “porne” meaning  a harlot, prostitute, or whore, and  “graphos” meaning a writing or depiction.
If we add both words together we arrive at “A depiction or description of the activities of whores.”
Webster expounds to indicate that pornography also means  “… a portrayal of erotic behavior designed to cause sexual excitement.”

Porn is big business, the 2006 Worldwide Pornography Revenues ballooned to $97.06 billion. There are 4.2 million pornographic websites and 42.7 per cent of internet viewers view porn. Per month 72 million people view pornography on the Internet.

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How does Porn work?

Pornographic images stimulate the production of a “cocktail” of endogen drugs, natural substances produced by the body.

• Dopamine (produces feelings of pleasure): chemically similar to cocaine
•  Norepinephrine: chemically similar to adrenaline
• Serotonin: similar to LSD
• Endorphines: similar to morphine (also produced in the body)

Research shows that viewing pornography  produces a cocktail of drugs  with an effect similar to street drugs!

What are the stages of Porn addiction?
From his experience in treating pornography addicts, Dr Cline explains the following :
(A) Addiction:
“The first change that happens is an addiction effect. The porn-consumers get  hooked. Once involved in pornographic materials, they keep coming  back for more and still more. The material seems to  provide a very powerful sexual stimulant or aphrodieffect, followed by sexual release, most often through masturbation.”
“Once addicted, they cannot throw off their dependence on the material by themselves, despite many negative consequences such as divorce, loss of  family, and problems with the law …”

(B) Escalation:
The second phase is an escalation-effect. With the passage of time, the addicted person requires  rougher, more explicit, more deviant, and ‘kinky’  kinds of sexual material to get their ‘highs’ and ‘sexual turn-ons.’

(C) Desensitisation:
The third phase is desensitization. Pornography which was originally perceived as shocking, taboo breaking, illegal, repulsive, or immoral, though still sexually arousing, in time comes to be seen as acceptable and commonplace.

(D) Acting out sexually:
The fourth phase is an increasing tendency to act  out sexually the behaviours viewed in the pornography, including compulsive promiscuity, exhibitionism, group sex, having sex with minor children, rape, and inflicting pain on themselves or a partner during sex.

Examples of Porn addicted victims who became criminals:

Gary Bishop, Serial Killer  —  “Pornography was a determining factor in my downfall.”

Ted Bundy, Serial Killer — “In the beginning it fuels this kind of thought  process. Then at a certain time, it’s instrumental in what I would say crystallizing it. At that point … I was on the verge of acting out these kinds of thoughts … and it happened in stages … you become addicted … I would keep looking for more explicit, more graphic kinds of materials … until you reach the point where the pornography only goes so far. You reach that jumping-off point where you begin to wonder if maybe actually doing it will give you that which is beyond just reading about it or looking at it. …

“The influence of violent pornography-which is an indispensable link in the chain of behaviour … the assaults, the murders and what have you … I know that I could not control it … “

Jeffrey Dahmer, Serial Killer
While in the U.S. Army he found graphic porn in Germany and spent thousands of dollars on it. He admitted to killing as often as once a week.  ..

Rewired brains
As porn starts to change the physical structure within the brain, and the body gets used to the cocktail of internally produced drugs, the body starts demanding  the “kick”. As porn, cannot satisfy this demand anymore, the person starts to act out the very things seen and dreamed about.

With the increasing consumption of porn and its impact on more and more individuals the result is a community that has got used to porn and is “porn addicted”.

We read in the Bible in Gensis 6 that God complained to Noah about the thoughts and inclinations of man being all evil, and about the violence and corruption that covered the earth. And in Genesis 18 He spoke to Abraham about the evil deeds of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Could  it be that the minds of those Od Testament people had been rewired, so that their thinking patterns were continuously evil?

Friends what is happening around as today?  And you remain silent?  Now is the time for action, let us make our voice known.  We want legislation in place that will protect us. Why are the controls of the Film and Publication Board watered down?  Why is porn even available in Supermarkets today? Let us unite and stand together and raise our voice against this filth.

There is hope
Even though it is not easy to get free from pornography addiction, there is hope!  Your thinking patterns have formed crooked footpaths and these must now be destroyed. By creating new thinking footpaths the old ones will become impassable.

STEPS to freedom:
1. Confess your sin to the Lord Jesus in truth and honesty.  Leave no stone unturned.
2. Plead for His mercy, forgiveness and help.
3. Seek out a mature Christian to pray with you and who can become your accountability partner.
4. Begin memorising Scripture, fill your mind with wholesome “food”.
5. When tempted, flee to the arms of Christ … and then get up and find yourself some practical work to do.

Help is also available via the CYPSA Concerned Community which can be contacted as follows:
Help Line: (032) 481 5742   www.preciousyouth.org.za   cypsouthafrica@gmail.com

Sources
Cline, V.B., Pornography’s Effects on Adults and Children. New York: Morality in Media, 1999 edition. p. 9.
(Dr. Victor B. Cline is a psychologist at the University of Utah with a private practice as a psychotherapist specialising in family marital counselling and sexual addiction. He has counselled numerous couples where one of the partners has an addiction to pornography.)
Reisman, J.A., The psychopharmacology of pictorial pornography. Restructuring brain, mind mind & memory & subverting freedom of speech.