For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man unclean – Matthew 15:19-20a
Consumer statistics are hard to believe: 64% of young people, ages 13–24, actively seek out pornography weekly or more often. Porn sites receive more regular traffic than Netflix, Amazon, & Twitter combined each month and 35% of all internet downloads are porn-related.
Further still, adults who seek treatment for pornography addiction almost always attest to exposure during childhood. Whether these adults are involved in multiple affairs, self-gratification, or prostitution, they usually share the experience of getting started years earlier with what seemed to be harmless magazines containing nude photographs.
My point is this: if you have a teenager, he or she is a target for the pornography industry. Therefore, be observant of their behavior and prepared to take immediate action if pornography is discovered. If you discover evidence of porn usage, don’t simply take the child’s word that it was a one-time experience. In most cases, it’s the tip of the iceberg.
Adolescents caught up in this problem are usually much too ashamed to ask for help and too emotionally immature to realize there may be a problem. So even if your child has a history of honesty, it’s much wiser to at least consider that your child may be trying to hide a bigger problem. If you ignore the evidence, you may be ignoring you child’s subconscious attempt to get help.
– Steve Arterburn
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. – Mark Twain
