PORNOGRAPHY

To pretend this epidemic doesn't exist would be irrationally naive. To chalk this problem up to a prudish religious sentiment would be scientifically dishonest. To believe that this doesn't happen to our youth would be dangerous. To avoid speaking of it would be deadly.

Pornography has morphed and evolved over the decades. To soft-core porn in fashion magazines, cable shows, and back-alley flyers to immediate, on-demand, hard-core porn on our cell phones one thing is certain...pornography isn't going anywhere. If the conservative hopes of this just simply fading away they are going to be sorely disappointed. And so we must engage this on all fronts. It must be addressed on a personal level, with the family, from the pulpit, and rooted within the heart.

This will not and cannot be an exhaustive comprehensive database for this topic but we do want to give you at least the primer for you to think through and walk others through. We believe this must be addressed not only for the many reasons which you're about to read but because ultimately it hits straight at the image of God that is within each person.

1. Porn sites receive more regular traffic than Netflix, Amazon, & Twitter combined each month. (HuffPost) In 2016, people watched 4.6 billion hours of pornography at just one website (the biggest porn site in the world). That’s 524,000 years of porn or, if you will, around 17,000 complete lifetimes.
   
   
2. 35% of all internet downloads are porn-related. (WebRoot)
   
   
3. 34% of internet users have been exposed to unwanted porn via ads, pop-ups, etc. (WebRoot)
   
   
4. Porn increased marital infidelity by 300%. (WebRoot) 80% of porn users feel no sense of guilt when using porn
   
   
5. At least 30% of all data transferred across the internet is porn-related. (HuffPost) 61% of pornography is watched on a mobile phone. In the United States that is as high as 70%
   
   
6. The most common female role in porn is women in their 20’s portraying teenagers. (Jon Millward.) (In 2013, Millward conducted the largest personal research study on the Porn Industry in the U.S. He interviewed 10,000 porn stars about various aspects of the business.)
   
   
7. Child porn is one of the fastest growing online businesses. (IWF)
   
   
8. 624,000+ child porn traders have been discovered online in the U.S. (Innocent Justice)
   
   
9. Child porn is a $3 billion industry. (TopTenReviews)
   
   
10. Porn is a global, $97 billion industry, with $12 billion of that coming from the U.S. (NBC News)
    
    
11. At age 11, the average child has already been exposed to explicit pornographic content through the internet. 93% of boys and 62% of girls are exposed to internet-based pornography during their adolescent years
    
    
12. 96% of young adults are either encouraging, accepting, or neutral in their view toward pornography. (17% talk about porn in a positive way
    
    
13. Today, 33% of women aged 25 and under go searching for porn at least once per month. 56% of women in that age group have gone looking for it at least one time in the past
    

Sources: https://www.challies.com/articles/10-ugly-and-updated-numbers-about-pornography-use; https://www.barna.com/the-porn-phenomenon/

1. It’s Not That Big a Deal

One of the foremost lies you may be tempted to believe when it comes to porn is this: It’s not that big a deal. If everyone else is doing it, it can’t be too serious a sin, right?

2. Porn Only Affects Me Anyways

The second lie is that my porn only affects me anyway. Porn wants you to believe this is your business and no one else’s. Even if it’s harmful, it’s harmful only to you. If you are tempted to believe this lie, you need to take some time to count the cost of pornography.

3. This is My Secret

Porn’s third lie is that it’s a secret sin. You may be tempted to believe that what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom is no one’s concern but your own. One of porn’s favorite lies is that this is your secret and that you are the only one who will ever know about it.

4. This Sin Will Satisfy

The next lie is that this sin will satisfy. You know how it feels when you convince yourself you just need to sin, that you can’t possibly be content unless you give in, that you can’t possibly avoid sin and remain satisfied. The only way you can be happy right now, the only way you can be content, the only way you can sleep tonight, is if you sin.

5. I Am Beyond Hope

The fifth lie of porn is this: You are beyond hope. Porn’s greatest lie may be that it owns you, that you are beyond redemption, that you are beyond hope. Your heart and mind may be whispering that you’ve sinned too many times, that you’ve established patterns too deep to change.

https://www.challies.com/articles/5-ways-porn-lies-to-you

Seven Things to Do After You Look at Pornography by Paul Maxwell

How to Deal with the Guilt of Sexual Failure for the Glory of Christ and His Global Cause by John Piper

9 Things You Should Know About Pornography and the Brain by Joe Carter

How to Slay the Dragon of Pornography by Ed Welch

WOMEN AND PORNOGRAPHY by Thabiti Anyabwile