Porn Problem
I spend tons of time with great young men. Mostly Christians. Almost all married. Clean-cut, upstanding, good jobs, church-going, great dads. Guys you’d trust with your wallet and your wife. Some even in vocational Christian work with churches or parachurch organizations. Many of them though, once they’ve opened up . . . once the ‘masks’ are off and they’re being real, confess to struggling with porn. Some mightily . . . some occasionally, but they still do it. They can’t or won’t stop.
Porn is insidious. The Internet dispenses it in secret. Men are such visual creatures. Look at a few pictures . . . watch a video . . . put it aside. Next time he’s a mad with his wife, feeling bored or rejected, alone somewhere with free time, he’s back online and at it again. Seems a little dirty to him but sort of harmless too. “What’s the big deal? My wife doesn’t know . . . she might not even care,” he thinks. But image-by-image, the sexual standard he compares his wife to grows wilder and more irrational. Quietly, frustration grows with her ‘coldness’ and lack of libido. He changed. She’s blamed.
Years ago, I watched helplessly as a beautiful couple fell apart. He chose porn over personal intimacy. His porn involvement ultimately became an addiction, which ultimately lead him to an extramarital affair and a nasty divorce. Pay attention to his advice . . . this is the voice of experience.
- Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It’s probably more frequent and more severe than guys are admitting. It’s tough to talk about this junk. Ultimately healing comes from addressing heart issues, not symptoms. That means disclosure, accountability and serious counseling for some.
- Your wife has to know. One of my favorite mentees courageously confessed his porn habit to his wife. She was horrified. But she ‘got her wheels under her,’ forgave him and they’re now closer than ever. Honesty heals, secrecy kills.
- This stuff is extremely addictive. It took my friend many years to slowly get sucked all the way in. Not everyone who slips in will become an addict, but the odds aren’t good if you treat it like it’s “no big deal, I can stop any time.” It is a big deal. Treat it as such. Shine light on it.
- You can’t get better if you don’t stop. It’s possible to lock yourself down where junk is 95% unavailable. Meaning filters on all work and home computers (your wife has the passwords). It also means replacing phone browsers and all internet-enabled devices with safe browsers or blocking the Internet entirely (this too involves your wife). Even after all these years of ‘sobriety’ from porn, my friend says he would fall again if he didn’t have proper barricades in place.
Your wife is the only legitimate source of romance you will ever have. Make her your exclusive focus. Turn your eyes and your heart exclusively toward her. Love her as Christ loved the church. Give yourself up for her as He gave Himself up for us. Your sexual energy belongs exclusively to your wife. In a way, it’s holy.
“Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you. (Matthew 7:6)
Prayer – “Father, I pray for those who read this and know immediately it’s written for them. Grab their hearts, Lord. Convict them deeply. Please give them the wisdom to know and trust your perfect plan for marriage. Give them the courage to come clean with You, themselves and their wives. Help them stop viewing porn completely. Restore the joy of their salvation and the marriage of their youth. In your Son’s beautiful name. Amen”
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Responses (6)
This is definitely a fight that plagues Christian men everywhere.
Regi can you share some of the more practical/tactical tips you’ve shared in the post?
Like what software browsers do you recommend?
Hey Hoo! Jackson from RM here. Regi is unable to answer comments at the moment, but I wanted to make sure someone from our team answered your question. I know Safe Eyes and Covenant Eyes are popular choices for filtering software/browsers and well known X3 church is another cool resource on with different tools to address this issue.
Regi, great topic and valuable insight. Do you have any counselor recommendations that are christian based that cover this topic? in the Metro Atlanta area?
Hey Brandon! Jackson from RM here. Regi is unable to answer comments at the moment, but I wanted to make sure someone from our team answered your question. I know there are plenty of quality Christian counselors in Atlanta who focus on this issue. I would start by asking your church if they have any connections or references, if they don’t or you don’t like them , you could reach out to the Care & Counseling department at North Point, I know they would have some as well.
Regi —
well said.
v/r
lmj
Please keep up the good work. I wanted to say that the cheapest option for filtering is to buy a netgear router. apply the level you want on opendns. do an alexa.com search for top porn sites***only use alexa*** addat least the top 3 to the filter. Add tumbler.com to the filter. Setup the account with your wife. her email and she has the password. have every device you own connect to that server. Also on a side note it could helpful to have the internet setup in only your wife name and email. Just hope this helps.