Pornography & The Conversations

Bulletin

Dan Peters
05/26/24 - Morality

Pornography & The Conversations

“Pornography exists on 12% of all websites1 and is viewed by approximately 69% of American men and 40% of American women in any given year.2
Support and public opinion for pornography have increased among young adults in the last several decades.3
(https://ballardbrief.byu.edu).
You would not hand your 10 year old a loaded pistol and let him play with it in his bedroom would you? That is what you are doing when you let him have a phone, tablet, or computer for his use, alone. A parent who allows a 10 year old to have a gun to play with in his room will be held responsible when the gun fires. But pornography is a quiet bullet that hits the soul and mind; a spiritual & mental killer.
Do you remember how old you were when you first saw pornography? I do, I was in 3rd grade. Chip B. gave me several pornographic cards on the way home from school. I tore them up and then buried them in the back yard. I later told my mom, she was very upset.
Parents need to be having conversations about pornography, using words they can understand., even third graders. Explaining to them the dangers. “Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.” (2Sam. 11:2). Here is godly king David being shot down because he let his guard down. It just takes a second, and then another.
We need to avoid screen time generally as adults, and especially children. I know as adults we often must work, do research, etc. on the internet. The more you drive the highway the more chances of an accident. The more you surf the web, TV, screen time, the more junk they pop up at you. So show some discipline, and limit the chances. Always allow someone to look over your shoulder, make a point of it. Guard, guard, guard. Paul said, “Flee from sexual immorality/πορνεία” (1Cor. 6:18). That Greek word is in the family of words that our English word porn comes from. Paul is saying flee porn, and everything associated with sexual immorality.
This is not a one time conversation to have with your children, but an ongoing conversation. Tell them what to do when the third grader wants to show them something on their phone. Tell them what to do & say. Act out the different scenarios that may happen. Tell them what to say, “I don’t want to watch that”, “I don’t want you to do that again”, etc. Talk to other parents with their views before allowing your children “together time”. If you have older children, study through Proverbs 1-9 is a great place to teach them, as you teach yourself. David struggled & failed, Solomon struggled, failed and then gave in and gave up. We can learn from his loss. Dan Peters