Porn Addiction
“At 13.3 Billion, the 2006 revenues of the sex and porn industry in the United States is more than the NFL, NBA and MLB combined. Worldwide the sex industry sales for 2006 are reported to be 97 Billion. That’s more than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and Earthlink Combined.”
Porn is clearly pervasive in the American culture. Men and Women have described their draw towards it like a drug addiction. At first their porn stashes or their favorite free porn websites cry out to them in the quiet of the long nights or the privacy of a day alone. Before long the cries for porn grow louder and more frequent. They work hard to stave off the cravings at work and other less private venues. But as soon as they get alone...as soon as possible...the images are always calling...always promising relief. Yet, all you ever feel is guilt. Overwhelming failure rushes in. "If anyone knew," you think to yourself. "If anyone saw...".
Porn promises so much but delivers so little. The road of porn leads to the same dark destination. It leads to men and women with their face in their hands, tears in their eyes and a wake of broken relationships behind them. Eventually, porn addiction feels like imprisonment. It feels like slavery.
But it didn't start that way. It started as an escape, as a way to get relief from the pressures or afflictions of life. Instead of casting our fears, anxieties, and pain upon the strong tower (Ps. 61:3) or seeking refuge from the right person (Matt. 11:28-30) God himself, we have sought relief from our idol of choice - a picture, a fantasy, a feeling of euphoria - a god to deliver us. (Ps. 115:4-8).
Women are not immune.
Pursuing fantasy is not unique to men; women can also be lured by its trap. Porn is a pursuit of fantasy world. The pain, anxieties, sorrows and fears of real life are hard. Sometimes escape is living in an alternate world. Fantasy novels replete with ideal spouses and lurid details can fill a woman's mind. These novels can represent a written form of the visual porn of which men gravitate. Women can spend great amounts of time where they imagine being intimate with various men or living a life with someone other than their husband.
“All my fictional men are strong, successful, sophisticated and enigmatic. I guess it’s hard for any living, breathing man to live up to such a fantasy. ”
If you are ready to reject the lies of porn/fantasy and step off the destructive path of despair ... then we would love to sit down with you. There is hope to walk away from this consuming addiction.