By David Hilder:
Young men, we need to talk. There are some changes you need to make in your life. Something major that holds a lot of people back is a porn addiction. It has consequences beyond what you realize and has an impact on your future. If you’re watching pornography, here are some things you need to know.
1. Porn is Not a Joke
Maybe your friends in high school thought it was funny to joke around about sex and pornography. But it was immature to act that way then and it remains immature as you get older. Sex is a gift to be taken seriously, not flippantly. And porn is a distorted view of sex which not only promotes abuse, it literally is abuse. It’s not funny when a porn star gets forced into doing something she doesn’t want to do, or when she gets beat up or raped. If it’s promoting what should be considered criminal acts, it doesn’t count as entertainment.
2. You’re Out of Excuses
There’s a battle going on inside you and it’s time to stop fooling yourself into thinking you have a legitimate reason to keep giving in to temptation. While it’s true that 98% of men aged 18-30 have seen pornography at some point, that doesn’t mean every one of them is still addicted. You can’t use the excuse that porn is an impossible fight that can’t be beaten. Many men have beaten porn addiction, but only because they didn’t buy into the myth that says it can’t be done, so why even bother. You’re out of excuses, and it’s time to switch sides in the battle and start chipping away at your addiction.
3. Porn Is Twisting Your View of Women
You may not realize it, but watching pornography is having a major influence on your life, and not in a positive way. It’s filling your mind with images of women which don’t conform to reality. It’s training you to see women as objects to be used and abused. Porn turns every woman into a potential sexual partner and reduces their humanity. And it destroys the possibility of having healthy friendships in real life. When porn is feeding your messages about the opposite sex, don’t be surprised when your view of them is wildly distorted and damaging.
4. Porn Is Ruining Your Relationships
Speaking of the opposite sex, porn is a relationship killer. A majority of divorce cases cite pornography addiction as a contributing factor to the breakup. Whether you’re dating or married, porn will create walls between you and your partner. It encourages selfishness, which is completely detrimental to a relationship that’s supposed to be about serving the other. In marriage porn is the enemy of intimacy. A bond is created in your brain between porn and sexual satisfaction, thereby distancing yourself from your wife. If you want a relationship to succeed, don’t try to supplement it with porn.
5. You Can’t Live in Secret Forever
If you’re addicted to porn, you’re probably living in fear of discovery. And you’re soon going to realize that your present life is unsustainable. If you look at the habits you have today, just ask yourself about how they’ll look in the future. A porn addiction isn’t going to get better on its own, it’ll only get worse. Sooner or later your true self will be revealed. And it’s far better to voluntarily make yourself open and vulnerable sooner, than be caught off guard one day when all of a sudden your secret gets out later on.
If you’re going to mature, you need to make fighting pornography addiction a priority. No more making porn jokes. No more excuses about why resisting temptation is too hard. You’re not doing any favours for yourself or the women in your life by allowing yourself to comfortably live the way you’ve been living. Porn addiction is not a healthy lifestyle. You’re actually causing real harm to yourself and others. If you want to be a man, then take action today and pursue freedom. Your spouse or future spouse will thank you for it.
What Do I do?
Start Here: Help I’m Addicted to Porn! It’s our summary of the first steps you need to take to find freedom.