Pornography on Oprah
This started a discussion that led to a guy named Gary Davis sharing his story about his pornography addiction and subsequent firing from a ministry position because of it. It was stunning. If you follow this link and scroll down to the 7th comment you can read it yourself. It is heartbreaking, compelling, and so powerful.
After showing the video (Lord, thank you for DVR) to the youth group and seeing their reaction, I knew this show had to be seen (or heard) by other people. I was so moved by the comments made from Gary and the impact the show had on my teens that I took the time to encode the Oprah show into an mp3 that you can download by clicking here. Not too sure about the legality of this, but the subject is just too important to be kept "analog." Don't worry the commercials have been removed so it's only about 40 minutes. I highly encourage you to download and listen to this show.
I know, based just on statistics, that there are several of you out there who are struggling with or love someone who is struggling with pornography. There can be a way out, and there are places where the sin can be exposed without condemnation being placed on the sinner. Our sexuality is too Holy and important to remain in the private unseen corners of our lives. Pornography can also be a very deep seated and complicated problem to have (look at Gary's story). So it isn't something that you can take care of by yourself. If you would like some resources to point you in a direction to be helped or help someone, send me an e-mail.
3 comments:
Tough subject to deal with on any level. Even tougher to recognize it as a personal problem.
Kudos to those who have the strength to confront the demon and the courage to help others do the same.
And props to you, J. You never duck the hard topics.
The internet has great value, allowing interaction like this. It is full of even more danger, evidenced by the unsolicited e-mail found in my inbox everyday.
A therapist once told a good friend of mine, who is a pastor, that of the ten pastors he has counseled, nine had a problem with addiction to pornography. I don't know why that is, but is a sobering statistic.
Thank you for taking the iniative to shed light on this subject.
When I was going through divorce recovery, I had several friends who were divorcing due to porn addiction by a spouse.
I am not sure you know this, a dear friend who is a psychologist told me...looking at porn creates pathways (crevices) in the brain that cause a person to want more and more of it. (I suppose any addiction is like that). She said a porn addict goes on a downward spiral and gets more deviant.
A guy I use to work with is a legalistic CofC'er and he had tons of it saved on a thumb drive that he gave (accidentally) to a co-worker, when she inserted the drive into her laptop, she said there were photos that appeared on her computer that were repulsive and made her sick.
God help men and women with secret sins and help us to love them through this addiction.
Thank you for talking about this subject and educating your youth.
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