Pornography: Beware of it!

There is much talk about addictions these days. More about some than about others. There are many kinds of addictions: addiction to narcotics, alcohol, tobacco, pills, the computer, shopping, pornography, sex, TV, TV soaps, etc. Addictions always have destructive results: physical, psychological, spiritual, and social. Some are lethally dangerous. What is the most widespread addiction among teenage boys? No specific studies are available. Why? Because it is politically incorrect. All sorts of polls are taken, practically on a daily basis, to gauge people’s support of a given political party. But when it comes to gauging addiction to pornography—a resounding silence!

Why dangerous?

Common observation leads one to conjecture that pornography is the most common cause of addiction among male youth today. Various factors contribute to this.

For one thing, a woman’s body—as any healthy man will know—is extraordinarily captivating. For a maturing boy it presents a super, super, super attraction. Right? Hold your horses! You don’t have to have everything at once. For example, before you can go to college you first have to pass high school. Try entering college without passing high school and you will make a fool of yourself. The student has much to learn before he can go on to university. In the same way, the area of male-female relations requires a good deal of learning, above all, controlling your sexual desires. When you learn to master these desires, then you will be able to love the girl who will later become your wife. Through the prism of this love you will be able to look at her body with respect and delight. If you do not learn this, you will make a fool of yourself: you will look at the bodies of your successive wives or partners as one looks at a porn queen—lustfully, as if she were an object, something to use, and with zero love.

Secondly, naked bodies for the viewing are now very easily acessible. Easier than ever before. The easiest way is on the Internet, which is becoming ever more universal.

Thirdly, teenage boys do not realize the catastrophic consequences of viewing pornography. On the other hand, parents, teachers, and even ministers rarely warn them of the danger. Yes, we have warnings about the dangers of tobacco and party pills. But what about pornography? And so the following typical situation arises. Parents buy their fifteen-year old son a brand new computer and hook it up to the Internet in his room. They feel proud of this. It puts their son a cut above his peers. Besides, access to Internet will be necessary for his studies. Yes, it’s an expense, but now he will become a much better student, if not a model one. Alas! From the very first evening, schoolwork recedes into the background as fascinating new vistas open up before the fifteen-year-old boy. All he has to do is key the word “sex” into the browser and thousands of naked women present themselves to his view. Now he is like a pasha in his harem.

Like a narcotic

Pornography is like a narcotic. A super-adrenalizing one. It gives you an incredible “kick.” It doesn’t matter that after this “kick” you cannot pull yourself together. The moral hangover. The feeling of being drained. And, all the while, images of gyrating female bottoms crowd your mind, even though here you are endeavoring to write your chemistry test. How to concentrate? Besides, the test is boring. School’s boring too. Everything’s a bore! Only the prospect of reaching for new impressions excites you. You can’t wait until classes are over so you can settle once more into your comfortable seat in your “one-spectator theater” and ogle the naked bodies of prostitutes and play with yourself. O bliss! Of course pornography leads to masturbation. No one can resist such pressures. It is hard enough even without giving oneself such additional powerful jolts. So begins the habit of masturbation, which soon becomes an addiction, which in turn leads to full-blown sexoholism. Ninety percent of sex addicts claim that pornography was the decisive factor in their addiction. Much has been written in these columns about the life of people addicted to pornography and sex. A true picture of degradation and despair!

Self-defense

People need to protect themselves! We cannot count on others to protect us. How? The first step is indispensable: we need to install locks that filter out pornographic sites on the Internet. Without this, all our other efforts are doomed to failure. Above all, we need to avoid all occasions of evil, and especially those that arouse such powerful stimuli. When I mention locking devices to young people, few know what I am talking about. They look at me as though I were from outer space. Young people today know a great deal about computers and the Internet. Many are real techies. Yet, strange to say, there is a glaring hole in their computer knowledge; namely, in matter of installing locks. It is as if something had been reset in their technology-filled heads. No doubt this has to do with that fact that since access to naked women is Internet’s chief attraction, the thought that it might be a good idea to block these sites comes to mind with some difficulty.

It is not only a good idea; it has to be done, and in this way to thumb one’s nose at the devil. This should be our primary reason, for the devil is scoring his greatest successes in the last decades precisely through pornography. So now we come to the heart of the matter. What is the greatest danger we court by viewing pornography? In a word—Hell! It is the royal road to Hell. Precisely so, nothing else! Hell! Ugh! How politically incorrect!—even in church circles. Everything has to be stress-free and merciful. God forbid that we should discourage anyone! But did Jesus, who is the Truth and the Life, say that we could reach heaven without stress? Did He talk only about mercy, and keep mum on the subject of hell? Far from it. Many times He warned us against the very real danger of eternal damnation, and it is in this that His great mercy also consists.

Imagine someone not erecting a speed-limit sign at a dangerous spot in the road because he does not wish to trouble the drivers. And if someone should crash into a tree as a result? What then? Such an act of nonfeasance would certainly not be an act of mercy. The prosecutor would seek out the culprit, and the court would put him in the slammer. And rightly so!

I want to say something personal. Do you know why I keep writing about pornography? You’ve got it. Because I care about you! I do not want pornography to destroy you and your life, including your eternal life. At the same time, I am looking out for my own skin. We do everything to avoid courts and judges. But, like it or not, we will all eventually face the Divine Judge. Do you get my point? At this Divine Tribunal—a perfectly just one at that—I do not wish to end up like the fellow just mentioned who failed to put up a proper sign on the road because he wanted to appear nice, understanding, and merciful, or simply because he didn’t want to “rock the boat.”

And so I say it again: the consumption of pornography is the royal road to Hell. How do I know? Jesus tells me so: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell” (Matt 5: 27-30).

A few words by way of commentary. Who “looks lustfully” commits adultery, i.e. commits a grave sin. The sole purpose of pornography consumption is to look lustfully. Jesus does not mean to say that anyone should be cutting anything off—an arm or a leg. What He is saying is that sin is a serious matter—most serious of all because it leads to hell. But Jesus is saying that we should and must cut off the causes of sin. And so, let’s cut off those sites. Block those satellite TV channels.

Installing locks

To return to the matter of installing Internet filters. Here is some basic information on the subject. The filtering of content accessible on the Internet can be accomplished in any of the following ways:

By installing in the computer an additional program that will block sites regardless of the Internet browser used. Christian ISPs offering filtering devices can be found at: http://www.cnonline.net/, http://www.crosswayisp.net/; and http://www.truevine.net/

Some Internet browsers enable the addition of filtering functions by the installation of accessories (so-called add-ons) such as FoxFilter, ProCon Latte (described in the next installment of this article);

By using the site-blocking functions provided by antivirus scanners or computer security systems, e.g. ArcaVir, Kaspersky, Panda;

By using the control panel user modules built into Windows Vista and newer systems;

By using the locking devices listed on the ISP’s website. This is normally a paid service and may require installation of a special program.

By inquiring with the search engines; e.g. Google’s SafeSearch filter;

Some devices offer a router to block certain addresses or pages that contain specific words.

A review of the methods of controlling Internet content; descriptions of filtering software; test results of their effectiveness.

Other websites on this subject are: http://christianity.about.com/od/practicaltools/tp/christianisps.htm; http://www.afo.net/

Information about filtering can always be found on the Internet. Those who seek it, will find it. The problem is to want to seek it and to want to find it.

Conversion

One last thing. We always have available to us the sacrament of God’s mercy, i.e. confession. Every sin, even the gravest, will be forgiven us if we confess and repent of it. Sorrow for sin is expressed in a firm resolve to improve. A firm resolve to improve means that we will do everything in our power to avoid falling into sin again. If the sin keeps recurring, or becomes habitual, we need to plot a strategy and take concrete steps to combat it. What concrete steps can we take to combat the consumption of pornography? Install the locks. It is within our power to do it, and so we must do it, if we are to meet the third condition of a good confession, which is a firm resolve to improve. Couldn’t be simpler, right? But sometimes we go to confession one day, and then sit down in our “one-spectator theater” the next.

God gets the candle and the devil the stub. The situation repeats itself. And so it can go on for years. What do you think? Are these confessions valid? Is Holy Communion received worthily? Is the penitent on the straight road to heaven? No way! What to do in this case? 
First, we set up the locks, and then confess again for the period since our last good confession, i.e. the confession in which we last met all the necessary conditions. We can start as follows: “My last confession was a month ago, but I would like to confess for the last two years. My confessions over that period were not good ones, because I did nothing to correct the sin of viewing pornography on the Internet, which I was constantly doing. I lived consciously and deliberately in the near occasions of sin. But now I have definitely put an end to it and installed the locks.”

And God will forgive us, seeing that we are truly penitent. God is merciful. But He is demanding too. Certainly His mercy does not consist—as some would like to think—in allowing us to do as we please. The road to heaven is not like an Italian highway. So long!

Jan Bilewicz