“Let There Be Light”

What may be the most disturbing fact of all for us in a world as repulsive as the world of pornography is the reach of pornography into the lives of those least prepared to resist it—our children. As you know, reliable statistics accessing the online use of pornography are hard to come by, but a few years ago a Kaiser Family Foundation/NPR survey found that 31 percent of children aged 10 to 17 with computers at home had seen a pornographic Web site. In another study by the Kaiser Foundation, 70 percent of teens aged 15 to 17 said they had accidentally come across pornography on the Web. A survey revealed that, nationally, 5 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 17 using the Internet had received a solicitation for sex in the past year (see The National Academy of Sciences, Youth, Pornography, and the Internet, 2002, 132-33).

Since these studies, now dated only by a few years, the problem has become worse. The number of homes with Internet access has increased dramatically, and cell phones and other technology popular with youth can now connect with the Web. Blogs, chat rooms, and community Web sites like Myspace.com have proliferated, along with the potential for contact with online sexual predators.

But of course we must always be vigilant to note that the problem is so much larger than this. As much as there is at least something of a national consensus on the evils of child pornography, there is, sadly, none whatever—yet—on pornography for and featuring adults. The scope and significance of the problem in the adult world is more pervasive than ever.

The simple fact of the matter is pornography victimizes everyone—those who are addicted to it, those who live with them, a society that fosters it, a society that is trying to oppose it, even those who create it. It contaminates everyone.

Not long ago a Protestant periodical gave an account of a woman, now a believing, practicing Christian, who at one time acted in the kind of films a generation ago were found only in back alley movie theaters and are now openly sold in stores and shown on cable TV. She writes: “[Pornography is] one of the greatest deceptions of all time. Trust me, I know. I did it all the time, and I did it for the lust of power and the love of money. I never liked [men or] sex. . . . In fact I was more apt to spend time with Jack Daniels than [any other man of my choosing. Who wouldn’t] hate being touched by strangers who care nothing about [you. Who wouldn’t] hate being degraded. . . . Some women hate it so much you can hear them vomiting in the bathroom between scenes. . . . One of my friends went home after a long night of numbing her pain and put a pistol to her head and pulled the trigger. That was her way out.

“The truth is there is no fantasy in porn. It’s all a lie. A closer look into the scenes of a porn star’s life will show you a movie [that] industry doesn’t want you to see. The real truth is [if] actresses want to end the shame and trauma of our lives [in that world] we can’t do it alone. We need you . . . to fight for our freedom and give us back our honor. . . . We [need] you to throw out our movies and help [us] piece together the shattered fragments of our lives. We need you to pray for us . . . so God will hear and repair our ruined lives” (Shelley Lubben, www.blazingrace.org/thetruth.htm).

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
(Thanks to: Lighted Candle Society)
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