I heard a story that still breaks my heart. Joann Condie is a state-licensed counselor and member of our staff who speaks with those who call us with various needs. She shared the story of a mother whose eleven-year-old boy had been using porn on the home internet for quite some time. When this mom found out, she wisely and carefully dug a little deeper.
That’s when she learned that an eleven-year-old neighbor friend had introduced her boy to pornography on the computer. As the story unfolded, this mother learned that her nine-year-old son had also been introduced to porn by the neighbor. Fighting back tears, she told Joann that while the three boys were watching pornography on the computer, the neighbor boy had been molesting her nine-year-old child.
I wish such stories were rare. They’re not. Joann tells me that pornography-related issues represent about half of the phone calls she fields almost daily. Which is why I have a deep concern about the easy access of pornography in the home. Every day men and women with broken hearts and broken lives contact us about the devastating impact of pornography on their relationships. Without question marriages are being destroyed by pornography while our innocent children are introduced to obscene images at very young ages.
Earlier this month we aired a panel discussion entitled: The Seductive Lure of Internet Porn. Joann and several other guests talked about the plague of pornography with Dr. Dobson. Since, as they pointed out, the internet is the primary distribution vehicle of pornography today, one concerned father contacted us after the program offering this challenge to Christian families. Here’s a portion of his plea:
I listened with interest to your program on July 2 about pornography. I agree that it is a terrible evil but I also believe it is time for Christians to take bolder action for the protection of their families. Specifically, we need to be willing to excise internet access in our homes. If most children’s initial pornography exposure is accidental during homework, then it is time.
At what price will you sell your child’s innocence? Your own convenience? A school’s academic requirements? Fast, easy internet access in a Christian home is NOT a necessity. It is time that the Christian adults be willing to give up their love of surfing the internet for the sake of their children.
I am not saying that we reject technology and return to 19th century activities for our children. But we, who will one day stand before Judge of all the earth, must be vigilant against the evils in our culture and be willing to do unpopular things. It’s our watch–and we only get one tour of duty with our children.
Bringing up boys is tough; bland Band-Aid approaches are not enough. Our enemy wants nothing but to kill, steal and destroy and our combat tactics must be equal to his. I call on Christian fathers to take a hard look at removing high speed internet from their homes.
I appreciate this dad’s passionate concern to protect his family from easy access to pornography in the home. Pulling the plug on high speed internet access is certainly one solution. I also realize that some households require fast internet access because of a home-based business. Thankfully, there are a number of filtering services that can block pornography from ever reaching your computer screen–whether accidentally or intentionally. Focus has partnered with both Safe Eyes and BSafeHome.com. Another useful resource is the book, Help, Someone I know Has A Problem With Porn.
Whether you’d like help finding the right filtering service or other family safety solutions related to media and entertainment, click here. If you need to speak with someone about a pornography-related problem in your home, please contact us at FocusOnTheFamily.com or by calling 1-800-AFAMILY.
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