Porn Is the Greatest Threat to Our Children’s View of Sex Part 2

As you read in my last blog , porn is the biggest sex educator of our time. Accessibility, affordability, and anonymity create a perfect storm for the average curious user. Porn is easily accessed, generally free, and nearly always anonymous. The average young person will be more likely to look at it than to successfully avoid it as they grow. So is the next generation doomed? Are our children simply going to be exposed and therefore we can not help them? Of course not. Our hope is not lost. When the lost culture seems to be pressing in and we feel scared or unsure, the best thing to do is look to the One who sees all and leaves us with His Spirit. One of my personal favorite verses in the Bible is when Christ tells us, His readers, not to lose heart, for He has overcome the world. In John 16:33 Christ declares,

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

What a powerful statement! He knows we will have trouble, He experienced it Himself, and yet He tells us He has already won. We know we have ultimate victory in Christ. He sits on the throne and His Fathers’ kingdom awaits. Jesus has finished the hardest work in this broken world. He’s provided true escape and final rescue. However, you and I also live in the ‘not yet’ reality. We know He has won, but we aren’t fully experiencing that victory yet. He hasn’t returned and we are very much still here.

We aren’t alone in this. He left us with His Spirit and His church. Everyone, Christian or not, has likely heard the phrase ‘it takes a village’ in reference to raising a child. The Bible affirms this mentality as it regularly encourages fellowship. Parents know and experience the joy of being in healthy community and friends loving on our kids. In the modern day we can even connect with people from all over the world who seem to understand our challenges, have walked similar paths ahead of us, and even care about our families. Sex Ed Reclaimed is one of those communities. The curriculum is here to help you talk to your kids about current realities while still keeping eyes on the ultimate victory. He has won the war, but we soldier on in present battles.

Don’t let years go by hoping your innocent child just won’t be affected by the sexual world around them. Other soldiers are in this battle with you! Your hope is misplaced if it is in the ‘good nature’ of the world. The world is fallen. The world seeks out things which may feel good but actually harm. Our kids can proceed differently with the right commanding officer (ok-I’ll stop with the battle metaphors).

Let me bring this home with a sobering statistic. A recent study investigated parent’s knowledge of the use of porn. About 75% of parents said their teen had never seen porn, when in actuality over 50% of their kids reported they watched it.* The more adolescents watch porn, the more they will believe that real life experiences are similar to what they’re watching. Your children will absolutely be exposed to porn in their adolescence. None of them will understand it or know what to do right away. We didn’t either. Like their parents before them, kids today won’t know how to comprehend their excitement, curiosity, fear, and disgust. Screens will never provide what is meant to be lovingly and sacrificially provided in a covenantal relationship. Do your kids truly believe their sex life is best when it’s surrendered to Him?

Porn doesn’t provide what it pretends to (a healthy escape, appropriate sex ed, a victimless act, a better sex life). Sex by way of porn leaves all users lacking fulfillment, because it’s meant to! Porn producers know they need to get users addicted, or there won’t be a future market. The screen can not do what God created real sex with a spouse to do. It never provides intimacy with another. Like hookup sex, porn leaves us empty. It is ok to communicate this to our kids.

Thankfully, God gives us new eyes to see pleasures which will actually fulfill us. As society treats humans like objects, let us encourage our kids to treat others as if they have eternal souls, because they do! May we encourage our kids to be critical of what’s offered to them as we teach them truth. Let us point to what the Lord has in store for them. The first group of humans ever created by God was a family. God meant for us to learn more about Him in the context of that family. It takes a village, and Sex Ed Reclaimed is here to help.

*https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/2022-teens-and-pornography-final-web.pdf

For such a time as this,
Kristen