One doesn't have to look far to find lives affected and even devastated by pornography addiction. It has been well-documented for over a decade that the use of internet porn by one or both spouses in a marriage doubles a couple's chance for divorce. Widespread data shows the average age of internet porn exposure as 13, but some report viewing it as young as age 7.
There is also increasing data on how addictive porn is.
As a mother, I'm always looking for new ways to educate my kids about the dangers of porn in order to empower them to make their own personal decisions to avoid it. I realize many people have become addicted to porn accidentally, without understanding its dark, insidious nature or its practical, destructive ramifications.
For these reasons, I've had many frank, age-appropriate talks with my children and teens. I've shared great literature with them on the subject, such as the Good Pictures Bad Pictures books (which I HIGHLY recommend; I have both the older kid and younger kid versions on my shelf).
I've also installed content filters on our computers and phones and believe all these things are worthwhile -- but have their limitations.
So, when I came across this powerful reel using an Inuit proverb to describe porn addiction in a new way, I couldn't wait to share it with my older sons (ages 13--21).
You can watch it here
In the reel, Josh Howerton, a pastor from LakePointe Church in Rockwell, Texas, likens porn addiction and giving oneself over to sexual immorality to an Inuit hunting practice that serves as a proverbial warning.
Howerton is not the only one who has made this connection. The writer and speaker Brian Tome expounded on the concept recently as well:
An Inuit hunter would dip the cutting end of a blade in blood and then bind it to an immovable surface, like freezing the handle in a block of ice. The trap set, wolves would catch the scent and come running. The smell of the blood would set the pack to licking the blade, but each lick did damage, shredding the tongues and mouths of the beasts.
Famished, numb and unable to differentiate between the taste of their own blood and the blood on the blade, the wolves would work themselves into a frenzy. By the time they realized they weren’t getting any nourishment, it was too late. ...
This is exactly what pornography does. It’s a trap that will destroy you. Maybe it won’t take your life physically, but it will absolutely murder your relational well-being, your emotional health, and your spiritual fervor.
This Inuit proverb has become another tool to encourage my teens and all those who hear it to say 'no' to porn in order to offer a greater 'yes' to God's plan for love and sexuality in their lives, which of course is always the best plan of all.
