Randall Murphree
AFA Journal editor
June 2001 – “I think it’s obvious why AFA fights porn,” says AFA President Don Wildmon. “At least, it should be obvious. Anybody who still claims that pornography is a victimless crime is not paying attention to the world around us.”
As a cultural crusader, Wildmon’s first concern when he founded AFA in 1977 was television programming. He soon also took on porn magazines and their availability in the family marketplace. Many have compared his early speeches and press conferences to the voices of Old Testament prophets, warning their culture of dire consequences if God’s people did not repent and restore their relationship to Him.
After 24 years, Wildmon believes his early assessment was right on target. Furthermore, he believes the impact of pornography on our society has multiplied several times over, thanks in recent years largely to its almost unrestrained presence on the Internet.
“Because pornography affects the mind, because it encourages all sorts of sexual sins – lust, adultery, perversions – it is clearly in conflict with the sexual purity called for in traditional Judeo-Christian morality,” says Wildmon.
“Jesus addressed the issue of pornography in His Sermon on the Mount,” says Buddy Smith, AFA executive assistant, citing Matthew 5:27-28: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
“Jesus is focusing on the mind in these verses,” adds Smith. “If the mind becomes corrupted with lust, as Jesus points out in the verses that immediately follow, lust will not simply disappear but require sacrificial severing to repair the damage.
The person who is serious about living a Christ-like life must take deliberate measures. The key is repentance. And true repentance comes when we allow God to change our hearts, and that only comes through real brokenness over sin. It takes a powerful encounter with God to overcome any sin, especially porn or sexual addictions.”
Religious reasons aside, social science has produced countless studies revealing the dangers of pornography. The “victimless crime” proponents often get positive press, but psychologists, counselors, and sociologists reveal a darker side to pornography. Dr. Victor Cline, noted researcher and professor of psychology, articulates what can happen to one whose life falls prey to porn – and to that man’s victims.
First of all, Cline says psychologists are largely in agreement in attributing to pornography an addictive progression. In fact, pornography use can be as mood altering and as addictive as narcotics, reports a study by Richard Drake, assistant professor at Brigham Young University.
Dr. Cline said as early as the mid-1980s: “I have treated about 225 individuals over the past years who have had their lives disrupted one way or another because of their involvement with pornography. I have found a special syndrome associated with immersion in the world of pornography. It’s a common four-factor syndrome that repeats itself again and again.” He says pornography progresses through the following stages.
1. Addiction. “When males become immersed in pornography, four things happen. First: addiction. Pornography is highly addictive. I find that as men get into it, it grabs them. It gets a hold on them, in a sense analogous to heroin or morphine. Thus there is a strong psychological/physical addiction. They keep coming back for more and more – to get new sexual highs. They pursue it with such a single-minded purposefulness that it usually creates a lot of tension and stress in their marriage relationship.”
2. Escalation.“The next thing that happens is escalation. In time the individual needs rougher, more mean, more bizarre, more deviant, more explicit or even anti-social sexual imagery to get his ‘turn-ons.’ With escalation there is always a movement and appetite toward rougher and rougher sexual material. When wives try to placate their husbands by participating in bizarre sexual fantasies, they find to their dismay that there is no end to it....”
3. Desensitization. “The third thing that happens is desensitization. What was first shocking, awful, disgusting, taboo-breaking, and repulsive – after a while becomes commonplace. It becomes legitimized. It becomes acceptable. It becomes… attractive and invites repetition in one’s real life. Conscience is seared. Voices of caution are disregarded. The individual becomes desensitized to its potential dangers.”
4. Acting Out. “Then the final thing that happens is acting out. Men begin to do things they have seen. An appetite has been cultivated, conscience has been immobilized by the desensitization process. What was once shocking and wrong or immoral is not legitimized. It’s OK. Everyone is doing it – if one can believe what they see in those films or read in those books. As a marriage and family therapist, I…see what the sad and often tragic outcomes are when men get involved in pornography. It is a direct attack upon the family and the marriage relationship.”
“It’s as plain as the nose on your face,” says Wildmon. “Pornography has victims. The man – or woman – who gets hooked on it is the first one. The family torn apart is a second victim. Then, others who are assaulted or seduced by porn addicts add more to the list.
“And the cycle never ends. Christ Himself stood against the sinful effects of this diabolical evil. As long as AFA has resources and energy, we will do the same.” 
Pornography addiction prevention/recovery resources
Pure Life Ministries
P.O. Box 410
Dry Ridge, Ky 41035
800-635-1866
www.purelifeministries.org
Ministry is dedicated to breaking the power of sexual addiction through the truth of God's word and the power of Jesus Christ.
Stone Gate Resources
11509 Palmer Divide Road
Larkspur, CO 80118
www.stonegateresources.com
Ministry of personal restoration for fallen Christian leaders. Provides counseling, guidance, and consultation to the pastor, spouse, church, and denomination. Seminar topics include understanding moral failure, understanding sexual addiction, surviving the internet/cybersex.
