New Church Anti-Pornography Site

If you or someone you love is struggling with pornography, there is a new resource. This week The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched their official site:

Combating Pornography: Replacing Darkness with Light

The site contains resources for five audiences:  Individuals, Parents, Spouses, Youth, and Leaders. And four levels of resources for each audience: Prevent, Recognize, Overcome, and Support.

Here is a brief tour.

Safeguarding Our Homes

Preventing a pornography problem is easier than overcoming one. Spouses can play a key role in preventing the painful effects of a pornography addiction. The Prevention area for Spouses provides a variety of articles including brief videos. One article by LDS Family Services is entitled Safeguarding Our Homes, Protecting Our Children. The article lists the following seven steps a spouse can take to prevent a spouse from using pornography:

1. Make Good Media Choices

2. Use Filters

3. Spend Enough Quality Time With Children

4. Limit the Amount of Time Children Watch Media

5. Do Not Have TVs and Computers in a Private Place

6. Hold Family Councils

7. Take Time to Watch Appropriate Media

Shrinkage of Cerebral Cortex

The Recognize area for Leaders provides hints on how to know if someone is suffering from an addiction to pornography.  This section contains excellent resources in understanding the power of addiction. In particular, the article by Donald L. Hilton Jr., MD “Understanding the Addictive Nature of Pornography“ teaches about the actual shrinkage of the brain’s cerebral cortex with pornography addiction.  This article is presented along with a brief Related Video by Elder Dallin H. Oaks reminding us that the brain won’t vomit back filth (see also “Pornography“ Ensign, May 2005, 87–90).

Help and Support for Youth

In the Support area for Youth there is a section “In Their Own Words”  containing two brief MP3 downloads of young men sharing excerpts from their addiction recovery stories. Also in this section there is a list of five sources that would benefit a young person struggling with pornography. They are:

1. Family Members

2. Recovery Meetings

3. Professional Counselors

4. Ecclesiastical Support

5. A Support Person.

Steps You Can Take Now To Overcome

The Overcome area for Individuals with a pornography problem provides a variety of resources including the “Relapse Analysis Form.” Struggling members can use this form to help analyze their relapse and, by doing so, help them avoid making the same mistake again. The form contains 10 questions a viewer of pornography asks about the last time they viewed pornography and what they might learn from the situation. This Overcoming section for Individuals with an addiction problem also sends the reader off the Church Website to Geoff Steurer’s article A Road Map for Recovery: Leaving Pornography Addiction and Discovering Life on Meridian Magazine.

Gospel Principle

If you or someone you love is struggling with pornography, there is hope. The Church’s new Combating Pornography website provides a variety of video, audio and written resources for those members interested and motivated to deal with the problem of pornography.