If she were your daughter?

"But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already commited adultry with her in his heart."
Matther 5:28 NKJV

First I'll ask this one question, has any one of you ever gazed inapropriately at a woman?  I wouldn't be at all surprised if a good number of men, maybe women, said no to this question.   I have before, and I was lying.  I've touched before on the false intimacy that pornography produces.  We're all aware of  how accesible pornography is today.  Are we just as aware of the damages that it causes?  Oh, we don't like to talk about that, let's skip around that subject.  We'd rather engage in our fantasies without being told that there are consequenses for our actions out there.  After all, it's our life, right?  Yeah, that's what I thought too.  We're told that these behaviors are only natural.  Well, if these behaviors were as natural as, say, coughing, then why are we overwhelmed with guilt when we engage in them?  Obviously our conscience is telling us something different than what we're being told.
Just for a minute, let's make this personal.   Suppose you're walking down the street with your daughter and you come across some lad who imediately whistles his approval and  stares at your little girl!  I don't know too many fathers, or mothers, who wouldn't show this rude dude the error of his ways!  Yes, we're all too ready to jump to the defense of our precious little girl when she becomes the object of someones lewd conduct,  but we deny the effects of pornography on our lives and families!  Remember,  that girl you're staring at in that magazine, video or website is, after all, someones wife, mother or daughter.  THIS is what makes pornography so impersonal.  We don't know the girl we're staring at, we don't care to.  Our  imediate satisfaction is our only thought.
I mentioned the consequenses of engaging in pornography, and this I know all too well.  See, I've been a victim of this addiction myself.  I suppose you could call it a family tradition.   My dad, my older brother and me all fell victim to the addiction.   I've tried all of the man made "cures" from self depravation to forcing myself to think of other things.  The truth is, not  one of these cures is effective.  Consequenses, there are far too many.   From broken marriages and familes to destroyed relationships.  I suppose there are those who will read this who will convince themselves that it can't/won't/will never happen to them.  Yeah, I told myself that as well.  I was a christian, I knew God, yet I fell victim to a lie.  So, you can tell me that you can handle it, that you're not addicted...you're kidding yourself!  You're talking to someone who's been there, and failed.  My parents marriage was destroyed by my dads infidelity, which left me without my father in my life, which eventualy led to his stint in jail, which led to my brothers drug use, which eventualy led to my partaking in my fathers addicton.  Still think there are no consequenses to pornography?  Yes, each of us ultimately live with the choices we make.  Something my friend Dennis said to me recently made me think.  We know that if Christ is in us, he shares our life and experiences.  The next time we are tempted to engage in pornography,  take a minute to have that conversation with him.  Jesus, is this something you'd like us to look at?  I think I already know what his answer would be.

~Scott~