Lately I’ve been writing about — and hearing heart-wrenching accounts of — people struggling with pornography addiction.
It’s rampant in our culture in the West.
The deeper I dig into the statistics and the anecdotes, the more I’m realizing that it is very much a cross-cultural issue, and that even as the internet has transcended geographical boundaries in the best ways, it has been the vehicle for what I suspect history will look back upon as one of the most pernicious evils of our time.
And none of us are immune to it.
But it’s not hopeless.
And the very last thing we’re called to do, as parents, is throw our hands up in the air and resign ourselves to the sad inevitability of our kids and their friends becoming statistics.
So we take the practical steps. We talk to our kids early and often about what pornography is, the real cost of it, emotionally and spiritually and physically, and we put physical and behavioral barriers in place to protect them and to safeguard the sanctity of our homes.
At the same time, we are called to be salt and light in a world grown dim and flavorless – and increasingly so, where sex is concerned.
So we fill our little people’s hearts and minds with truth, goodness, and beauty, and we demonstrate for them what real love looks and feels and sounds like. And we send them out.
Christianity does not belong in a bubble. And neither do little Christian foot soldiers in training.
So while do our best to make our home base a sanctuary of love and learning and growing in discipleship and virtue, we must also equip our kids to engage the outside world, bit by bit, bringing the Gospel to their friends and classmates by means of those organic, innocent child-to-child encounters that the very young are so ideally suited for. Continue reading
- Jenny Uebbing answers FAQ’s on Catholicism, life issues, marriage, and how to safely combine pregnancy with caffeine.
Related Posts:
News category: Analysis and Comment.
