{"id":9516,"date":"2012-03-23T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-23T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.familylife.com\/flministries\/?p=9516"},"modified":"2012-03-23T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-23T17:30:00","slug":"helping-your-child-avoid-the-pornography-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/articles\/topics\/life-issues\/challenges\/pornography\/helping-your-child-avoid-the-pornography-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Your Child Avoid the Pornography Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Developing your child\u2019s convictions about pornography will take many different forms. We\u2019ve gone to junior high and high school to talk to teachers who have asked our sons to read what would be rated R in movies. We\u2019ve sought to expose pornography\u2019s lies by talking about its impact on men like Ted Bundy. And we\u2019ve taken our sons and daughters with us when we\u2019ve gone to movie theaters to talk to theater managers and protest an NC-17 (formerly X-rated) movie that came to our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these actions and more can shape your child\u2019s convictions and keep him out of the traps. In addition, there are two other convictions your child should learn and embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Child\u2019s Conviction 1: I understand that pornography is sin and can destroy my life and my future marriage and family.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You may wonder how much detail to share about pornography with a child without drifting toward prurience. A great guideline is to look at Scripture and see how the Lord warns us about certain things. He certainly doesn\u2019t tell the whole story to provoke our carnality and flesh to sin. For example, in Proverbs we read this description of a woman to avoid: \u201cFor the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and smoother than oil is her speech\u201d (5:3). That is not an explicit description of a prostitute propositioning someone, but it gets the point across.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When talking to a preteen or teen about pornography, you can explain that many people today look at pictures of naked women and men performing sexual activity, but none of this is pleasing to God. Pornography takes something that is beautiful when it occurs between a married man and woman and makes it dirty. At younger ages, say up to about 12, your child needs only to know that pornography isn\u2019t good for him. He certainly doesn\u2019t need details that would attract him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talk to your child about the importance of keeping his life pure by guarding what enters through the eyes. Jesus said, \u201cThe lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness\u201d (Matthew 6:22\u201323).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As your child grows older, begin pointing out some of the sexual images you see in the media, in commercials, in magazine advertisements, etc. Here are a few things you could talk about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n