There’s an intriguing phenomenon in Hollywood right now: celebrities speaking out against pornography.
Actor and comedian Russell Brand posted a video to his Facebook page in early 2015, citing science research and personal experiences as reasons he believes porn alters ideas about sex and love.
Next came Terry Crews who fully admitted to the world (again, through Facebook) that he was addicted to porn, speaking openly about the 90-day sex-fast he implemented with his wife in order to reset their intimacy. In his words, “My issue was, and is, with pornography, is that it changes the way you think about people. People become objects, people become body parts; they become things to be used rather than people to be loved.”
Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) recently offered this quote through Fight the New Drug, “I do believe porn is a huge problem that has to be confronted. The battle, though, is ultimately an internal one. Each person has to decide for themselves whether to have this thing in their lives or not. I value love and connection and friendship and community. I want to encourage more creativity, joy, and peace in my life. Porn is opposed to all of that.”
Most recently, Pamela Anderson and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal titled, “Take the Pledge: No More Indulging Porn.” In it, they said:
The march of technology is irreversible and we aren’t so naive as to believe that any kind of imposed regulation could ever reseal the Pandora’s box of pornography. What is required is an honest dialogue about what we are witnessing—the true nature and danger of porn—and an honor code to tamp it down in the collective interests of our well-being as individuals, as families and as communities.
At Covenant Eyes, we fully agree with what they are saying. Porn is a counterfeit version of real love. It makes promises of fulfillment and satisfaction that are never realized. Instead, it leaves a path of pain, abuse, and brokenness. Pornography always has at least one victim.
The piece goes on to conclude:
Simply put, we must educate ourselves and our children to understand that porn is for losers [emphasis added]—a boring, wasteful and dead-end outlet for people too lazy to reap the ample rewards of healthy sexuality.
This is where we disagree.
Millions of men and women struggle with pornography. Hundreds of thousands of them have used our service. But, not one of them is a loser.
Our mission is to equip and encourage people in the fight against Internet temptation. This is why we provide so much free education. This is why we have a hardship program, where those who can’t afford our service are provided it at no cost to them for up to three months. We are a field hospital for the hurting, the broken, and those who don’t have the strength to keep fighting.
Everyone is welcome.
Internet pornography is the largest, unregulated social experiment ever conducted. Now, 24 years after the creation of the world-wide-web, I’m glad more people are starting to speak out against it. But, let’s choose our words carefully. Love triumphs over judgment every time.
It’s kind of funny to me how a “Christian” website would disagree with this assertion. It’s funny because you guys make money off of making this a big deal. Yes, people who use pornography are losers. Not because they are inherently losers but because the activity is not beneficial to anyone. When something you do doesn’t benefit you or society in any way, that activity is stupid. It’s just not logical. The Christian stance that it’s sinful and evil (that’s true) but that’s more judgemental than, hey stop being a loser. That’s freeing! The Christian community also says it’s an addiction which is so unintelligible I’m not sure where to begin. There isn’t physical withdraw, hospitalization etc. It’s not an addiction. Being anorexic is NOT an addiction because there is no physical withdraw! It’s a mental disorder. Self loathing and being a victim isn’t an addiction, it’s a mental disorder and if you can change someone’s MIND to see that it’s just not helpful than they are free to laugh it off and let it go. However, you guys make money to encourage wives to enable husbands, tell husbands they are “addicted” so they become even more “I’m so sad”. So yeah, it’s funny. We should all have a good laugh because it promises sex and depicts things that aren’t even sex! Then it ruins your sex life!
Hello, Kassie – your assertion that there is no addictive nature is incorrect. That there is no physical withdrawal ignores peer-reviewed neuroscience. Covenant Eyes was founded to help people. Would you suggest we do that for free? We are making a big deal because it IS a big deal! I invite you to thumb through our blog and read the stories of brokenness left in the wake of porn. I just spent 2 days reviewing blog comments from men, women, teens, etc. who are wrecked by this issue. We are here to offer hope to the broken and encouragement to the struggling. Interesting that you find it to be more judgmental to call the action sinful and evil and prefer to call the human person a loser. That doesn’t make sense to me…….
Thank you Chris I needed to here that this morning, I’m not a loser!!! I left my addiction August 15th 2016 but often wonder if if I’m permanently stained, damaged, unfit or basically ”a loser” having ever had fallen. We don’t get positive results by focusing on negative.
All of Gods blessings
Frank your not a loser just like im not a loser…but we had a problem that were are fixing thats all you can do is fix yourself…please don’t think you are a loser
Well I will admit that I don’t know everything. You make a point over the rabbi and Pamela Anderson’s statement, but she does in fact make a very genuine point too. In a way, porn is for losers. This doesn’t mean the person who actually views it is a loser. In my case, it can mean that I “lose” touch with reality. My mind absorbed porn (and women) like a sponge. I got curious through female teachers, the music video “Monster” by Fred Schneider. I was 11 or 12, when I saw my late dad’s porn book. My mother took that away “without explanation”. Then came other material. I even hit a store as a teenager in the name of sex, and got spanked and into church w/counseling. I lost my mind, my integrity, my self-esteem and self-respect, people’s trust, and responsibility. So technically Chris, despite your points, Pamela Anderson and the rabbi happen to be right. She may not have meant loser in a derogatory sense, but look at what I lost. Maybe, just maybe this is all what she and the rabbi mean by “loser”. Thank you for viewing.
Hello, D.E., what you have said is very true. Everyone loses something in the porn exchange – the performers, consumers, teens, spouses, kids of addicts, everyone. There’s always a “loser,” so I think you’ve made a valid point. Thank you for sharing it!
Peace, Chris
Covenant Eyes
She sure made enough money off of porn. Amazing how once a person is set for life they become holier than thou. If she was so against porn, she would never have done it in the first place. Women are the biggest hypocrites there are.
Tell you what, you give me millions for eating jellybeans and once I have all the money, I will say gluttony is wrong.
It’s actually “mercy triumphs over judgement…” and “Love covers a multitude of sins…”
But, your point is understood..
I appreciate this ministry tremendously. Especially as we learn to inflict boundaries on the beast that is technology which threatens to invade every corner of life and swallow us whole. But pornography ‘management’ for unbelievers (and probably in some cases for believers as well) is nothing more than addressing outward behavior to try and achieve some standard of subjective morality-what they deem to be moral. The problem truly lies within our wicked and sinful hearts. While it’s good that secular stars of the Hollywood and mainstream media and entertainment community speak out against these atrocities they are barely scratching the surface of these problems. Only a saved heart that is transformed can bring true and lasting healing.