Ancient Christian Witness

Quote:

""Romans 12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” A book I read recently revealed how physically this renewing of the mind needs to take place. And I think wisdom from a different, more ancient book can teach us a lot about that physical renewal.

InterVarsity Press recently released a new book by William Struthers called Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain. It describes in scientific detail the neurological processes involved in at least one pattern of sin: lust. And the most surprising – and for some, terrifying – insight of the book is that theses processes are dynamic. Viewing pornography actually shapes men’s brains, creating neural pathways designed to speed the brian’s processing of sexual images. Male brains are already programmed to respond to erotic imagery, but this is about nurture on top of nature: ”Like a path is created in the woods with each successive hiker, so do the neural paths set the course for the next time an erotic image is viewed. Over time these neural paths become wider as they are repeatedly traveled with each exposure to pornography. . . . Repeated exposure to pornography creates a one-way neurological superhighway where a man’s mental life is over-sexualized and narrowed” (p. 85).

Obviously porn is a tremendous issue: it’s a growing multi-billion dollar business in the US, thanks in part to its addictive character. Internet access only increases the likelihood of people viewing porn “privately” where there’s little fear of getting caught. (I’m curious how many more hits than usual this post will get, simply because it contains words like porn.) Regardless of the lies the entertainment industry produces about it, the truth is that porn is demeaning and violent toward both women and men, it’s destructive to relationships, and – as this book shows – it even rots the brain.""