Pornography is sweeping across the world, leaving families torn apart in its wake. Many churchgoers who are struggling to break free feel isolated and helpless. One UK survey revealed that 75 per cent of Christian men and 35 per cent of Christian women viewed pornography regularly or occasionally. When you watch it, powerful neurotransmitters such as dopamine are released, which bond you to the images you’re looking at. According to neuropsychologist Dr Tim Jennings, ‘Any type of repetitive behaviour will create trails [neural pathways] in our brain that are going to fire on an automatic sequence.’ Some churches treat this issue as strictly a moral one, failing to realise it’s also a brain problem. We advise people to try more, pray more, and love the Lord more. And that’s important. But when you fight the flesh in the power of the flesh, you end up fighting yourself. What’s the answer? Your mind has to be renewed, and that’s a process. When your brain has been trained the wrong way, it must be retrained the right way. This calls for radical commitment, such as removing pornography from your life and sometimes walking in accountability with a mature Christian friend you can turn to in times of testing. Above all, it involves reprogramming your mind with God’s Word. Paul writes: ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ (Romans 12:1-2 NKJV). You don’t have to live in bondage to pornography. Christ can set you free.
