THE PORN PROBLEM
By Vaughan Roberts
The Good Book Co. 91 pages. £2.99
ISBN 978 1 784 981 976
Most men have a struggle with pornography, at least at some time in their lives. What surprised me was to find out from this book that a third of visitors to porn sites are women.
Sex has a godlike status in the ‘feel-good’ ethos of the 21st-century Western world. It is well known that the easy accessibility which the Internet has introduced has led to the mushrooming of pornography as a problem. Vaughan Roberts, of St Ebbe’s Oxford, has done a fine job in exposing the facts of the situation and has provided a powerful and caring antidote.
Price to pay
He explains that in today’s highly pressurised work culture, where people are pushed to the limits, pornography is seen as offering a quick means of relief, fantasy and escape. But this sinful strategy comes with a terrible price tag. Pornography objectifies women, sears the Christian conscience, turns us from relational beings into self-obsessed people and destroys our ability to know the joys of normal, marital sexual intimacy.
The book is especially helpful for those who are battling with the problem and feel they are getting nowhere. Couched in the arms of God’s gracious love for us and who we are in Christ, the struggler is given every reason to keep fighting and to see that victory is truly possible. The book is short, to the point, and addresses frequently asked questions. It will be of enormous help to many.
