Your

Brain
on Porn
5 proven ways pornography
warps your mind and
5 biblical ways to renew it

Chapter

Table of Contents
chapter 1:

Porn on the brain

chapter 2:

5 ways that porn warps your mind

10

chapter 3:

5 Biblical Ways to Renew the Mind

20

Appendix:

Christian Accountability: A Discussion Guide

37

endnotes 45

Your brain on porn | 2

Chapter

About the Author

Luke Gilkerson
Luke is the general editor and primary author of the
Covenant Eyes blog (www.covenanteyes.com/blog), and
also serves as the Internet Community Manager. Luke has a
BA in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Bowling Green
State University and is working on his MA in Religion from
Reformed Theological Seminary.
Before working at Covenant Eyes he spent six years as a
campus minister at the University of Toledo. He lives with his
wife Trisha and four sons in Owosso, MI.

www.covenanteyes.com
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Your brain on porn | 3

What is covenant eyes?

Internet Accountability
The websites you visit, the
search terms you use, the
YouTube videos you watch
all listed in an Accountability
Report that is designed for
the conversation.

Internet filtering

Do you want an extra layer

of protection for yourself or
your kids? Our Internet Filter
blocks content based on
age-appropriateness.

Learn more and sign up

at www.covenanteyes.com

Chapter 1

porn on the brain

It seems so obvious, says regular Playboy writer Damon Brown. If we inventa
machine, the first thing we are going to doafter making a profitis use it to
watch porn. In the last 150 years, pornographyhas ridden on the heels of new
technology, from the photograph to the film projector, from VHS to DVDs, from the
World Wide Web to smartphones. You name it, Brown says, pornography planted
its big flag there first, or at least shortly thereafter.1
Wed like to believe Christians are immune to the prevalence of pornography, but
Paul Fishbein, founder of Adult Video News, is right when he says, Porn doesnt
have a demographicit goes across all demographics.2

Porn doesnt have

a demographicit
goes across all
demographics.

That includes the church. According to data taken

from Internet users who took part in the General Social
Survey, those who self-identify as fundamentalists
are 91% more likely to look at pornography than the
general public.3

We are only beginning to see the effectsof massproduced porn on our culture. The Internet
Tweet this!
generationthose who have grown up with online
media in the homehave now entered young adulthood. Many saw pornography
for the first time when they were very young, and today consuming Internet
pornography is a weekly, or even daily affair for many college-age men and women.4
Over a decade ago, Dr. Judith Reisman called porn an erototoxin, theorizing that
the brain itself might be damagedwhile watching porn.5She speculated that future
brain studies would reveal that the surge of neurochemicals and hormones released
when someone watches porn has measurably negative effects on the brain.
Recent studies are now validating her theory.

Your brain on porn | 5

Desensitized to Pleasure
God wired the brain in such a way that it wants to remember where our natural
drives are satisfied. If the body is thirsty, the brains job is to remember in vivid detail
where water can be found, and dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for
helping us remember where to satisfy our natural drives.
When sexually stimulated,dopamineis released into a region of the brain
responsible for emotion and learning, giving the viewer a sense ofsharpfocusand
an awareness ofcraving: I have got to have this thing; this is what I need right
now. Dopamine supplies a great sense of pleasure. The next time the viewer gets
the itch for more sexual gratification, small packets of dopamine are released in the
brain, saying, Remember where you got your fix last time. Go there to get it.
In the context of a secure marital relationship, this push to return to the source of
pleasure brings couples back together again and again in sexual intimacy, building
a bond of love. But in the context of viewing pornography, the effect is something
altogether different.
Continued exposure to porn, especially for long periods of time, releases surge after
surge of dopamine, giving the brain an unnatural high. The brain eventually fatigues,
limiting the release of dopamine, leaving the viewer wanting more but unable to
reach a level of satisfaction. This is called desensitization. Everyday pleasures begin
to lose their lusterincluding sexand the viewer expands their pornographic
tastes and seeks out more novel or harder pornography to get the same arousal.6
James says sin begins in strong desire, but sin when it is fully grown brings forth
death (James 1:14-15). Growing sin brings about all forms of deathdeath to
pleasure, death to relationships, and ultimately eternal death.

hyper-Sensitized to Lust
While the brain becomes desensitized to pleasure in general, it becomes hypersensitive to various sexual triggers. In his book Wired for Intimacy, Dr. William
Struthers offers a way to understand sensitization. He writes:
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

Your brain on porn | 6

traveled with each exposure to pornography. They become the automatic

pathway through which interactions with women are routed. The neural
circuitry anchors this process solidly in the brain. With each lingering stare,
pornography deepens the Grand Canyon-like gorge in the brain through
which images of women are destined to flow. This extends to women that
they have not seen naked or engaging in sexual acts as well. All women
become potential porn stars in the minds of these men.7

In other words, the more a person masturbates to pornography, the wider the
neuro-superhighway becomes, developing more and more on-ramps. Sexual cues
are everywhere and they all lead to the same place.
The Apostle Paul vividly describes the never-ending lust people experience when
cut off from the life of God. He writes, They have given themselves overto
sensualityso as to indulge in every kind of impurity (Eph. 4:19, NIV). One act of
lust leads to two, two leads to four, and four leads to an all-consuming desire. Its
appetite is never satiated.

Crippled Willpower
The process of sensitization and desensitization impacts the prefrontal cortex in the
brain. As dopamine receptors degenerate in the brain, changes take place in the
prefrontal lobes. This region of the brain is responsible for our willpower, regulating
our behavior, and making decisions based on wisdom and morals.
Normally, when emotions, impulses, and urges surge from the midbrain, the
prefrontal lobes are there to exercise executive control over them. But when this
region is weakened by continual porn use, willpower is eroded and there is nothing
to stop the sense of craving for pornography. As a result, the person experiences
the urge, not just as a desire, but as an intense need. Neuroscientists call this
problem hypofrontality. This person is no longer has mastery over his passions but
is a slave to them.8
It is just as Paul says: as men and women become calloused, desensitized to God
and all that is good, they also experience a great hardness of heart (Eph. 4:18).
They become slaves to various passions and pleasures (Titus 3:3).
Our brains are designed by God to weigh consequences and situations and
judiciously choose when to allow cravings through, but hypofrontality means the

Your brain on porn | 7

porn-saturated mind has a very limited ability to do this. The prefrontal region is
one of the things that makes humans uniquefilled with rationality and conscience.
For this reason, one could say that viewing porn, in a very real sense, makes us
less human.

The Fundamental Problem with Porn

Desensitized to pleasure, sensitized to lust, and crippled in willpowerthese are
some of the things modern science is unearthing about the affects of porn on the
brain. As we will see in the next chapter, studies have shown how porn shapes our
sexual beliefs and expectations.
Based on observations coming from the fields
of psychology, neurology, and the social sciences,
theres much that can be said today about the evils
of pornography. Pornography is addictive. The women
in porn are often coerced, sexually abused, and
encouraged to use drugs. Porn use is contributing
to divorce rates. All of these are true; however, it
is important for Christiansand for human beings
in generalto understand the cardinal problem
with pornography.

Porn is essentially
wrong because it
presents men and
women as sexual
commodities.
Tweet this!

the gospel says:

Porn Culture Says:

 This is my body, which is given for you

(Luke 22:19).

 This is her body taken by me.

 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is

at hand (Matthew 4:17).

 Relax, for there is nothing wrong

with your fantasies.

Jesus: This is my body,

which is given for you.

Porn: This is her body

taken by me.
Tweet this!

Your brain on porn | 8

the gospel says:

Porn Culture Says:

 Your life is hidden with Christ in

God (Colossians 3:3).

 Your life is found in your hidden

adventures online.

 Treat older women as mothers,

younger women as sisters, in all
purity (1 Timothy 5:2).

 Treat older women as cougars and

younger women as barely legal.

 This is eternal life,that they know

youthe only true God, andJesus
Christ whom you have sent
(John 17:3).

 This is real life, that we would

never be denied our every sexual
desire, no matter how misogynistic
or demeaning.

Pornography is essentially wrong because of its message: it rips sexuality from

its relational context and presents human beings not as creatures made in Gods
image, but as sexual commoditiessomething to be bought and sold.

Your brain on porn | 9

Chapter 2

5 Ways that
Porn Warps Your Mind
In the early 1980s, Dr. Dolf Zillmann of Indiana University and Dr. Jennings Bryant
of The University of Alabama wondered whether continued exposure to video
pornography had any impact on peoples sexualbeliefs and theirattitudes towards
women. For theirexperiment, 80male and 80 femalecollege-age participants were
divided into three subgroups, and each group was shown 4 hours and 48 minutes
of media.
The first group, the Massive Exposure Group, was shown 36 non-violent
pornographic films over a six-week period.
The second group, the Intermediate Exposure Group, was exposed to
18 pornographic films and 18 regular films over a six-week period.
The third (control) group, theNo Exposure Group, was shown 36 nonpornographic movies over a six-week period.

Later, these groups were asked a varietyof questions ranging from their personal
preferences to social issues.9
The results were fascinating

Finding #1:
Watching Porn Decreases Our Sexual Satisfaction
Zillmann and Bryant found a direct correlation between the amount of pornography
one viewed and ones overall sexual satisfaction in real relationships. Participants
from the Massive Exposure Group reported less satisfaction with their intimate

Your brain on porn | 10

partners: they were less likely to be pleased with their partners physical
appearance, affection, and sexual performance.
They concluded that porn consumers eventually compare their spouse, their
boyfriend, or their girlfriend with images of porn models.
Another study appearing in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy in 2002 found
similar results. When men and women were exposed to pictures of female
centerfold models from Playboy and Penthouse, this significantly lowered their
judgments about the attractiveness of average people.10
This is disheartening because God is not the enemy of pleasure and sexual
attraction; He is the Creator of it. The Bible proclaims it. Even the demons know it.
But it is human beings who are most likely to forget it.
The demon Screwtape, in C.S. Lewis The
Screwtape Letters, reminds his young demonic
apprentice of this truth. [Gods] a hedonist at
heart. All those fasts and vigils and stakes and
crosses are only a facade. Or only like foam on
the sea shore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is
pleasure and more pleasure. He makes no secret of
it; at His right hand are pleasures forevermore....
He has filled the world full of pleasures.11

Porn essentially trains

men and women to
be consumers, not
lovers; to treat sex
as a commodity.
Tweet this!

Sex is one of these God-created pleasures.

To highlight the goodness of sexual pleasure, God inspired King Solomon to write a
little book of romantic melodies called The Song of Songsa title that means the
best love song of all. This book expressesat times in erotic detailthe pleasure
and joy of marital sexuality.
But like all good things, sin aims to twist this pleasure.
When people become more and more entrenched in pornography, this ends up
only deluding and deadening their libido. After years working with men and women
entrenched in pornography, Dr. Mary Anne Layden concluded, Having spent so
much time in unnatural sexual experiences with paper, celluloid and cyberspace,
they seem to find it difficult to have sex witha real human being. Pornography,
shesays, is toxic miseducation about sex and relationships, training men and
women to expect online designer sex in the real world.12

Your brain on porn | 11

This isnt merely about comparing someones body type or sexual performance.
When someone is exposed to pornography again and again, they can start
comparing the whole fantasy experience to their normal sex lives. Instead of being
drawn to one woman or one man, they end up being turned on by the variety and
novelty porn offers them.
Neurobiologist Peter Milner explains that our brains are wired to be attracted to
that which is unfamiliar and novel. This inward drive is what helps us to learn new
things and adapt to our environment.But, he explains,it is possible tobecome
addictedto novelty anduncertainty.13Over time thebrain that feedson erotic
mediais trained toequate sexualexcitementwith the novelty and variety of
pornography. Eventually the familiar face, body, and sexual performance of a
spouse doesnt arouse the way it used to.
For all of Solomons romantic wisdom and marital passion, even he was ensnared
bya lust for variety. In 1 Kings 11 we learn Solomon eventually accumulated 700
wives and 300 concubines because he loved many foreign women (v.1).
Pornography essentially trains men and women to be consumers, not lovers; to
treat sex as a commodity; to think about sexas something on-tap and madeto-order.As Dr. Judith Reisman rightly concludes, pornography castrates
men visually, training them to retreat into the realm of fantasy if they want to be
aroused.14

Finding #2:
Watching Porn Disconnects Us from Real Relationships
After their experiment, Zillmann and Bryant concluded that the more porn someone
saw, the more likely they were to prefer sex without emotional involvement. After
watching less than five hours of pornography over a six-week period, the Massive
Exposure group was more likely to devalue marriage, the idea of having children,
and the importance of faithfulness in a relationship. They also showed a greater
acceptance of casual sex.
Casual sex is not new to our generation. Even 2,000 years ago, the apostle
Paul planted churches in places like Corinthacity with a reputation that might
make aLas Vegas pimp blush. In Corinth, sex was a religionliterally. The temple
to Aphrodite was home to thousands of priestessesglorified prostituteswho
serviced the worshippers. The loose sexual mores of Corinth were even lower than

Your brain on porn | 12

those of the rest of the Roman Empire, and the verb corinthianize was coined to
describe this lifestyle of decadent sin.
Pauls word for this way of life was porneia:a persistent lifestyle of sexual
immorality. To the church in Corinth, surrounded by these depraved influences,
Paul writes, Flee from sexual immoralityBecause of the temptation to sexual
immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband
(1 Cor. 6:18; 7:2). Paul commendsa habit of regular sexual intimacy between
husbands and wives because the temptation to sin is, at times, very strong (7:3-5).
For Paul, sexual passion finds its haven in a marital relationship.
Pornography, however, is not only an expression of casual sex but feeds a desire for
it, as the Zillmann-Bryant study confirms. We see this especially amongthe younger
generations whohave taken up the habit ofsexting, sending racy photosor
videos of themselves toothersessentially becoming someone elses pornography.
As one 17-year-old girl put it: You cant get pregnant from it, and you cant transmit
STDs. Its a kind of safe sex.15

Porn trains men to

desire the cheap
thrill of fantasy
over a committed
relationship.
Tweet this!

Dr. Gary Brooks, author of The Centerfold

Syndrome, explains how pornography alters
the way men think about romantic relationships.
The glossy magazine pictures or pixels on the
screen have no sexual or relational expectations
of their own. This essentially trainsmen to desire
the cheap thrillof fantasy over a committed
relationship. Pornography trains men to be digital
voyeurs, to prefer looking at women more than
seeking out genuine intimacy.16

We might say the real problem with pornography isnt that it shows us too much
sex, but that it doesnt show us enoughit cannot possibly give us an experience
of real intimacy. Porn treats sex one-dimensionally, packages it in pixels, and rips it
from its relational context. It only titillates us with images of sex but cannot offer the
experience of closeness with another person.

Finding #3:
Watching Porn Lowers Our View of Women
In the Zillmann-Bryantexperiment,the MassiveExposure Groupwas far more
likely to believe women in society really fit the stereotype of the women they saw in
Your brain on porn | 13

pornographic films. They were more likely to believe all

women are really as hysterically euphoric in response
to just about any sexual or pseudosexual stimulation,
and as eager to accommodate seemingly any and
every sexual request as the porn girls.
Participants in the experiment were asked to rate their
overall support for womens rights. Men in the Massive
Exposure Group showed a 46% drop in support
compared to the No Exposure Group. And among women
participants, this drop was an alarming 30%.

Porn doesnt help

men value women
but rather to see
fewer women as
porn-worthy.
Tweet this!

male participants said:

71%

Do you support womens rights?

48%
25%

Levels of Exposure
to Pornography:
none
intermediate
massive

Contrary to the message of pornography, the Scriptures tell us both men and
women are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-28). The implications of this
doctrine are far-reaching. As image-bearers we reflect God in a way no other
creature on earth does. As far as God is concerned, to assault someone made in
His image is a great crime (Gen. 9:6; James 3:9). Knowing we are made in Gods
image should impact how we see ourselves and how we see one another.
It is not only men who bear this image, but women as well. In human history the
failure to appreciate this fact has led to all mannerof abuses to women. And in our

Your brain on porn | 14

increasingly sexualized culture, it is women who are often the most dehumanized as
they are constantly rated for the size, shape, and harmony of their body parts. Often
pornography, and even mainstream media, portrays women as people who are glad
to be used and objectified. It isnt surprising to find women increasingly devalued in
our porn-saturated culture.
Free porn is a misnomer. Pornography always costs somebody something. And
its the women and girls in our culture, surrounded by boys and men with porn
expectations, who often end up paying the highest price.
Naomi Wolf, writing for New York Magazine, puts it best: Today real naked women
are just bad porn. The onslaught of porn doesnt train men to value women as
people made in the image of God, but instead trains people to see fewer and fewer
women as porn-worthy.17

Finding #4:
Watching Porn Desensitizes Us to Cruelty
In Zillmann and Bryants experiment, when asked how common certain sexual
activities were in societyactivities like anal sex, group sex, sadomasochism, and
bestialitythe percentages given by the MassiveExposure Group were two to three
times higher than the No Exposure Group. Pornography led them to believe these
sexual activities were more common.

144

female participants were asked:

how many months should a

rapist be incarcerated?

101
77

Levels of Exposure
to Pornography:
none
intermediate
massive

Your brain on porn | 15

Watching pornography also conditioned participants to trivialize rape. Participants

were asked to read about a legal case wherea man raped a female hitchhiker and
then recommend a length for the rapists prison sentence. Males in the No Exposure
Group said 94 months; the Massive Exposure Group cut this by nearly half,
recommending only 50 months.
Pornography essentially desensitizes us to sexual violence and cruelty, even when
the pornography is considered non-violentin nature, as in the Zillmann and Bryant
study. Unfortunately, aggression is common in pornography today.18 A 2000 study
discovered the presence of violence in 42% of online pornography. Today, it is not
uncommon for even the youngest Internet users to be exposed to graphic material.
By the age of 18, for instance, 39% of boys and 23% of girls have seen acts of sex
involving bondage online.19
In a 2007presentation, RobertWosnitzer,
Often porn portrays
AnaBridges, and MichelleChang released the
women as people who
results of their study of the 50 top selling adult
DVDs. After analyzing 304 distinct scenes in these
are glad to be used
films, they found 3,376 acts of verbal or physical
and objectified.
aggressionthats an act of aggression every
minute and a half. About 90% of scenes contained
at least one act of aggression. Verbal aggression,
Tweet this!
such as name-calling, was present in about halfof
adult video scenes. In 73% of instances, men were the aggressors, and when
women were the aggressors, most of the time they were being aggressive to
another woman. In 95% of the scenes, the person receiving the aggression reacted
neutrally or positively to it. Positive or healthy sexual acts, such as kissing or
compliments, were found in only 10%of scenes.20
These numbers give us a glimpse of the sexual education porn consumers receive.
Routinely, pornography depicts acts of aggression, cruelty, and degradation, and
teaches viewers that women enjoy these acts.
Lust and abuse have always been closely relatedand the Bible routinely links
them. Davids daughter Tamar was beautiful, and Davids son Amnon secretly
loved her froma distance. Amnon described his obsession and lust as so great, it
tormented him to the point of being ill (2 Sam. 13:2). Eventually he hatched a plan
to get her into bed. When the moment came and they were alone, he forced himself
upon her and raped her. Then, the Scriptures say, after he had his way with her, he
hated her with very great hatred (v.15) and threw her out of his house.

Your brain on porn | 16

A story like this shows the insidious nature of lust. True love leads us to serve one
another as human beings created in Gods image. Lust leads us to use one another,
to see others as expendable. And just like in the case of Tamar, a mind that only
sees women as objects of lust, can also easily be numbed to cruelty towards
women.

Finding #5:
Watching Porn Makes Us Want to Watch More Porn
Two weeks after the Zillmann-Bryant experiment, all participants were givenan
assortment of pornographic and non-pornographic films to watch in private. Those
who were exposed to more pornography were significantly more likely to want to
watch hardcore porn.
Continually watching pornographyhas been shown to produce an escalation effect.
Fifteen years after this experiment, Dr. Zillmann continued research in this area,
finding that the habitual use of pornography led to greater tolerance of sexually
explicit material over time, requiring the viewer to consume more novel and bizarre
material to achieve the same level of arousal or interest.21
As Solomon said, sex is intoxicating (Song 1:4). To his students he wrote, Rejoice
in the wife of your youthbe intoxicated always in her love, but do not get drunk
on the embrace of a forbidden woman (Prov. 5:18-20).
Solomon had no knowledge of the human brain the way we do today, but his words
on the intoxicating nature of sexuality take on a new richness as we study the
effects of pornography on the mind and body.
There is considerable debate today about the existence of sex addiction or porn
addiction. Generally, counselors and therapists agree the phenomenon is real: in
a 2008 survey, over 90% of therapists believed
a person could become addicted to cybersex.22
Some have proposed calling this hypersexual
90% of therapists
disorder23 or sexual compulsion.24

believe someone can

become addicted to
cyber sex.
Tweet this!

Cambridge Neuropsychiatrist Valerie Voons

research demonstrates that the brains of habitual
porn users show great similarity to the brains of
alcoholics. A brain structure called theventral
striatum plays a significant role in the reward

Your brain on porn | 17

system of the brainthe pleasure pathways. This part of the brain lights up on an
MRI when an alcoholic sees a picture of a drink, and the same structure lights up
when a self-confessed porn addict sees a pornographic image.25
Regardless of the specific labels we useaddiction, compulsion, dependency,
hypersexualitythe intoxicating nature of pornography cannot be denied. As the
Zillmann-Bryant experiment shows, the more we watch pornography, the more
pornography we want to watch: itis like a toxin that gets into our blood. This is one
great example of what Paul calls the law of sin, sins persuasive pull, which he
says resides in the physical members of our bodies (Rom. 7:22-24). We can become
captive to the impulses of our brains and bodies when they are trained by sinful
indulgence.

30 Years Later: After the Explosion of Internet Porn

At a 2011 conference, Dr. Mary Anne Layden commented about Zillmann and
Bryants research. When this study was done, that was called the Massive
Exposure Groupseeing five hours of porn over a six-week periodI now call
that the Friday Afternoon Group.26
Her statement is farfrom an exaggeration. A recent survey of29,000 people at
North American universitiesshows 51% of men and16% of women spendup to
five hours perweek online for sexual purposes, and another11% of men spend

university students were asked:

how many hours do you spend

online for internet sex per week?27

51%

hours spent online

for internet sex sites:
up to 5 hours

11%

16%

2%

1%

5-20 hours
over 20 hours

1%

Your brain on porn | 18

anywhere from five to 20 hours per week. What used to be massive exposure is
now common practice.27
Furthermore, the Internet has not only increased the publics exposure to porn, but
has also changed the way it is consumed. Dr. Jill Manning believes Zillmann and
Bryants findings have greater applicability in the modern age because Internet porn
tends to be more interactive and consumer-driven. Viewers can select exactly who
and what they want to see, custom-tailored to their exact specifications.28

Porn Shapes Our Sexual Beliefs

So far weve seen five ways pornography warps our minds:
1. Watching porn decreases our sexual satisfaction. It trains us
to desire the variety and designer sex of porn more than the familiar sexuality of
marriage.
2. Watching porn disconnects us from real relationships.
It trains us to detach emotional involvement from sexual experience.
3. Watching porn lowers our view of women. It trains us to see
women as sexual commodities, not people created in Gods image.
4. Watching porn desensitizes us to cruelty. It numbs us to the
seriousness of verbal and physical aggression.
5. Watching porn makes us want to watch more porn. It taps into
the neurocircuitry of our brains, making us desire the rush of sexual energy from
porn again and again.

For those who have been entrenched in pornography, how do we reverse these
mind-warping effects? How do we renew our minds (Rom. 12:1-2)?

Your brain on porn | 19

Chapter 3

5 Biblical Ways
to Renew the Mind
The Bible does not describe us merely as wayward, broken, or needing a moral
boost but as those who are dead in sin (Eph. 2:1). Dead men and women do not just
need recovery: they need resurrection.
For the follower of Christ, the ultimate goalis not merely quitting pornography, but
is something far richer and more comprehensive. If merely modifying behavior was
the most important thing, there are any number of psychological tips and tricks one
can use. But for the Christian, as it should be for all people, the goal is not merely
recoveringfrom pornography, but being remade by God Himself into the image of
the perfect Man, Jesus Christ.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Just as sure as pornography stirs up lustful cravings in us, the Holy Spirit is a
source of new, holy cravings. Galatians 5 says we who have the Holy Spirit have
the desires of the Spirit (5:17). God promises that when we keep in step with the
Spirit, the lusts of the flesh that lead to sexual immorality, impurity, and sensuality
will not have their way in us (5:16,25). We can become new men and women from
the inside out.
What does it mean to keep in step with the Spirit of God, to walk in the Spirit?
1. We must walk in accountability where we can share our darkest
secrets and be reminded of our highest calling. To walk in the Spirit, we must
confess our sins to each other, pray for each other, and stir up one another to live
according to our true identity.
2. We must internalize Scripture, the inspired words of the Spirit. To walk
in the Spirit, we need to renovate our thoughts according to the truths He has
revealed, rejecting the lies pornography has fed us.

Your brain on porn | 20

3. We must walk in pure pleasure, taking great delight in holy and

wholesome longingsfinding pleasure in all that is honorable, pure, lovely, and
excellent. To walk in the Spirit, we need to pursue pure pleasures with sincere
gratitude until pornography loses its luster.
4. We must walk in our true identity, listening to cry of the Spirit in our
hearts, Abba, Father, which confirms our new identity. To walk in the Spirit,
we need to learn to relate to God, from the depths of our soul, as dearly loved
adopted sons and daughters, believing that we belong to God and that our ties to
sin are broken forever.
5. We must stir up the hope the Spirit inspires in usthe hope of
righteousness. To walk in the Spirit, we need to wait eagerly for this hope, putting
faith in Gods promises that we are destined for an eternity of purity, and longing
to see that purity spill over into our present lives.

1. Walk in Accountability
When Paul says we are to walk in the Spirit he is writing to a church community,
not just to random individuals reading his letter in their private corners. Keeping in
step with the Spirit of God is a community activity, something we do together.
In other words, one of the ways we keep in step with the Spirit is by keeping in
step with one another. We must live lifestyles of encouragement and accountability.
The Spirit does not merely indwell individual Christians. He indwells the church
corporately as His temple (2 Cor. 6:16). Walking in the power of the Spirit means we
must depend on how the Spirit empowers others to help us.
Nothing slays the power of sin like confession. James writes, Therefore, confess
your sinsto one another and pray for one anotherthat you may be healed (James
5:16). In confessing our sins to God we are promised forgiveness. In confessing sin
to others we are made whole.
Sin must be habitually exposed to the lightof confession. This is called
accountability: being honest with another trusted believer about our temptations,
sins, and the state of our heart. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, after
eating of the forbidden fruit, our knee-jerk reaction is to hideto hide from God and
from one another. Accountability is the willingness to habitually and regularly allow
others access to your heart, your motives, your secret desires, your dark thoughts,
and, of course, your sinful actions.

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Confession of sin is not the only goal of Christian accountability. In the face of each
others weaknesses, we need to encourage one another to fight sin. The author of
Hebrews says, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Heb. 10:24-25).
Christian accountability is meant to be a dialogue. When we give an account of our
sins to others, in return, they should listen and then give an account of Gods grace
back. When sin is confessed, it is not to merely assuage a guilty conscience. In this
text, God calls us to stir up one anotherthat is, to urge, to spur on, to provoke,
to motivate each otherto love and good deeds. Each time we meet together we
should be contemplating and praying, God, show me how I can really motivate my
friend to resist temptation and instead love You and others wholeheartedly. We are
to have a hardcore intentionality and thoughtfulness in our friendships.
Like the embers of a red-hot fire, we stir up the fire not by adding heat to it, but
ratherby exposing the glowing embers to the air, helping to bring out the energy
that is already in the embers. If the Spirit of God is in us, He has already etched his
law on our hearts (Jer. 31:33-34; Ez. 36:25-27). But He has also placed us in the
family of the church, among trusted friends who are also filled with His Spirit, in
order that we might stir up in each other what God has already put within us.

Put into practice

Accountability and Pornography

The late psychologist, Dr. Al Cooper, believed three main factors draw people into
online sexual activity:31

anonymity

accessibility

1. Anonymity
Home computers and smartphones have
made it very easy to be secretive.
2. Accessibility
Pornography is accessible from any
Internet connection.

Affordability

3. Affordability
Millions of free or very cheap images
are available online.

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He dubbed this the Triple-A Engine of Internet porn. These three factors work like
three legs on a stool: remove just one of the legs and the stool will fall.
The easiest leg to remove is the leg
of anonymity, or secrecy. We do this by
becoming accountable to others about
the time we spend online, taking away
the option to hide our Internet activity.
One way to do this is through the use of
Covenant Eyes Internet Accountability.
This software program monitors your
home computer, work computer, and smartphone and then sends a detailed report
of your Internet activity to a trusted friend, spouse, or mentor. Covenant Eyes, which
pioneered the concept of Internet Accountability, also rates websites for mature
content, flagging specific web searches and sites. Experience accountability online
with Covenant Eyes right now at www.covenanteyes.com.
Get Internet Accountability

2. Walk According to the Word

When Paul writes, keep in step with the Spirit, the word he uses is the same as
that of an army marching in line, a platoon following its marching orders. Lest we
think keeping in step with the Spirit is a purely mystical experience, Paul says it is
very practical. Keeping in step with the Spirit means obeying His clearly revealed
orders.
We cannot claim to keep in step with Gods Spirit if we ignore or disobey the
writings He inspired: the Scriptures. Through the Bible, the Holy Spirit speaks clear
words to the church. As an expert in Gods law, Paul understood this. He knew all
the writings of the prophets were breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16). No less than
32 times in Pauls letters he uses the phrase it is written, pointing to the writings
of the prophets who came before him. Paul also knew the Spirit was inspiring him
and his fellow apostles (Eph. 3:5). The Scriptures are a gift from the Spirit to us:
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, Paul says,
that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might
have hope (Rom. 15:4).
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To keep in step with the Spirit we must know and obey the Book He inspired. We
must explore the Bible and learn what God thinks. We must renew our minds with
His thoughts.
Take, for instance, the five main ways pornography warps the mind. Exploring the
Bible, we can reverse engineer the bad training pornography has given us and
replace it with Gods thoughts.
1. Porn promises gratification but only decreases our sexual satisfaction.
But God is the creator of sexual satisfaction and has designed
marriage for its enjoyment (Song. 4:9-16). For single men and women, it means
pursuing wholesome, intentional relationships with each other (1 Thess. 4:4). For the
present time it also means surrendering to Gods providence and timing (Ps. 37:5),
believing that dying a virgin is not a tragedy, but is infinitely superior to pornographic
indulgence (1 Cor. 7). After all, the Son of God did. For married men and women,
this means renewing our minds towards our spouses, choosing to make them our
standard of attractiveness. It means returning again and again to the enjoyment of
sex in marriage (Prov. 5:18-19; Song. 7:11-13).
2. Porn disconnects us from real relationships, training us to
believe that the best sex is solo-sex. But God has defined good sex as an
expression of oneness, not emotional detachment (Gen. 2:24). For married
and single people alike, this means seeing ones body not as his or her own, but as
something to give as a gift to another (1 Cor. 6:19-20; 7:4).
3. Porn lowers our view of women, training us to see each other as
sexual commodities. But God created women in His image, and as such,
women are worthy of great honor (Gen. 1:27; 1 Pet. 3:7). For the man, this means
not letting his eyes lead his heart astray, but instead making a covenant with his
eyes to never look upon a girl with lust (Job 31:1,7). For the woman, this means
refusing to see her own worth through the lens of porn standards, knowing she is
fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and her inner beauty is unfading (1
Peter 3:3-4).
4. Porn desensitizes us to and eroticizes cruelty. But God has
designed sex as an expression of affection, not aggression(Deut.
22:25; Eph. 5:28-30). God has promised to maintain the cause of the afflicted and
destitute (Psalm 82:3; 140:12), and that includes those whose brokenness has led
them to a life of prostituting themselves for the camera. God redeems prostitutes

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like Rahab and brings them into the fold of His people (Josh. 6:25). He forgives their
sins and defends their honor (Luke 7:36-50). As the church, we should do the same.
5. Porn hooks us deeply, leading to possible addiction and sexual bondage.
But God redeems our warped sex drive so that sex is a holy act of love
and giving, not selfishness and slavery (1 Cor. 13:4-7; Gal. 5:22-23). Sex becomes
our master when we believe the lie that porn tries to sell us: that sex is a need. If
sex is a need, then we feel justified when we get mad at the world or at God for not
giving us the sex or the kind of sex we so rightly deserve. But if sex is not a need,
but rather a good desire, then we can set it alongside other good desires and go to
the Word to understand its place.

For married men and women, this means surrendering our sexual desires to the
Lord in a spirit of giving, not taking, and regularly returning to our spouse to be
intoxicated with love (Song. 1:4; Prov. 5:18-20). For single men and women, this
means surrendering our sexual desires to the Lord, practicing self control, and using
ones undivided interests to serve the Lord (1 Cor. 7:32-35).
Each of these ideas is only the beginning, but the more the mind engages with
the Bible around these truths, the more our thoughts are renovated. Over time our
minds will be rewired to see things the way God does. As we do this we are sowing
to the Spirit and in time will reap a harvest of eternal life (Gal. 6:8).

Put into practice

Accountability and the Word

One of the best ways to regularly expose our minds to Gods Word is through
Christian community. Accountability relationships can become great vehicles for
learning and understanding the Word of God.
How can we do this practically? With our accountability partners or group, decide
on a book of the Bible or a Biblical topic to explore together. Find detailed and
readable commentaries about that book or topic. Throughout the week, write down
interesting points we are learning and how we feel convicted to live differently as a
result. When we come together, talk about what was learned.
In the Discussion Guide in the back of this book, statement #21 says, The Bible is
consistently shaping the way I think and live. I spend regular time reading or hearing

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Gods words, and as a result of that time, I have determined to better trust and
obey God in specific ways. Every time you meet, assess how much or little this
statement describes you and share your thoughts with your partners.

3. Walk in Pure Pleasure

Paul specifically states that what trumps sinful longings are holy longings: the
desires of the Spirit are against the flesh (Gal. 5:17). Paul says if we keep in step
with the Spirits desires, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
The human spirit was never meant to be devoid of desire. If, in the battle against
pornography, we only spend time trying to empty ourselves of the desire for it, we
will inevitably fail or make ourselves miserable. Some desire will always try to fill the
void.
It is noteworthy that the language Paul uses to talk about the Spirits desires is
the same word used throughout the New Testament for lust. The Spirit lusts,
craves, longsand He shares those longings with us. This is what the old Scottish
minister Thomas Chalmers called the expulsive power of a new affection. Laws,
rules, and regulations can only tell us what is bad and why it is bad, but they do not
change our desires for sinful things. These sinful longings can only be conquered by
implanting new affectionsnew cravingsthat counter our sinful cravings. This is
what the Spirit does in us: He shares His own desires with us, changing us from the
inside out.
Time and time again the Bible describes a holy longing to know and be with Jesus
the Messiah (Matt. 13:16-17; Luke 17:22-24; Phil.1:21-24), an eager desire to
understand His sufferings and His glory (1 Pet. 1:10-12). The Holy Spirit inspires us
to worship Christ above all else, helping us to leave the idol of sex and the altar of
porn behind.
The Holy Spirit longs for all things that God calls good. And lest we think this means
we must constantly walk around in a holy fog and avoid physical pleasures, God
calls us toembracewhateveris true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable,
excellent, and praiseworthywholesome pleasures become a means to practicing
Gods presence (Phil. 4:8).

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The world is full of holy pleasures for Gods people, and they can become windows
of worship when they are infused with gratitude. For everything created by God is
good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Tim. 4:4).
Paul writes to Titus, To the pure, all things are pure (Titus 1:15). In his book, Pure
Pleasure, Gary Thomas explains this text:
In context, Paul is arguing against hyper-religionists trying to saddle
Christians with arbitrary rules and prohibitions. These teachers wanted to
enslave believers to the old belief that if a defiled person touches something
(food, drink, or even another person), this something becomes defiled. Paul
cleverly turns this around, saying if someone is pure, then whatever they
touch becomes pure!
Im arguing that we need to look at pleasure and the good gifts of this
earth through the eyes of redemption. When our hearts are cleansed and
transformed by God, the very things that used to cause us to stumble can
now become friends of faith. Notallthings, of course; anything specifically
against the will and commands of God, regardless of what kind of pleasure
it seems to offer, will always destroy our souls. But the good things of this
earth, created by God to be received with thanksgiving and praisethings
such as friendship, good food and fine drinks, laughter, sex, and family
lifecan be redeemed to season our life and faith in many positive ways.
God can even give us the power to take what we formerly misused and
transform it into an instrument of praise.30

Neurologically speaking, porn has carved a pathway of pleasure in the mind, but
we can avoid that rut if we begin to carve our new holy pathways in the brain. In
time, as pleasure-creating dopamine is released again and again through these pure
channels, new habits are created and old habits begin to lose their luster.
Over time we no longer look to porn as our release valve to entertain our idols, but
rather we use healthy pleasures as means of delighting in God as the giver of every
good and perfect gift.

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Put into practice

Accountability and Holy Desires

A great way to transform our desires is to talk with our accountability partners
or groups about our indulgence of unholy or holy pleasures.
Practically speaking, use Covenant Eyes Internet Accountability Reports (if you
use Covenant Eyes) as a starting place. Our partners should look over these
Reports to see if weve been indulging in pornography online or if we have been
venturing into gray areas. Covenant Eyes Accountability Reports highlight
specific websites and web searches that are mature, making it easy to identify
red flags. If you are not currently using Covenant Eyes, get started now.
In addition to this, we can talk to our partners about whether we are
experiencing wholesome pleasures and expressing sincere gratitude to God.
A number of statements in the Discussion Guide in the back of this book
address this (#8, #9, #10, #13, #14, #16, #18, #20, #22, #23). The goal of talking
to our partners about these issues is to express whether our hearts are truly
satisfied in God and the good gifts He has given to us.

4. Walk in Your True Identity

In the original language, walk in the Spirit carries the sense of, walk as you
have been walking in the Spirit. How had the Galatians been walking in the Spirit
already?
Earlier in the letter Paul writes about what the Spirit of Christ had been doing in the
hearts of his readers:
Butwhen the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, bornof
woman, bornunder the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so
that we might receiveadoption as sons. And because you are sons, God
has sentthe Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father! So you
are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, thenan heir through God.
(Gal. 4:4-7)

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In other words, keeping in step with the Spirit means being able to prayfrom our
deepest heartas adopted sons and daughters, not as spiritual orphans. Orphans
obey in order to make themselves attractive prospects for adoption. Adopted
children already know and believe they are loved. Adopted children obey because
they are secure in the love they have from their parents, and that love has birthed in
them a deep love of their own.
At first, relating to God as a dearly loved son or daughter may sound overly
simplistic. When fighting the deteriorating effects of sin in our hearts we cry out for
action steps, for methods that summon our willpowernot sentiments about love.
But this is the very thing the gospel of Christ warns against.
Paul taught that religious regulations do not work. If with Christyou died to
theelemental spirits of the world,why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you
submit to regulationsDo not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch (Col. 2:20-21).
Try-harder ethics are useless: they areof no value in stopping the indulgence of
the flesh (2:23). Better Internet filters and personal regulations might stop you from
looking at porn for a time, but they will not transform a heart of lust.
Instead, Paul says real change is first about knowing who we already are. You have
died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (3:3). You have been raised with
Christ (3:1). You have put offthe old self with its practices andhave put onthe
new self (3:9-10). Only those who first know this about themselves have the power
to slay sinful sexual desires and habits (3:5).
How has this new identity come about? After all, for those entrenched in porn, many
dont feel like they are new people. Paul tells us about this new identity in his letter
to the Romans.
First, says Paul, we must understand what the death and resurrection of Christ
accomplished. Christ not only died for sin; He also died to sin. Dying for sin means
Christ took upon Himself the punishment that was due us (Rom. 5:6-9), which
means we are free from the wrath of God because Jesus has absorbed that wrath
on the cross. Dying to sin means Christ no longer lives in this sinful realm but
instead enjoys resurrection life in the presence of God (6:10). Living on earth, He
was subject to the pains of a world filled with sin, He was subject to temptations
and trials, and in the end He endured the wages of sin itself on the cross. But as the
resurrected Son of God, He no longer lives in sins domain.

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Second, we must understand that we are united to the One who is dead to sin (6:8).
The Spirit of the risen Christ is in us. We no longer belong to this age, but to the
kingdom of God.
Paul likens this to a change of masters. We used to belong to Sin. Sin was our
master. But when the Spirit of Christ comes to us, He redeems us for Himself. Now
we belong to our new mastera better masterwho loves us with an undying
love. Sin may still have a loud voice in your life. He still may be shouting at you from
across the street, still barking orders at you. But you no longer belong to him.
Knowing these truths, Pauls first and primary application in the whole letter is this:
So you also must consider yourselvesdead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus
(6:11). Paul does not say we are dying to sin (a process). He does not say we should
die to sin (a command). He said that because we are intimately united with the risen
Christ, because His resurrected life flows in our veins, we should consider ourselves
already dead to sin.
The word translated consider is an accounting term: it means to add something
up, to take stock of something. When a child adds up how much money is in her
piggy bank, at the end of the counting she doesnt have any more or less in the
bank than when she began. The only thing that has changed is her knowledge
about the value of what is there. This is what Paul means. You already believe these
basic gospel truthsChrist died to sins power, He rose from the dead, and the
Spirit of the risen Christ lives within youso now reckon it to be true; reconsider it;
meditate on it; get the idea of your new identity deep into your soul.
As much as porn feels alive to you, if you are in Christ, you are dead to porn. The
Spirit of the living God is in you.
As far as God is concerned, you are already His. Gods love for you cannot be
overstated. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus loves you with an endless
love, and you have done nothing to merit it or deserve it. He loves you despite all
your unlovability, despite your lingering sinful desires. Though in your sin you are
undeserving and undesirable, He loves you when your mind disavows it, your heart
dodges it, and your soul dismisses it. He loves you right now as you are, not as you
think you should be.
This, the New Testament says, is the key to unlocking Gods power for change. It
is not Gods wrath that affects deep repentance in us, but rather, Gods kindness
(Rom. 2:4). Being filled with all of Gods fullness happens not by knowing Gods

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power but by comprehending the breadth and length and height and depth of His
lovea love that surpasses knowledge (Eph. 3:19).
There is an unfathomable difference between relating to God as an orphan and
relating to God as a son, and this is the first critical step of walking in the Spirit.
God is not holding back His love until we get our act together. He wants us to relate
to Him as one dearly lovedso much so that Christs Spirit whispers His prayer
in our hearts, Abba, Father. He loves His true children now in the midst of their
unworthiness, and in time His love transforms our desires.

Put into practice

Accountability and Our Identity

Living in the light of our new identity might sound abstract, but one of the best
ways to start is to make it a main topic of your accountability discussions.
The ultimate goal of Christian accountability is not merely calling one another
out on our sins as much as it is calling one another up to our true identity in
Christ.
Pay close attention to statement #17 from the Covenant Eyes Discussion
Guide in the back of this book which states, I am resting completely in what
Christ has done for menot obsessing about my own failures nor putting
stock in my own performance. On a regular basis, we should discuss with
our accountability partners or group how much or little this describes us.
As we talk to our accountability partners, if we feel defeated by sin, we should
remind one another to reckon ourselves dead to sinbecause we are. If we
feel stable or if we feel we are making progress in holiness, we should celebrate
this but always remind one another that our true identity is not found in our
performance, but in what Christ has accomplished for us.

5. Walk in Hope
In the same letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, For through the Spirit, by faith, we
ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness (Gal. 5:5). Keeping in step

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with the Spirit and having hope are intimately connected: the Spirit kindles in us a
fresh hope for the things God has promised.
Paul declared a gospel of hopeof anticipation and expectationwhich he calls
the hope of righteousness (Gal. 5:5). Our great hope is that one day Christ will
judge the world and make all things right again (Acts 17:31). He will destroy sin
and death forever. He will recreate the world anew, and we will be just like Him
(1 Cor. 15:51-55).
God also promises that we will see foretastes of this hope of righteousness in the
present age. Paul writes that as citizens of the kingdom of God, our lives should be
filled with righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17).
Though we are no longer under sins tyrannical power, sin is still present in our lives:
our body is dead because of sin (Rom. 8:10). Porn, for many, will always carry
some appeal. But we are promised Gods Spirit will give life to your mortal body
through His Spirit who dwells in you (8:11), and by His grace, we can present the
members of our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness (6:13).
This is our astounding hope: that fallen, porn-loving sinners like us will become like
the holy Son of God.
For Paul, faith in this gospel hope does not merely mean we agree that these grand
promises are real but that we give ourselves wholly to them: we center our lives on
them. Far from being a passive thing, faith is active. It engages the mind and the
heart. As the author of Hebrews says, faith is the assurance and essence of things
hoped for (Heb. 11:1): it is the delightful conviction that the things we hope for are
real.
Walking in the Spirit means we stir up this hope in us, or as Paul says, we eagerly
wait for it (Gal. 5:5). We all suffer from the distractions of the world and sin. It is for
this reason the apostle Peter similarly urges us: set your hope fully on the grace
that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:13, italics
added).
Practically speaking, this means just as we have fed our minds on pornography, we
should now feed our minds on Gods hope-filled promises. Justas we have spent
hours engrossed in sexual media, we should spend hours filling our imaginations
with Gods vision for our lives and our eternity. We must, as Paul says, set our
minds on the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5), on the glories of our inheritance as
Gods children (8:17).
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When it comes to saying no to lust and pornography, there are tailor-made promises
in the Scriptures that hold out to us blessings of having a sexually pure mind and
body.
If you are sexually pure, you will be living in the will of God for your life
(1 Thessalonians 4:3).
If you fill your mind with that which is honorable, just, pure, lovely,
commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy, then Gods peaceful presence
will be with you (Philippians 4:8-9).
If you are not enslaved to your lusts, you will be free to serve others in love
(Galatians 5:13).
If you are sexually pure, your life will be fruitful, and that fruit will be full of
goodness and truth (Ephesians 5:8-9).
If you are sexually pure, your mind will no longer be foggy, your heart will
be teachable, and you will be filled with the very life of God
(Ephesians 4:17-19).
If you are sexually pure, your heart will not be enslaved to the worship of
sex, which means you can wholeheartedly devote yourself to the true and
living God (1 Kings 11:4).
If you are sexually pure, you will be more prepared to be a great lover and
to enjoy sexual intimacy with your spouse or future spouse
(Proverbs 5:18-19).
If you are sexually pure, you will keep your marriage bed undefiled
(Hebrews 13:4).
If you are sexually pure, you will no longer waste time but instead make
the most of it (Ephesians 5:16).
If you are sexually pure, you will be an honorable person
(1 Thessalonians 4:4).

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If you are a sexually pure person, you will not be enslaved to your
passions (1 Corinthians 6:12).

This is Gods vision for your life: aligned with His will; surrounded by His peaceful
presence; mastering your desires, not being a slave to them; full of goodness; full
of life; full of honor; full of worship; tender-hearted and clear-minded; making the
most of your days. When pornography assaults your senses or when those lustful
flashbacks fill your mind, let this vision, and the promises attached to them, be the
fuel you use to reject the worlds temptations.
This hope of righteousness is not just for this life. This hope is ultimately about
what we will become. The apostle John reminds us that though we are Gods
adopted children right now, what we will be has not yet appeared. We know when
we see Christ face to face at his return, we will be totally transformed, becoming
just like him (1 John 3:2). John follows this glorious promise with a practical
application for the here and now: Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself
as he is pure (1 John 3:3, italics added). Knowing we are destined for an eternity of
breathtaking purity and holiness, we purify ourselves now because we want to have
a taste of that future purity. When temptations come knocking, we say to ourselves
and to the temptation, No! This is not who I am. I am destined to be like Christ, the
Son of God, and nothing can be more satisfying than that.
As intense as pornography is, it cannot compare to the life-sustaining hope we have
in Christ. Far from shutting down our desires, actively hoping in Gods promises fully
engages our desires in ways we have never dreamed. In his famous Oxford sermon,
The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis reminds us,
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the
staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem
that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when
infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to goon making
mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer
of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased
Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am; but remember
your fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for
inducing them. And you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be
found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness.29

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Walking in hope is a mentality shift. Instead of walking around with the belief that
sin is inevitable and thereby unconquerable, we live with the expectation that sin is
defeated and holiness is inevitable.

Put into practice

Accountability and Our Hope

One of the best ways to stir up this kind of hope is through our accountability
relationships.
If your partners notice pornography or other sexually explicit material on your
Covenant Eyes Internet Accountability Reports, they can help you by walking
through the memory of the temptation and helping you develop a strategy that
fills us with hope for the future:
Right before you started looking at this material, what was going through
your mind?
What was the trigger for you to start entertaining this temptation? Was it
something you saw or did, or was there some mood or disposition of your
heart that was prevalent?
The next time you experience that trigger, what Bible promises can you
repeat to yourself that remind you of Gods blessings to those who are
pure?
As you go about your day, what are some Bible promises you can say to
yourself that give you the hope that sin can be defeated?

Need help finding a good Accountability Partner who will help

you with this? Watch our Choosing an Accountability Partner
video at cvnteyes.co/pick-partner

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Keeping in Step with the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit is a lifetime journey, but as we keep in step with Him, we are
promised that the desires of the flesh will not overwhelm us. We can finally be free.
Such a vision of the Christian life might seem too high up and too far away for us,
especially if weve lived for a long time in the shame of our darkest sexual
obsessions. Daring to believe that God is as good as He says He is takes faith in the
face of our deepest struggles.
Benedictine monk Sebastian Moore says whenever our faith begins to buckle and
we doubt the ugliness of our sin or the vastness of Gods love, we need only to
meditate on the cross. In our relentlessly self-absorbed lives, at times we gloss over
our sin, we rationalize it, we minimize it. Other times we feel the crushing weight of
it and believe nothing is strong enough to change us. But at the cross we see the
stripes the Son of God bore for usconvincing us that our sin is serious. There we
see the compassionate face of One willing to die for His enemiesconvincing us
that our sin is never too great for Gods grace.
And while standing at the foot of the cross, when all the evil in our shabby hearts
tries to hold its own against God, He answers with the thunder of resurrection.

Your brain on porn | 36

Christian Accountability:

a discussion guide

appendix

Discussion Guide
The following is a personal assessment designed to help you develop a life of godly
humility, purity, and integrity. To the best of your ability, fill out this assessment
before speaking with your Accountability Partner or Accountability Group, and then
use this as a template for conversation.
The aims of this list are to help you:

1: Remember and summarize the temptations you have faced, the choices
you have made, and the state of your heart;

2: Discuss these matters with trusted Accountability Partners;

3: Talk concretely with others about ways to guard against sinful actions,
thoughts, and motives; and

4: See your need for Gods gracefor overcoming both the guilt and the
grip of sin.

It may be difficult to get through all of these questions in a single meeting, so

choose those which are most pertinent for you.1
Fill out the following questionnaire before meeting with your Accountability Partner
or Accountability Group. Use it to spark discussion and encouraging conversation.
1. Several sources were consulted to compile and adapt this list of questions, including John
Wesleys Band Meeting questions, Bethlehem Baptist Churchs pastoral accountability
questionnaire, the Life Transformation Group system by Neil Cole, A Spiritual Formation
Workbook by James Bryan Smity and Lynda Graybeal, Grace Brethren International Missions,
Mark Driscolls sermon A City in a City, Talking About Idolatry in a Postmodern Age by Tim
Keller, Idols of the Heart and Vanity Fair by David Powlison, and Gospel-Centered Discipleship
by Jonathan Dodson.

Your brain on porn | 38

Sexual Purity

1 = help!

1. I have avoided looking at pornography or other

sexually provocative images online or offline.
2. I have avoided images, interactions, or stories online
I knew could be seductive or titillating (but wouldnt
necessarily be considered pornographic).
3. I have kept my eyes from second glances and kept
my mind from entertaining thoughts about someone
(other than my spouse).
4. I have actively avoided known triggers of sexual
temptation or titillation.
5. I am successfully fighting the desire to be noticed
by or to attract the attention of other men or women
(other than my spouse).
6. I have not spent time with a man or woman in a way
that could be viewed as compromising to my purity

9 = Stable

(circle a number)

(or my faithfulness to my spouse).

Stewarding My Time, Talents, and Treasures

7. I am intentional about showing love to others by the
way I serve them with my gifts/talents.
8. I have been intentional about spending appropriate
time with my family/household.
9. My family/household is enjoying joy and harmony.
10. My time with technology or media has not displaced
time with God, family, friends, work, or my neighbors.
11. I have spoken to and about others with edifying
words, not with words that damaged them or their
reputation.

Your brain on porn | 39

12. I pray about my financial expenditures, and I am

intentionally generous with others. People can tell
from my financial expenditures that God is my
greatest treasure.

13. I am intentional about the use of my spare time to

pursue wholesome activities.

14. I am intentional about my diet, exercise, and

sleep habits.

15. I am not creating the impression that I am better than

I am. I do not exaggerate or make much of myself.

16. I am feeling energized for the week ahead.

Satisfaction in God
17. I am resting completely in what Christ has done for
menot obsessing about my own failures nor putting
stock in my own performance.
18. Regularly focusing on the gospel gives me great joy
that overcomes lifes disappointments.
19. When I hear disappointing news, I do not complain or
live in doubt or fear, but instead I am inspired to pray
and trust in Gods care and providence.
20. I am enjoying prayer, and I am praying for others and
myself with consistency.
21. The Bible is consistently shaping the way I think and
live.I spend regular time reading or hearing Gods
words, and as a result of that time, I have determined
to better trust and obey God in specific ways.

Your brain on porn | 40

Dispositions of the Heart

22. Though Christ is the one I want to put at the center of my life, there are specific people,
experiences, or objects that I am tempted to make a chief source of my significance,
satisfaction, and fulfillment.2 (Check all that apply.)

{{Sexual Pleasure

{{Girlfriend/Boyfriend

{{Career

{{Health

{{Financial Security

{{Parent

{{My Image

{{Comfort

{{Spouse

{{Hobby

{{Friend

{{Opinions of Others

{{Future Spouse

23. I am currently fighting these dispositions in my heart. (Check all that apply.)

{{Pride

{{Bitterness

{{Discontentment

{{Worry

{{Resentment

{{Covetousness

{{Doubt

{{Irritability

{{Self-pity

{{Critical Spirit

{{Grumbling

{{Jealousy

{{Unforgiveness

{{Deceptiveness

{{Ingratitude

{{Preoccupation with the

Opinions of Others

2. Often this can seem like a difficult assessment to make, so ask yourself some critical questions. What am
I most afraid of losing? What do I long for most passionately? What gets me up in the morning? What do
I run to for comfort? What do I complain about most? What angers me the most? What has caused me to
get angry with God? What makes me happiest? What do I want to have more than anything else? What
do I make the biggest sacrifices for? Whose approval am I seeking?

Your brain on porn | 41

Open-Ended Questions
What am I doing about these dispositions of the heart? (mentioned on the previous page)




What on my Internet Accountability Report should draw my Partners attention?





What do I hope none of my Accountability Partners ask me about?





When it comes to my habitual sins, is there a time of day, a place, a person, or a mood that
tends to open the door to more tempting situations?




What good habit do I believe God wants to form in my life? Have I taken specific steps to
develop that habit?

Your brain on porn | 42

What am I praying for? Have I received any specific answers to my prayers?

How can my Accountability Partner(s) pray for me?

Your brain on porn | 43

Break Free from

INTERNET porn
When someone you trust receives a report of the websites you visit, it changes
how you use the web. It breaks the anonymity of web use, and reduces the
temptation to click on inappropriate links. These reports are designed for the
conversationto talk about where you struggle online and help you find freedom.

How Covenant EYES Works

Accountability
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Internet Filtering

The websites you visit, the

search terms you use, and
the YouTube videos you
watch all are listed in an
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is designed to start a
conversation.

Send Accountability Reports

to your spouse, brother,
friend, and anyone else at
no extra cost. Choose the
people that will best suit
your needs.

Struggling with temptation

online? The Panic Button
cuts off Internet access
until you feel stronger. To
reinstate the connection,
call our Customer Support
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Want to block the bad stuff?

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Chapter

Endnotes
1. Damon Brown, PCs in Ecstasy: The Evolution of Sex in PC Games. Computer Games
Magazine. , May 1, 2006. http://www.damonbrown.net/2006/05/01/pcs-in-ecstasy-theevolution-of-sex-in-pc-games-computer-games-magazine (accessed November 18, 2011).
2. Rich Frank. Naked Capitalists: Theres No Business Like Porn Business. New York Times,
May 20, 2001. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/20/magazine/20PORN.html (accessed
November 18, 2011).
3. Steven Stack, Ira Wasserman, and Roger Kern, Adult social bonds and use of Internet
pornography. Social Science Quarterly 85 (March 2004): 75-88.
4. Michael Leahy, Porn University: What College Students Are Really Saying About Sex on Campus
(Chicago: Northfield Publishing, 2009), 155.
5. Judith Reisman, The Science Behind Pornography Addiction, U.S. Senate Committee
on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, November 18, 2004. http://www.commerce.
senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hearings&ContentRecord_id=e8088f9f-d8d2-4e82-b01246337c6f9456&Statement_id=d744db10-1a94-4899-a3ea-fcf5cf0d6493
6. Gary Wilson, The Great Porn Experiment. TEDxGlasgow, 2012. http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/
TEDxGlasgow-Gary-Wilson-The-G-2 (accessed June 16, 2014).
7. William M. Struthers, Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain (Downers
Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 85.
8. William Struthers, Porn, Addiction, & the Impact on Youth, Women, & Families, transcript of
presentation given on April 13, 2011, Convergence Summit; Nora D. Volkow and Joanna S.
Fowler, Addiction, a Disease of Compulsion and Drive: Involvement of the Orbitofrontal Cortex.
Cerebral Cortex, 10 (3), March 2000, p.318-325; Todd F. Heatherton and Dylan D. Wagner,
Cognitive Neuroscience of Self-Regulation Failure. Trends in Cognitive Science 15 (3), 132-139,
March 2011.
9. Dolf Zillmann and Jennings Bryant, Effects of massive exposure to pornography, in Neil
Malamuth and Edward Donnerstein Eds., Pornography and Sexual Aggression (New York:
Academic Press, 1984); Dolf Zillmann and Jennings Bryant, Shifting preferences in pornography
consumption, Communication Research, 13 (4), 1986; Dolf Zillmann and Jennings Bryant,
Pornographys impact on sexual satisfaction, Journal of Applied Social Psychology 18 (5),
1988; Dolf Zillmann and Jennings Bryant, Effects of Prolonged Consumption of Pornography on
Family Values, Journal of Family Issues 9 (4), 1988.

Your brain on porn | 45

10. Raymond M. Bergner and Ana J. Bridges, The significance of heavy pornography involvement
for romantic partners: research and clinical implications, Journal of Sex, Marital Therapy 28 (3),
2002.
11. C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmillian, 1950), 112-113.
12. Dr. Mary Anne Layden, The Science Behind Pornography Addiction, U.S. Senate Committee
on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, November 18, 2004. http://www.ccv.org/wp-content/
uploads/2010/04/ Judith_Reisman_Senate_Testimony-2004.11.18.pdf (accessed November 18,
2011).
13. Judith Reisman, The impotence pandemic, WorldNetDaily. September 27, 2007. http://www.
drjudithreisman.com/archives/2007/10/the_ impotence_p_2.html (accessed November 18, 2011).
14. Covenant Eyes Website, Sexual Sabotage: Pornography, Impotence, and the Mad Scientist Who
Started It All, Interview with Dr. Judith Reismanon Covenant Eyes Radio, Episode 99. http://
www. covenanteyes.com/2011/04/09/sexual-sabotage- pornography-impotence-and-the-madscientist-who- started-it-all (accessed November 18, 2011).
15. What Theyre Saying About Sexting New York Times, March 26, 2011. http://www.nytimes.
com/2011/03/27/us/27sextingqanda.html (accessed November 18, 2011).
16. Gary R. Brooks, PhD. The Centerfold Syndrome: How Men Can Overcome Objectification and
Achieve Intimacy with Women. (Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, 1995).
17. Naomi Wolf, The Porn Myth, New York Magazine, http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/
trends/n_9437 (accessed November 18, 2011).
18. Martin Barron and Michael Kimmel, Sexual Violence in Three Pornographic Media: Toward a
Sociological Explanation, The Journal of Sex Research 37 (2), 2000.
19. Chiara Sabina, Janis Wolak, and David Finkelhor, The Nature and Dynamics of Internet
Pornography Exposure for Youth CyberPsychology & Behavior 11 (6), 2008.
20. Mapping the Pornographic Text: Content Analysis Research of Popular Pornography,
Presentation by Robert Wosnitzer, Ana Bridges, and Michelle Chang at the National Feminist
Antipornography Conference, Wheelock College, Boston, March 24, 2007.
21. Dolf Zillmann, Influence of unrestrained access to erotic on adolescents and young adults
disposition toward sexuality, Journal of Adolescent Health 27 (2), Supplement 1, 2000.
22. Peter D. Goldberg, Brennan D. Peterson, Karen H. Rosen, and Mary Linda Sara, Cybersex: The
Impact of a Contemporary Problem on the Practices of Marriage and Family Therapists, Journal
of Marital and Family Therapy 34 (4), 2008.
23. Martin P. Kafka, Hypersexual Disorder: A Proposed Diagnosis for DSM-V, Archives of Sexual
Behavior 39, 2010: 377-400.
24. Eli Coleman, What Sexual Scientists Know About Compulsive Sexual Behavior,The Society for
the Scientific Study of Sexuality, 1996.
25. Adam Withnall, Pornography addiction lead to same brain activity as alcoholism or drug abuse,
study shows, The Independent. 22 Sept. 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/healthand-families/health-news/pornography-addiction-leads-to-same-brain-activity-as-alcoholism-ordrug-abuse-study-shows-8832708.html (accessed June 17, 2014).

Your brain on porn | 46

26. Mary Ann Layden, Dr. Mary Anne Layden: Porn Culture in the Mobile Age, http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=WAbAjr4zPl4 (accessed November 18, 2011).
27. Leahy, Porn University.
28. Jill Manning, Pornographys Impact on Marriage & the Family, Before the Subcommittee on the
Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights, Committee on Judiciary, United States Senate,
November 10, 2005. http://www.heritage.org/research/testimony/ pornographys-impact-onmarriage-amp-the-family (accessed November 18, 2011).
29. C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 26.
30. Gary Thomas, Pure Pleasure (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 22-23.
31. Al Cooper, Cybersex: The Dark Side of the Force (London: Brunner-Routledge, 2000).

Your brain on porn | 47