Brother_Anon

And don't forget the Lord's instruction: "I, the, Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." (D&C 64:10) We often just focus on how this applies to forgiving others, but it also commands us to forgive ourselves, something a lot of people struggle with.

I do think there's an element attached to porn use (and masturbation too I think) where people caught in the sin often repent, go without committing this sin for a time, fall back into sin, repent again, and... repeat until despair hits and they give up thinking all is lost.

I'm pretty sure we're in agreement. :)

I think you're misreading what I wrote. I'm not saying that church leaders are wrong to speak out against it. What I am saying is what you have said in other posts, that porn use does not rise to the level of adultery and should not be reacted to in the same manner. Furthermore, I think that when we treat the two as equals, in how we react to the discovery, we (as church members) end up doing more harm than good. Primarily because the messages we send to others caught in this sin is to keep their use secret out of fear of their lives being ruined. Any porn use gets treated the same, regardless of how much they might actually consume, which could be hours of porn everyday, or only snippets in shame as temptation strikes.

My point is that porn is nothing new and doesn't deserve the level of fear and anguish it's gotten of late. Just like no one would think of divorcing a spouse who drinks a beer every so often, that same attitude should guide the couple when porn enters the picture.

I couldn't agree more! Those three, plus pride and a focus on money are doing more harm to us than porn. But it's easier to demonize the porn user than deal with our obsession for fine apparel and backbiting.

Sin is sin, but some *are* worse than others, a concept both the church and scriptures discuss: the sin next to murder from Alma, or the necessity to confess to the bishop for adultery but not for lying. Any sin will keep us from attaining salvation and therefore church leaders have to pick and choose what to specifically address, and with the public data we have, porn is widespread, which means they address it. My whole point has always been that it needs to be addressed, but shouldn't be treated like it's the Black Death, since that gets the fear, confusion, anger, and tears that led to this thread, and many of the responses, to begin with.

Yoga DVD's just might do it.... If it's the "red ring of death", that was a fairly common malfunction in the early Xboxes. Backroads, is the Xbox white? If so, those DVD's may have saved it! I haven't heard of a white one that has lasted this long without going bad.

My wife just might agree with you! :) Although for us the Xbox is also used for Netflix streaming and Amazon Prime Video, both of which probably get used more than game discs.

I don't think it's normal, and yet, porn has been with us in one form or another, for as far back into the historical record as we go. With porn showing up in drawings, stories, plays, cave paintings, or any medium humans can get there hands on really. Porn shouldn't be celebrated, at all. But it also isn't in the top 3 sins either.

I'm with Vort on this. I also think the reactions described come more from how we talk and demonize porn use. These reactions just aren't seen to this degree outside traditional faith communities, and I remain firm in the idea that fear of this exact reaction is why so many husbands are in hiding about this.

I think an allowance needs to be made for stupid youthful mistakes. More fitting examples I think would be: the serial philanderer, the guy who proposes to every girl he dates, or the 35 year old guy who's never been married. I would be more concerned for my daughter in those cases than some who has looked at porn. (Granted, if said porn watcher looked every day for hours on end, so much so he was having trouble finishing school or keeping a job, well, that's a different story.)

It is a big deal, but no other sin gets the 3rd hour of church devoted to them. Porn is also the only sin specifically called out as something over which a girl should dump a fiancé. Again, porn = big deal. Just not the biggest deal.

My point is that within the church, porn use has been elevated to a sin at least as bad as adultery, if not worse. Where even the suspicion of a husband viewing porn is met with extreme horror, fountains of tears, and thoughts of divorce. And as long as this is the case, those who view it will continue to hide it, falling deeper into shame and guilt, afraid that if their secret is discovered their lives will be ruined in ways almost no other sin would cause. If a wife is more concerned with a husband watching porn once a week than she is with him spending Friday night in a bar, something is wrong. Both are sins, but only one of those will, on average, send a wife to the bishop's office or have her friends suggesting she needs to leave her husband for the safety of the children.

No one is minimizing it. At the same time I would put forth that alcohol, drug addiction, gambling, and sleeping around have ruined more marriages, inside and outside communities of faith, than porn. Again, porn isn't being celebrated, in any way. Rather, there are many other things which are often more destructive. to more marriages, among all peoples.