202. Hope and Freedom from Pornography Addiction with Shane O'Neill

Pornography is becoming an issue for younger and younger Christian youth – and a challenge for their parents. For our final episode in the Technology and Family series, we talk about this often hard-to-breach subject, with a message of freedom and hope from guest Shane O'Neill. Show Highlights Shane O’Neill is the host of The Naked Gospel podcast. He is also the Editorial Director for Proven Ministries, a non-profit, sexual integrity organization that partners with individuals, churches, and organizations to see men, women, and families discover Jesus’ freedom. Shane is currently working on a graduate degree in apologetics at Liberty University’s Rawling School of Divinity. "I needed to re-imagine with a biblical ethic the value of my body," Shane says on his own addiction. Our addictions often stem from the need to anesthetize ourselves from pain or as a stimulant, just like a drug. Pornography, especially in the technological age, has everything needed to form a habit – being obvious, easy, attractive, and rewarding in an immediate way. Getting over the addiction means taking time to re-train these habits. Your kids' devices are constantly being updated with apps and it gets easier and easier for them to view pornography, even accidentally, at a younger age. Understandably, when a parent catches their child watching porn, the immediate response is to scold them, but remember that often a child stumbling upon pornography for the first time is usually just exploring or expressing wonder. Instead, try to sit down and have a serious conversation with them to answer their questions about intimacy. Parents can go through a range of emotions dealing with their kids' exposure to pornography. There is fear for the path of addiction they might go down; guilt that they did not protect their children well enough; shame of making their kids feel dirty in their response. Process this situation with your child in a healthy way. There are ways to walk with your child though this. There are practical ways to deal with technology, but even more so, show your kids that intimacy can be beautiful with marriage. Rather than having them look for answers to their questions elsewhere, be there to answer their questions in a healthy way. [bctt tweet="I needed to re-imagine with a biblical ethic the value of my body" username="jaydholland"] Resources Mentioned Sponsor affiliate: Hopegivers Website: www.provenmen.org Podcast: The Naked Gospel Book: Your Brain on Porn by Gary Wilson Book: Good Pictures, Bad Pictures by Kristen Jenson Previous episode: The Prodigal Son Comes Home with Shane O'Neill If you find this podcast helpful, you can subscribe  and click here to find past topics and free resources. Feel free to share with others, as well! If you would like to help support Let’s Parent on Purpose, you can do so by becoming a patron. I send a weekly email called “Things for Thursday” and it includes things I’ve found helpful related to parenting, marriage, and sometimes just things I find funny! You can sign up for “Things for Thursday” by joining my newsletter on my homepage. Thank you for your continued support of this podcast. If you have a prayer request or if you have a topic suggestion or question, please contact me at my email.