Most parents warn their children about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, not all of us think to warn our children about the danger of pornography – but it can be just as addictive and just as deadly. That why you may want to show "Somebody's Daughter: A Journey to Freedom from Pornography" not just to adults who may have a problem, but to impressionable teens and pre-teens to whom pornography is marketed as "cool."
In this program, real men (not actors) who've experienced the hell of pornographic addiction talk about what it did to their lives and their marriages – and just how hard it is to come back from the darkness -- and one of their wives talks about how she was able to forgive. Don't miss this riveting special, which airs at 11 p.m. ET, Saturday, Jan. 26.
Be warned, this is a hard-hitting special in which the men talk about everything from how they acquired their addiction, and the devastating effect it had on their lives, their self-esteem, and their relationships, to how they battled this addiction, and how they managed, with great difficulty, to find their way out.
Unfortunately, the cure is rarely just a matter of telling yourself you're not going to do it anymore. To heal, you must bring your addiction into the light – even if the light is just one other person.
All the men noted that they needed to be held accountable for their actions; they needed helpful resources -- and they all came to realize they were only going to get them by telling other people what was happening.
As one man noted, he had to develop a "battle mindset." He had to make the decision not to be defiled by the culture and to let it destroy everything that was important to him. However, that doesn't just happen because you want it to.
"It happens when I decide I'm going to live differently…and I can't live differently and not have God be part of it. There's always that lure; that call back to that other dark way of living. But God comes in and he shows you a different way to live and [how you can] have peace and freedom and happiness and joy and true intimacy and fulfillment. …The starting point is Jesus – this amazing, radical, unbelievable, relentless Lover. God actually takes our failures, our wickedness, our wounds…He's a God who doesn't shame us, who wants us even in our darkest moment."
With tears in his eyes, one man said he said he finally cried out to God: "Show me how to live so I don't miss the mark you set for me to live." He realized he was nothing and had nothing to bring to God so he prayed: "God, I'm bringing you my nothing. If you can do anything with my nothing, I will serve You for the rest of my life."
And he remembers hearing in his heart, "All that is, I've made out of nothing."
These men took the brave step of admitting their shame on film to help others and in doing so they have helped themselves. Said one, "Thank God, I found my way out."
