Things that are useful

March 25, 2025

Dear Friends,

I got a couple books for the church library that are pretty helpful. They are good read-aloud books to help teach kids about the dangers of pornography. The average age at which kids today have encountered pornography is 12 years old (that’s just the average – many encounter it much younger), and it is more readily available and far more depraved today than at any other time in history. These books teach kids about some good habits that can help keep them from getting hurt by bad pictures. The “jr.” book is aimed at kids under age 7, and the other book is for 7+.

The main lesson is that there are two parts of your brain: the feeling part and the thinking part. Pornography is designed to captivate the feeling part of your brain, but the thinking part of your brain can have a plan in place to help keep you from getting captured.

It’s good advice. For the littler kids, it’s: Turn, Run, and Tell. For the bigger kids it’s: CAN DO — Close my eyes; Always tell a trusted adult; Name it when I see it; Distract myself with something different; Order my thinking brain to be the boss.

If you’re a parent or a grandparent, you might find these books helpful for opening up a conversation that might otherwise be tough to start.

That said, I want to highlight a critical gap in these books: they don’t address sin and forgiveness.

They offer good strategies for training your brain, but they don’t deal with the heart, which is where sinful desires start. Your heart needs more than self-control. It needs repentance and forgiveness.

Here’s an example of where the books come up short: “Every time you decide to make a good choice, your thinking brain becomes stronger” (Good Pictures, Bad Pictures, p. 16). That is true–training your brain is like building a muscle, but it doesn’t answer this question: what if you have made a bad choice?

That’s where it’s essential that Christian parents talk about sin and forgiveness. Pornography is not merely about struggling against poor choices, like eating one too many cookies. It is a spiritual struggle against the devil, the world, and our sinful nature. That struggle is hopeless if it’s up to our brains to get it right. But it is full of certainty for Christians because we who “belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24). Christians know how to confess and be forgiven!

You belong to Christ Jesus because he has washed you and made you his own. He has promised to teach you righteousness. It is only when we recognize our weakness that we learn to trust in his strength, and it’s then that the danger of pornography can be confronted with confidence. It starts with Jesus.

Look for these books on the library shelf at church and feel free to share with anyone who might benefit!

God bless and keep you,

Pr. Buchs

COMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, March 26 9:30 am – Chapel 10:00 am – Bible Study 6:00 pm – Bible Study 7:00 pm – Lenten Worship 8:00 pm – Choir Practice

Sunday, March 30 9:00 am – Divine Service 10:30 am – Sunday School/Bible Study