The Killer
Jeffrey Dahmer drugged and killed 17 men and boys. Before his imprisonment, he came to a point where he was murdering once a week. Driven by a desire to control individuals for his own gratification, Dahmer committed horrifying crimes. I won’t relate their details, as Paul’s words may well apply: “For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret” (Ephesians 5:14). But what helped drive Dahmer’s desires bears retelling. When asked what motivated him to commit such heinous acts, Dahmer confessed to the FBI in 1992 that, among other things (e.g., heavy drinking), pornography played a part.
Ted Bundy would not have been surprised. Bundy killed at least 28 young women and girls and stated that his own exposure to pornography (first “soft,” then eventually violent) had served to fuel his evil thoughts. On the day before his execution, he said to James Dobson: “I’ve lived in prison for a long time…and I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence just like me. And without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography — deeply influenced by an addiction. There is no question about it. The FBI’s own study shows that the most common interest among serial killers is pornography.”
Pornography kills. Granted, few of its users will become serial killers. But it kills all the same. It kills respect for other human beings. It kills self-respect. It kills relationships. It kills self-control. It kills the hope of eternal life (Matthew 5:28; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Hebrews 13:4). It kills.
And it’s a mass killer, to judge from the statistics.
Twelve percent of all internet websites are pornographic. Twenty-five percent of all search engine requests are pornography related. Thirty-seven percent of all internet activity is pornographic. In fact, pornography sites get more visitors each month than Netflix, Amazon, and X (formerly Twitter) combined.
And what do the demographics of these users reveal? That there’s a “porndemic,” even among proclaimed Christians: sixty-four percent of Christian men and 15% of Christian women say they watch porn at least once a month. And in the general population, 57% of teens search out porn at least monthly.
And when is the first exposure occurring? Fifty-one percent of male students and 32% of female students first viewed porn before their teenage years. 12 or before.
The problem of porn has reached staggering proportions. For Christians, it is undeniably a “clear and present danger.” For the sake of themselves and those they love, believers must be vigilant (1 Peter 5:8) and circumspect (Ephesians 5:15). Caution and precaution must be exercised.
Is pornography viewing taking place in your home? If you say, “No,” how do you know? Seventy-one percent of teens hide online behavior from their parents. No family should consider itself out of pornography’s reach. Ted Bundy stated: “I think people need to recognize that those of us who have been influenced by…pornographic violence are not some kind of inherent monsters. We are your sons, and we are your husbands.…Any pornography can reach out and snatch a kid out of any house today.”
What precautions have you taken in your home to protect those you love from pornography? The killer lurks in many corners. Do your children have unfiltered — and, in the case of younger children, unobserved — internet access? Do they have such access at their friends’ houses? What’s on their social media accounts, and those of their friends which they view? What about their phones? Do you know what pictures they are sending and receiving? Have you considered the impact of the pictures filling the pages of magazines and catalogs that are lying around the house, some of which justly qualify as “soft porn”? Is unfiltered television viewable behind closed doors? Can it be viewed when mature family members aren’t home? The purveyors of pornography are aggressively seeking new customers. They’re very interested in your money, not so much in your family’s welfare.
These dangers are not imagined. Few children go untouched by pornography in homes where watchful eyes do not prevail. Seventy-nine percent of youth say unwanted exposure to pornography occurs in the home.
And even in homes that are safe, dangers are near. My first exposure occurred just outside my home when my new first-grade friend came to visit. And then, I was introduced to more on the school bus later in grade school. And then again at a church friend’s house! And then again at another friend’s house. All outside of the home, not far from home, before I ever left home.
And all before the internet.
The opportunities for your children’s first exposure are many, readily available and accessible. And that exposure may be so fascinating, so enticing, even addicting. Once exposed to pornography, teens often seek it out again. The dangers of adult exposure are also not to be underestimated.
The time has come — is past, really — that we must be countercultural. We must do what others won’t if we want different results than they are getting.
Jesus said, “If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you…” (Matthew 5:29). It is a call to do whatever it takes to cease from sin. What measures could be too extreme to protect, even save, yourself and those you love from “the killer”?