Spiritual Kryptonite

Television became available to American households in the early 1950’s. The first TV our family had looked like this.

The screen was small, and, of course, all programs were in black and white. We didn't have a color TV until I was seventeen. In my elementary school years, I don’t think there was a day that went by when, after school, we weren’t lying on the floor with our chins propped in our hands watching our favorite shows.

“Superman” was one of my favorites. It was based on the popular comic book hero, but it had real actors. There was no end to the suspenseful weekly dramas where Superman performed super-human rescues or fought off evil villains. (I do find it interesting, however, that although he could see through practically anything with his x-ray vision, blast his body thru impenetrable walls without receiving a scratch, and fly “faster than a speeding bullet” – when a bad guy would run out of ammo and throw the gun at him, Superman always ducked. Oh well.)

There was only one thing that could weaken or immobilize Superman: a crystallized material called kryptonite, from his home planet of Krypton. If Superman came into close proximity to kryptonite he would lose all of his super-powers and become weak, dizzy, and eventually lose consciousness. Not once did we ever hear our hero say, “I think I’ll see how close I can get to kryptonite without it killing me.” On the contrary—he stayed as far away as he could.

Pornography is like kryptonite, only worse. For decades, Church leaders have warned against it. It saps spiritual strength and results in the loss of the influence of the Holy Ghost. Many of those who view it will become addicted with an addiction every bit as strong as an addiction as heroin, cocaine, or meth. It can literally destroy individuals’ lives and family relationships.

Why is it, then, that in spite of all the warnings, so many among us are afflicted with this addiction? And why are some of us seemingly sticking our heads in the sand, unwilling to admit that this deadly enemy has scaled the walls and is, in reality, already inside our gates?

“Well, it may be happening in the outside world, but it can’t be happening within my ward, class, quorum . . . or family.” Think not? Think your ward/stake has a protective shield around it and that nobody is tinkering with the deadliest “spiritual kryptonite” of our day? Consider this: “A worried stake president [who prefers to remain anonymous] . . . interviewed one hundred young men regarding pornography use. Ninety-four out of one hundred young men admitted to viewing pornography occasionally or regularly.

"In a study reported to the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography by Dr. Jennings Bryant, '600 American males and females of high school age and above were interviewed about their out in real life involvement with pornography. 91% of the males and 82% of the females admitted to having been exposed to X-rated, hard-core pornography. Two-thirds of the males and 40% of the females reported wanting to try out some of the behaviors they had witnessed'" (Source: Confronting Pornography, ed. Chamberlain, Gray, Reid, 15, 68).

Studies show that fully one-third of all visits to Internet sites by adult users are to sexually oriented websites. According to Google Trends, in 2007, while Utah and/or Salt Lake City ranked tops in Internet searches by web users for words like “Jesus,” “family history,” “Harry Potter,” “Mormon,” “Lord of the Rings,” . . . “snowboarding,” “home storage,” and “Mitt Romney,” Utah and Salt lake City also ranked #1 in the nation in searches for “pornography,” “naked girls,” “striptease,” “topless,” “nude,” “strip poker,” “lingerie,” “blonde,” and “brunette.” (Source: "What Do Utahns Google?" Deseret News, Oct. 12, 2007.)

In the early 1980's, at a Regional LDS Boy Scout Encampment at Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho, I heard Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone relate the true account of a man who had held a high position in the Church but who’d been excommunicated for immoral behavior. In order to demonstrate to the Brethren how deeply the man had gotten addicted to pornography, the man’s file leader took examples of the man’s pornographic magazines to a meeting with the First Presidency. Elder Featherstone said that the leader laid the magazines on the table in front of the First Presidency, saying, “Just look at the kinds of evil to which this man has become addicted!”

But something happened which the leader did not expect. None of the Brethren let their eyes look upon the magazines or the images they contained. Each of them kept his eyes firmly locked on his. Their response?: “We don’t need to look at pornorgraphy to know how evil it is.” And in those words we find the key to safety. Follow counsel. Don't experiement, not even out of curiosity.

Joseph Smith taught that in the latter days, sexual immorality would be the source of more temptations, more buffetings, and more difficulties for the elders of Israel than any other (see Journal of Discourses 8:55).

Oh, that we could teach our men and boys that one doesn’t need to sample poison to know that it kills.

Superman never did.