Proverbs 2:16-19

As I egress from a truly restful experience in the restroom (if you have kids, you know what I mean) - very happy and content, I am ambushed.

My 9yr old son, in his innocence, had asked his mother a question that she thought would be best answered by Dad.

"Wait here on the sofa until he comes out of the restroom," she had told him.

As I am basking in the afterglow of my very restful experience...I am suddenly torn from my happy place and thrown into the jagged rocks of reality.

"Dad, what is pornography?"

"YIKES!!"

I had barely noticed him sitting there quietly on our bedroom couch. Then BAMM! He hits me. I think I literally saw stars - just like in the cartoons.

As I reeling from the blow, I fall back on the sofa and try to compose myself. I offer up a quick James 1:5 prayer as I sit staring blankly into the eyes of my inquisitive scholar.

"Uh."

I always want to be direct with my kids. I want to tell them the truth about things, but I want to be careful not to tell them more than they can handle. For example, the older kids can all tell you in great biological detail how babies are made, but the actual mechanics of conception (how the man's sperm actually gets to the woman's egg) is still a mystery to them - only because they have not asked the right questions.

"Pornography," I say, "that's just another word for idolatry. Do you remember in the Bible when people were worshiping golden calves, Baals, and other false images? Pornography is like that except that the object of worship is a picture or a video of another person's body."

"Why do people do that?"

"I don't know son. When the Israelites were worshiping the golden calf, they were trying to meet their needs in a way that was not pleasing to God. The were looking for protection, love, acceptance, and maybe even pleasure from an object that was not designed to meet any of those needs - an object that could never meet any of those needs.

"They were having a great time when Moses came down from the mountain, but as soon as they realized what they were doing, I'll bet they felt kind of silly."

"Why didn't they understand that what they were doing was dumb?"

"I don't know son. We were born into a battlefield and the enemy is very powerful. He tries to convince us that his idols will meet our needs better than God can meet our needs.

"Do you remember Adam and Eve? They walked with God all the time. They were amazingly close to God, but even they got tricked by the enemy. They fell for his lies.

"Can you believe that?

"The enemy is very tricky and very strong. He wants us to be wounded (or dead) so that we cannot fight the battle that God has called us to fight.

"You will be attacked. Maybe one day the enemy will even try to trick you into worshiping some kind of idol.

"I will pray for you that you will be strong when the enemy attacks."

"Thanks Dad."

"You pray for me too, son"

"OK Dad."