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Description
Pornography is powerful. Our contemporary culture as been pornified, and it shapes our assumptions about identity, sexuality, the value of women and the nature of relationships. Countless Christian men struggle with the addictive power of porn. But common spiritual approaches of more prayer and accountability groups are often of limited help. In this book neuroscientist and researcher William Struthers explains how pornography affects the male brain and what we can do about it. Because we are embodied beings, viewing pornography changes how the brain works, how we form memories and make attachments. By better understanding the biological realities of our sexual development, we can cultivate healthier sexual perspectives and interpersonal relationships. Struthers exposes false assumptions and casts a vision for a redeemed masculinity, showing how our sexual longings can actually propel us toward sanctification and holiness in our bodies. With insights for both married and single men alike, this book offers hope for freedom from pornography.… (more)
User reviews
The most fascinating chapter to me was Chapter 5: Made Male in God's Image. In this chapter, Struthers talks about how we are all created in the image of God (Imago Dei), and God was pleased with what He created. Furthermore, we are all created to be conformed to the likeness of Christ. All people are created in the image of God, including the very faces we may see on a pornographic website.
In this same chapter I was also intrigued to find out that it is in fact estrogen (not testosterone) that helps create the male brain. Furthermore, by default the female sex is created in the womb, and it takes a series of complex processes in order for the male sex to begin developing. I also learned that some of the male brain is developed with a propensity for attractiveness towards the female sex, while some of the male brain remains undetermined. This undetermined part of the brain is developed through experience. Which I assume explains why some males may be swayed towards homosexuality.
In Chapter 4: Your Brain on Porn, Struthers offers us a glimpse into what a brain looks like saturated with porn. He explains all the chemicals and synapses that are released when a man is viewing porn, very similar to what a brain may look like addicted to heroine. He explains that a figurative trough or canyon is formed in the brain that allows extrasensory imagery to flow smoothly through the brain, essentially deepening the canyon each time porn is viewed.
Finally, in Chapter 8: Rewiring and Sanctification, Struthers offers some practical ways to reverse or rewire the brain to liberate itself from the confines of porn addiction. The most important being confession, accountability, and saturation with prayer and reading God's word. Essentially feeding the brain in much the same way it is fed with pornographic images, but with thoughts that are true, noble, right, and pure.
I highly recommend this book to counselors, pastors, and laymen alike. I also recommend this book to both men and women. For women, it offers a physiological glimpse into the male mind so that a better understanding of what goes on in the male mind is revealed. For men, it offers an understanding into some of the confusion that comes with the way we are wired. Ultimately, it comes down to this... we are wired for intimacy... intimacy with fellow humans created in the image of God... but wired for intimacy with our Creator.
A couple of my favorite quotes from "Wired for Intimacy":
God does not call us to a life of shame but to a life of freedom as we move from awareness of our sinfulness to confession and repentance, to redemption and healing, to ministry and sanctification. (William Struthers)
Only in the incarnation of Christ do we see the perfect union of strength and weakness, justice and mercy. (William Struthers)