This is holy week.

We are in the middle of a week of waiting, leading up to the most holy day of the year.

And as we do that, I’ve been thinking about the first two lines of a song we sung on Sunday,

Light of the world,
You stepped down into darkness…

What must that have been like? To leave somewhere perfect and holy and come down to this earth where there is so much darkness and distortion and evil.

Sometimes we don’t see the darkness. We live in our own bubbles, which can be pretty good. We love our husbands. We love our kids. We’re involved in church. We try to make the world a better place.

And we don’t always see the darkness that is around us.

I’ve talked at length on this blog about the negative effects of pornography, but what I’ve been learning a lot in the last few months, as I research more and more, is that I’ve been “depersonalizing” those effects. I’ve been thinking in terms of how porn makes guys lose their libidos for their wives; how it makes sex solely physical and often objectifying; how it makes them desire acts other than intercourse as the main event in their sex life.

Those are horrible things and really hurt a marriage.

But here’s something worse: pornography fuels sex trafficking of real, live human beings.

It doesn’t just hurt your marriage. It causes women and children to be horribly, horribly abused.

Here’s how it works: a porn addiction isn’t like an alcohol addiction. With an alcohol addiction, a person starts needing more and more alcohol to get a buzz. With porn, it’s not about “more”. It’s about “different”. The addict needs different types of images to get the same arousal response.

That’s why someone can dabble in porn when they’re 13 mostly looking at Playboy-lite, but after a number of years, they could need hard core stuff that involves children or something really disgusting. Few people start out in porn looking at children being abused or women being mutilated. But it can progress there because of this constant need for “different”.

That is how pornography fuels sex trafficking.

It fuels the desire for children and women to be brutalized on camera. But it also fuels the desire for real-life sexual encounters, and thus fuels the prostitution industry.

Here’s an infographic I found from Desert Solace, a sexual addiction rehabilitation center in Utah. I wanted to share it with you:

See more about this infographic here.

Jesus stepped down into darkness–He stepped into this dark world in order to redeem it and bring it to Himself, because He loves us.

Maybe we need to take a little step into darkness, too. Maybe we need to open our eyes to what is going on around us, and do something to help.

Action Steps to Help Stop Sex Trafficking

First, make sure that your sons and daughters (because girls use porn, too!) aren’t falling prey to porn. Most kids get addicted in their early teens. Once your children hit 10 or 11, really think seriously about getting filters on your computer. We can protect the next generation from fuelling sex trafficking!

Second, give generously. So many organizations are involved in stopping sex trafficking both here and abroad. Here are the links to the organizations in the infographic above:

• OperationUndergroundRailroad.org
• SharedHope.org
• ChildrenoftheNight.org
• PolarisProject.org
• Enditmovement.com
• Thecode.org

I’m also good friends with a woman who works for Life for the Innocent, which has an international arm rescuing children and girls in South Asia, but also a domestic arm engaged in rescuing those in the sex industry, educating people on what is happening here, and educating youth to prevent them falling prey. You can even volunteer and get involved in bringing some educational events to your area! Here’s more info.

Third, spread the word. Pin this infographic. Share it on Facebook. Let other people know what is going on right in our neighborhoods!

As my regular readers know, I’ve started a program where faithful readers can support me with a small monthly donation, and then they get tons of rewards (like chat sessions, free ebooks, weekly emails with what I’m thinking, podcasts, and more!), and then I use the money to hire help for this blog or to fund some marriage missions trips.

I’m almost at my first goal of $480 a month, which will cover the cost of hiring two university students to help me. But last month I didn’t spend all of that money. So I want to take that money and send it to help stop sex trafficking. So here’s what I’ll do: for every 100 shares on this infographic on Pinterest, or on the post on Facebook, I’ll donate $10 (with $5 going to domestic initiatives and $5 going internationally). So please share! And use the links above so I can trace it.

And if you want to help support me, you can do it here.

I’m trying to create a win-win for everyone, and find a way to help this community pool together to work towards healthy sexuality around the world–by supporting marriages, and also by fighting against pornography.

Fourth, talk to the men in your life about this. Talk to your pastor. Talk to your sons and your brothers. And talk to your husband, especially if he’s struggled with porn in the past (or is struggling now). Most men who use porn are good men. They’ve been tempted, and they’ve fallen, but they’re not too far gone yet. And they want to stop.

One of the best ways to get them to stop is to open their eyes to what the pornography industry is doing. Bring your husband in on this conversation. Show him the relationship between porn use and the desire for child porn or the desire to act things out in real life. Help him to see the lives that pornography eventually ruins.

Here’s the good news: Jesus stepped down into darkness, but He didn’t leave this world dark.

Light of the world, you stepped down into darkness,
Opened my eyes, let me see,
Beauty that made this heart adore you,
Hope of a life spent with you.

He gave us hope. In this holy week, can we share that hope with those who desperately, desperately need some?

Please share. Please give. Thank you.