ungry for a midnight snack, you get out of bed and make your way to the kitchen. As you pass by your son’s bedroom door, you notice a slight light escaping from the crack beneath. Figuring that it’s nothing, you keep walking. A week later, hit by the same hunger pangs, you head to the kitchen for another late-night treat. The same eerie glow emanates from beneath your 12-year-old’s door. “I told him to go to bed hours ago,” you think to yourself. Skipping your trip to the kitchen, you gradually open his door and discover that he’s sitting at his computer. Upon further inspection, you realize he is looking at pornography.

According to XXXchurch (http://www.xxxchurch.com), males are first exposed to Internet pornography at the average age of 11. Girls as young as 8 years old have admitted to being addicted to porn. And 80-90 percent of kids ages 11-12 have viewed porn accidentally through pop-ups or advertisements on Web sites.

Christopher, a confessed former porn addict, admits, “I was probably 10 years old when I saw my first pornography. That went on about for a few weeks before we got caught.” In junior high, Christopher viewed pornographic magazines while staying at friends’ houses. In high school, with the addition of Internet pornography, his addiction grew.

By the time he was in college, Christopher was heavily addicted. “It was there where I really began feeding my mind and the addiction every night for hours with Internet pornography. There came a violent shaking in my family and there came an eruption of all manner of things and out came the truth about my addiction. I was put in counseling for a season and everything seemed to be fine. But there was never really freedom from it or victory over it.”

According to XXXchurch, over 72 million people visit pornography Web sites annually. With such a staggering statistic, the introduction to this article isn’t just a fictitious story. Parents worldwide face confronting the issue that their children are not only viewing pornography but may also be addicted.

Brandon Piety, production manager of XXXchurch, makes a career of talking about pornography addiction. XXXchurch is a ministry dedicated to starting conversations about pornography addiction and offering help to those struggling with porn. As a speaker to students, parents, congregations and even those active in the pornography business, he has a lot to say about the $57 billion dollar industry.

Brandon shares a few practical steps for parents to safeguard their homes against Internet pornography.

“Proximity is the best accountability,” says Brandon. He advises that parents should make sure computers are in a public place such as the living room or family room. He also cautions parents to put accountability software and filters on computers. “The accountability software is the alarm on the door and the filter is locking the door,” he emphasizes. XXXchurch’s Web site offers free accountability software called X3Watch that sends a report to e-mail addresses of friends or family members, showing every site visited on a computer.

Brandon also strongly suggests that parents “get informed and stay informed” about social networking sites such as MySpace. He notes that parents often get stuck in a cycle of apathy regarding social networking. “A parent can be addicted to apathy,” he says.

Parents often feel that if they don’t understand those sites there’s nothing they can do about what their kids see there. “There’s this bridge from apathy to action that they never cross; and that’s those practical, careful steps of protection. Parents need to cross that bridge,” he says. Brandon recommends that parents keep a close watch on what their kids do on social networking sites and also speak to other parents about the issue.

Confronting children who view pornography is a difficult task. Brandon offers several suggestions for dealing with this difficult situation. He recommends that, if necessary, parents shut off the cable or Internet in order to prevent kids from seeing pornography. “You’re paying for these things to come into your house,” he said.

Several resources and approaches are available for addressing pornography. “There are a lot of quick fixes out there,” notes Brandon. However, he counters, “There’s no replacement for a conversation.” Many parents act out of their emotions of frustration and anger when confronting their children regarding pornography. Whether dealing with pornography prevention or breaking an addiction to pornography, it’s important to act in love.

“You can’t come in with the guilt or the pain … all these things that are really, really heavy,” says Brandon. Instead, he advises, “Come in with love, care and empower them.”

For pornography help from a biblical perspective, there are several options. “I think Romans 7 is a great snapshot,” offers Brandon. He points out that the end of the chapter points to Jesus as the answer. Brandon and XXXchurch also recommend 1 Corinthians 6. Another interesting passage is in Job chapter 3 where Job made a covenant with his eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.

Sexually graphic images are difficult to forget. And, unfortunately, porn is an imagery-based problem. For help in cleansing the mind, Brandon shares emphatically, “Jesus can heal anything, anyone, any mind.” Comparing the human mind to a hard drive on a computer, he says, “There might be little fragments here and there, but God can come in and make things new.”

Christopher did overcome pornography. Thinking back on how he broke free from porn addiction, Christopher reflects, “Jesus didn't come to give us coping methods for dealing with sin. He came to set the captives free.”

“One thing that really helped me was in the renewing of my mind,” Christopher continues. “I read and meditated upon the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery from John chapter 8. I think she was probably naked and Jesus didn't lust. It probably never even crossed his mind. He didn't quickly try to cover his eyes for fear of lusting. I continually asked myself how he could be in midst of sin and yet never sin. Wherever sinners were, he was right there in the thick of sin. And it really all came and still comes down to the condition of the heart. Love conquers lust. Love overcomes lust. I had to learn how to love.”

Although pornography is a plaguing problem, with the help of God there is freedom. Relying on God’s guidance and prayer, even a problem as serious as pornography can be conquered. Kids like Christopher — and their parents — can also get help thanks to sites like XXXchurch.com. And, by learning to love and speaking in love, parents and children can fight and win the battle against pornography.